Jambo Spaces is Bringing Change to Ghana’s Creative Scene

Since its launch, Jambo Spaces has collaborated with YouTube, Ghana’s Creative Arts Agency and New Comma, and has entered conversations with Sassam — a French-based publishing body to further support their music creators. So far, they say they have directly impacted the lives of over 1,800 Ghanaian creatives by offering discounted prices to artists looking to rent their music or podcast studio and keeping their prices low – around 102 cedis per day ($6.51), which is a little above half the typical price for a coworking space. And they go beyond that.

“There are so many instances where we have given space to people who can't afford it in exchange for something. Like, we’d ask them to mention us in their show or work with us on another project pro bono,” Sokpe says. “There are people who record music in our studio and we [don’t charge] them because they can’t afford it. But we have deals where they will license the song to us and we distribute it for them. So it benefits them and then we find a way to recoup over time.”

Sokpe explains that Jambo Spaces is open to tailoring its services and extending its resources based on the needs of a creative project.

Nurturing a creative generation

“We have so many impact hubs for tech but none for creativity,” Sokpe says on a call in late August, adding that Africa’s contribution to the global creative economy is considerably small, only about 2.9 percent. It has been a few months since Jambo Spaces received a €20,000 grant ($22,200) from the Creation Africa Ghana initiative spearheaded by the French Embassy, and for Sokpe, it is a testament to the importance of the space to the country’s creative industry.

But as with most ambitious projects, Jambo Spaces, which is modeled after the U.K.’s Roundhouse, was initially faced with a huge financial stymie. After that came the work of convincing Ghanaian creatives that Jambo Spaces was a useful creative center.

“Teaching the creators how to use the space [was another challenge],” Sokpe says. “We launched the space and a lot of them were confused as to what to do there. So we ran a campaign called ‘Creatives Need Space’ on radio and digital and started showcasing stories and testimonials of creators coming to the space, and that gave them a good idea of what to use the space for.”

With fresh financial support, Jambo Spaces hopes to focus on three major areas. “The first one is the digital creator education, starting with five courses including brand marketing, photography and videography, legal and copywriting, and monetizing creativity. We aim to churn out 50 content creators who can move into the job market,” Sokpe says. In addition to training these creators, Jambo Spaces plans on placing successful creatives in agencies after their training or connecting promising creators to a rich network of established talents. “Secondly, we need to buy a lot of equipment, anything at all that creators need for the creative process, we plan on having it available for rent, to further support Jambo Spaces to thrive. And lastly, we are building out a space that allows our creators to interact, and socialize outside our building. It’s going to have a little eatery, we’ve already finished the stage, we need that space for them to connect.”

Soon, Jambo Spaces hopes to set up a structure to protect the intellectual property of Ghanaian creatives. As more African creators emerge in the global space, intellectual property protection would go a long way in ensuring creators aren’t exploited or have their works used without proper permission or legal backing.

Ultimately though, the future of Jambo Spaces is continental. “We want to spread our wings on the continent,” Sokpe says. “We want a Jambo in all the hot spots in Africa — Nairobi, Johannesburg, and Cairo. We want Jambo to become the Soho House for creatives across the continent. We want to impact the continent.”