As a distinguished expert consultant on cultural heritage and President of TOWARA-BENIN, the sole Béninese NGO accredited by UNESCO, with a background in Finance and Management Control from the University of Abomey-Calavi, I observe Bénin at a pivotal moment. The global economy is increasingly valuing intangible assets and authentic experiences, placing our nation at a critical juncture. Bénin, the birthplace of Vodoun, a land steeped in ancient royalties, vibrant arts of exceptional virtuosity, and a youth brimming with creative energy, possesses an invaluable treasure. Yet, a striking paradox endures: this extraordinary heritage remains an untapped economic giant. For too long, culture has been relegated to a mere aesthetic embellishment or an ceremonial budgetary expense.

Our ambitious vision for Bénin by 2035 is clear, systematic, and sovereign: to elevate culture as the nation’s fourth economic pillar. This initiative moves beyond mere nostalgic celebration of the past; it aims to establish a productive sector generating wealth, dignified employment opportunities, and territorial innovation. To achieve this systemic transformation, eight significant strategic areas must be addressed.

1. Legal imperative: safeguarding artists from precarity through legislation

A robust economy cannot be built on shifting legal sands. While Bénin has recently made regulatory progress, the immediate need is to advance to a higher legislative level. The legal status of artists and cultural workers, alongside the establishment of the House of Artists, must not be contingent on the fragility of simple decrees, which are inherently reversible and susceptible to political shifts.

The sector’s growth necessitates the enactment of parliamentary laws, which alone can guarantee lasting legal stability and genuine enforceability. In the absence of an immediate framework law, the rigorous, accelerated, and binding implementation of recent decrees must serve as a temporary bridge.

It is time to enshrine social protection for creators, modernize copyright governance, offer substantial tax incentives to private investors, and legally recognize professions linked to intangible cultural heritage. Securing the artist means securing investment.

2. Human capital: redefining professional expertise

The lifeblood of this creative economy lies in its human resources. Amateurism must give way to elite professionalization. Bénin must launch a comprehensive training initiative encompassing not only artistic disciplines but also cultural management, entrepreneurship, conservation-restoration techniques, and the integration of digital technologies applied to heritage. Each commune should become a hub for nurturing its local talents, aligning training with the unique characteristics of its region.

3. Knowledge sanctuaries: specialized schools and centers of excellence

To institutionalize this transmission of knowledge, the nation’s academic framework requires three principal pillars:

A National Superior School of Arts: dedicated to training the vanguard of contemporary performance (dancers, choreographers, set designers, and technical stage personnel).

A Superior Institute of Cultural Heritage: a cutting-edge scientific laboratory focused on safeguarding tangible and intangible heritage, museography, and archives.

An Academy of Arts and Traditions of Bénin: a revered space for cultural diplomacy and transmission, where master custodians of traditions document and validate ancestral knowledge for future generations.

4. Physical footprint: deploying world-class infrastructure

Creativity demands appropriate venues. Bénin’s territorial network must be strengthened with modern, versatile, and decentralized infrastructure. From communal cultural centers to regional theaters, including digital creation complexes and artisanal villages, every department must possess the physical tools necessary for creation, production, dissemination, and audience engagement.

5. The sinews of war: revolutionizing access to financing

Artistic ambition without financial means remains an illusion. We advocate for a three-pronged financial architecture to propel the creative economy:

A National Fund for Cultural Development focused on pure creation, research, and international mobility.

A Creative Economy Window within financial institutions, offering preferential interest rates, guarantee mechanisms, and loans tailored to the specific cycles of artistic production.

A public-private Cultural Investment Fund, capable of raising capital from the State, local authorities, employers’ organizations, and the diaspora.

6. Sectoral approach: from crafts to visual arts

Bénin’s cultural sector currently suffers from fragmentation, which diminishes its overall impact. Whether it is cinema, fashion, music, dance, or literature, each discipline must be structured as an autonomous industrial sector. This implies that each segment should have a ten-year strategic plan, a training roadmap, dedicated distribution channels, and an aggressive commercialization strategy for regional and international markets.

7. Intangible heritage: Bénin’s unique wellspring

Our masks, ritual rhythms, initiation narratives, and artisanal expertise are not mere folkloric objects; they represent priceless intangible assets. By investing in the digitization of collections, the labeling of heritage festivals, and the creation of national cultural itineraries, Bénin can transform its living traditions into powerful drivers of local development and tourist appeal.

8. Strategic convergence: culture, tourism, and agro-industry

Finally, the global influence of Béninese identity will be achieved through an organic symbiosis between culture, experiential tourism, and agro-industry. Valuing our local products through the lens of our aesthetics and developing territorial labels of excellence will enable each region to transform its culture into an argument for economic prosperity. By 2035, tourists will not merely seek a landscape; they will come to experience a culture, savor a terroir, and inhabit a history.

Towards the grand rendezvous of 2035

Building the Bénin of tomorrow demands a departure from the rent-seeking paradigms of the past. By 2035, our nation has a historic opportunity to establish itself as the beacon of the creative economy in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This transformation is not poetic aspiration but a high-level state strategy. By providing our artists with a protective and ambitious legislative framework, funding innovation, and safeguarding our collective memory, we will ensure culture becomes the engine of sustainable, inclusive growth, proudly rooted in the Béninese genius. The time for mere promises of decrees is over; it is time for legal consecration and decisive action.