By Diaka Camara, journalist, producer, founder of CBC Worldwide Com & Prod, and president of the Diaka Camara Foundation.

I still remember returning to Guinea in 2011 after years in the United States. In my luggage: a journalism degree from the University of Houston, a clear set of professional references, and a conviction, perhaps slightly audacious, that Guinea had stories worth telling globally. Stories that deserved a camera, a script, and international distribution.

I launched CBC Worldwide anyway

Many said it was too early. That the market wasn’t ready. I launched CBC Worldwide anyway.

More than a decade later, this is not about self-congratulation. What we built, a hit show, West Africa’s first French-language reality TV program, documentaries aired on Africa 24, partnerships with UNICEF, Canal+, and UNESCO, did not happen by chance. It required building, step by step, the foundations of what can become a structured cultural industry in Guinea. That is the issue I want to address.

A Country Rich in Creators

Guinea is rich in talent: musicians, emerging filmmakers, creative entrepreneurs, and a connected, ambitious youth. Conakry is vibrant. Ideas circulate constantly. The energy is tangible and contagious. Having seen it firsthand since my return, I am convinced the country is ready for the next phase.

But talent alone does not build an industry. It needs structure, not to constrain it, but to scale it. Guinean creators deserve visibility, distribution, and recognition beyond national borders.

Across Africa, creative industries are becoming strategic economic sectors. In Nigeria, Nollywood is now a full-fledged industry, generating foreign exchange, jobs, and influence. In Morocco and Rwanda, film commissions attract international productions and inject millions of dollars into local economies.

These countries understand a key point: culture is not peripheral. It drives attractiveness, image, and investment. Guinea has the fundamentals to follow a similar trajectory. Its music travels. Its diaspora is engaged. And growing interest from foreign media players in Conakry shows that attention already exists. The challenge now is to convert that interest into durable partnerships.

Simandou 2040: A Strategic Opening for Culture

One development deserves particular attention: the Simandou 2040 program, led by President Mamadi Doumbouya.

From left to right: Mr. Djiba Diakité, Minister and Chief of Staff to the President of the Republic of Guinea, and Chairman of the Simandou Strategic Committee. Diaka Camara, CEO of CBC Worldwide Com & Prod and President of the Diaka Camara Foundation.

While primarily associated with the development of the world’s largest untapped iron ore deposit, the program’s second pillar, promoting Guinean culture internationally, is critical for the sector.

This is a significant shift. Rarely has a national development strategy in Guinea positioned culture as a core lever, alongside mining, infrastructure, and governance.

In practical terms, this elevates culture from a fragmented entrepreneurial effort to a state priority. It creates the conditions for structured public funding, cultural diplomacy, and a coherent soft power strategy.

For those who have spent years demonstrating that Guinean culture is a viable market, this is both validation and a turning point. But it also creates a responsibility.

A political vision delivers results only if industry players, producers, creators, entrepreneurs, institutions, translate it into projects, partnerships, and measurable outcomes.

The Next Steps

Structuring the sector requires concrete measures.

A clear regulatory framework for audiovisual production is essential to protect both local and international co-productions. Financing mechanisms, including sector funds, tax incentives, and guarantees, must enable local producers to develop ambitious projects. Public-private partnerships should deliver tangible infrastructure: studios, technical training, and distribution platforms. An active strategy to attract foreign productions is also critical, since each international shoot brings visibility, skills transfer, and foreign currency.

Within this framework, the Simandou 2040 program can act as a catalyst: allocating part of mining revenues to creative industries, supporting a national culture fund, and linking international promotion to measurable outcomes such as co-productions, festival presence, and global distribution of Guinean content.

These are not abstract ideas. They extend a movement already underway, driven by entrepreneurs and creators, and now supported at the highest level of the state.

Soft Power Is Built, Not Declared

I have participated in campaigns against female genital mutilation, against Ebola, and for women’s empowerment, not as a strategy, but out of conviction. Media and culture carry social responsibility.

Media and culture carry social responsibility

I have seen how well-crafted content can shift perceptions, open debate, and influence norms. That is the power of a functioning cultural industry.

Soft power is not declared. It is built, consistently and deliberately.

Guinea today has a clear opportunity: a creative generation ready to move faster, institutions increasingly focused on national image, and investors, from the diaspora and beyond, looking for credible projects.

It also now has something more: a national vision that places culture at the center of development strategy.

This moment should not be missed. The priority is not to start from scratch, but to consolidate existing initiatives, professionalize emerging structures, and give economic weight to an already dynamic creative base.

Guinea’s cultural future is a strategic choice. If pursued collectively, by entrepreneurs, creators, the state, and partners, it can become a genuine engine of sustainable development.

Diaka Camara is a journalist and producer who founded CBC Worldwide, Guinea’s first audiovisual production company. She also leads the Diaka Camara Foundation, which supports education and women’s empowerment. She has been recognized by the United States Congress as an Outstanding Global Leader.