Nigeria Grants some creative industries tax break
NIGERIA: THE Nigerian federal government has granted 'Pioneer Status' to the creative industry, in a landmark move aimed at transforming the industry to a creative economy and creating jobs. In a statement at the end of August 2017, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said the decision to grant the industry 'Pioneer Status' is in fulfilment of the promise made by the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, at the opening of the Creative Industry Financing Conference in Lagos 17-18 July 2017. The 'Pioneer Status' is granted to companies making investments in qualifying industries and products as tax holiday from the payment of corporate income tax and withholding tax on dividend from pioneer profits for an initial period of three years, extendable for one or two additional years. Read more.
Nigeria ready for creative industry investments
NIGERIA: The Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said Nigeria was ready to receive investors in the creative industry, having created the enabling environment for investments through favourable economic policies. He sais this when he received a delegation from Huaxia Movie Distribution Group, the second biggest movie distributors in China, on a courtesy visit to his office. “We have a very determined administration that believes in diversification. We have been preparing ourselves to sanitize the market so we are tackling the issue of piracy. Our programme on digitization is moving very well. So this is the right time for anybody to really come and invest in Nigeria,” he said, adding that the Chinese investors have come on the cusp of a revolution in the Creative Industry. Alhaji Mohammed welcomed the Chinese movie group’s proposal to invest in some critical aspects of the Creative Sector, including the establishment of cinema houses, studios and exhibition centres. In his remarks, the Chief Executive of Huaxia Movie Distribution Group, Mr. Wei Bian, said his company wants to be part of the future of Nigerian movie industry, because of its bright prospect not only in Africa but on the world stage. Read more.
Creative Workers Claim to be Happiest at Work
UNITED STATES: Staffing firm Robert Half finds that creative employees are happier at work than those in more traditional industries, although ‘buttoned up’ industries can be incubators of happiness, too. A recent survey by staffing firm Robert Half’s found more than 12,000 U.S. and Canadian workers in creative positions reported the highest levels of on-the-job satisfaction and interest in their work, compared to employees in the accounting and finance, administrative, legal and tech fields. “Creatives like their jobs more because that’s the direction they are taking with their career,” Synoga said. “Other people in finance jobs and similar fields may have fallen into the jobs instead of having a really guided point to what they wanted to do.” Company culture is a big part of happiness, too. In a separate survey, The Creative Group, a smaller marketing division of Robert Half, asked 400 U.S. marketing and creative employees to describe their office culture in one word. Creative workers said their culture is friendly, family and diverse. Read more.