Cultural reappropriation is an undervalued lever for building competitive African industrial value chains.

Indigo fabric - Photo credit @EyeEm_freepik.com

In Africa, culture must no longer be treated as a mere source of soul or symbolism. It can (and must) become a fully-fledged economic resource for African researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors. Our cultures represent vast reservoirs of techniques, symbols, and ancestral engineering know-how which, if strategically reactivated, could form the backbone of powerful, modern industrial value chains.

Yet this reality remains largely absent from the overwhelming majority of economic development strategies across the continent. On the contrary, culture is often “folklorised,” confined to tourism or event-based activities. Industrialisation (particularly in francophone African countries), is conceived as disconnected from local realities, outward-looking and modelled after Western or Asian templates. Promoted value chains continue to rely primarily on extractive resources and commodity-based natural production, largely detached from the endogenous strengths and real needs of African economies.

A major shift is nonetheless underway, driven by a growing movement of cultural reappropriation among Africa’s young, economically active population. Initially propelled by diasporas, this movement is now carried forward by artists, researchers, artisans and a generation in search of meaning. It reveals a fundamental truth: Africa’s intangible cultural heritage contains the technical, economic and identity-based foundations required to build resilient, differentiated local industries.

The example of the indigo value chain in Benin (illustrated by the work of Ms. Nadia Adanlé, founder of Couleur Indigo) is not merely inspirational. It stands as a true prototype of a virtuous industrial model for Africa. Couleur Indigo demonstrates a strategic pathway in which culture becomes the raw material of a high-performing African economy.

Cultural reappropriation as an undervalued economic asset

African cultural know-how—whether textile, agricultural, artisanal or architectural—is too often perceived as outdated: aesthetically appealing, identity-affirming, but rarely seen as a source of high value-added solutions. Yet these assets constitute:

• Proven technologies, often ecological, and perfectly adapted to local social, environmental and economic conditions;

• Strong identity markers capable of sustaining entire industries;

• Codified technical knowledge that can be transmitted, scaled and industrialised;

• An irreplicable comparative advantage, deeply rooted in history and territory.

Indigo, for instance, is far more than a pigment. It is a complex process involving extraction, fermentation, binding and dyeing, passed down through generations within certain Beninese families. This process constitutes a form of natural intellectual property, which only a conscious, methodical and strategic reappropriation (such as that led by Ms. Adanlé), has been able to transform into an economic engine.

Every African country holds cultural assets with similar potential: historically transformed minerals, local textile fibres, technical cuisines, traditional pharmacopoeias, woodcraft, metalwork, leather arts. Though largely under-documented today, this technical heritage represents a globally unique industrial reservoir.

Why cultural reappropriation is strategic for Africa’s meaningful industrialisation.

First, it enables the development of differentiated, non-substitutable industries. Africa’s core challenge is not to produce cheaper goods, but to produce different ones, identity-driven, innovative and sustainable. Few assets are more differentiating than deeply rooted cultural know-how, carried by the people of a given territory. Beninese indigo techniques, for example, cannot be replicated by China or Turkey for they combine terroir, gestures, symbols and collective memory. This is a structural competitive advantage.

Second, value chains built on existing know-how require significantly lower initial investment than industries created ex nihilo. The starting capital is culture itself. This does not eliminate the need for learning, assessment and skills acquisition, but fundamentally, the raw material already exists. What is required is method, rigour and strategic vision.

Third, endogenous industrial value chains generate both economic and symbolic value. Identity-based products command a premium. Urban African markets, diasporas, and increasingly international consumers are seeking authentic, traceable and sustainable products, precisely what heritage-based industries are designed to deliver.

Fourth, such industries create skilled, non-relocatable jobs. This is a structural lever for improving living conditions. Artisans and engineers trained in endogenous techniques remain rooted locally, contributing to place-based economic ecosystems.

Fifth, in the medium to long term, prioritizing endogenous industries stimulates research, higher technical education, engineering and local innovation. This is the most effective pathway toward attractive African universities offering genuine development prospects for youth and communities alike.

Tradition and science can become a true catalyst for inclusive innovation

Documenting cultural know-how inevitably raises new questions like, how can techniques be modernized without compromising their essence? How can productivity and performance be improved in traditional practices? How can academic and practical training be structured around these skills to create centres of excellence?

The dialogue between tradition and science recreates fertile ground for inclusive innovation; one that responds to real societal needs, strengthens economic sovereignty and contributes to a more balanced global system.

Cultural reappropriation as the foundation of an industrial value chain

The Beninese indigo example illustrates how heritage can be transformed into a complete industrial value chain:

• Natural resource: the indigo plant;

• Heritage technique: extraction, binding, successive dye baths;

• Modern transformation: adapted equipment, stabilised protocols;

• Creation: textile design, garments, furnishings;

• Distribution: showrooms, e-commerce, exports;

• Recycling: upcycling and social entrepreneurship.

This model, pioneered by Couleur Indigo, is fully industrial and replicable. Togolese timber, Nigerien leather, Cameroonian pharmacopoeia, Malian goldsmithing, Congolese raffia weaving, Kenyan natural fibres, all can follow the same trajectory.

An action agenda for investors and policymakers

To convert heritage into industrial value chains, five priority actions are required:

1. Systematic documentation of know-how (technical archives, codification of gestures, labelling, geographical indications, intellectual property). This is the foundation of industrialisation.

2. Modernise without distorting (adapt tools for small-scale production, preserve the essence of techniques, develop local ecological solutions, structure semi-industrial units).

3. Train in endogenous engineering, developing engineers rooted in their cultural technical heritage with textile schools, woodcraft institutes, pharmacopoeia academies.

4. Build adapted infrastructures: workshops, laboratories, logistics hubs, certification platforms, sectoral incubators aligned with local technologies.

5. Structure local and regional markets, the most legitimate and sustainable starting point, while enabling high-value, identity-driven products to scale internationally.

Why African investors must act now

Now is the time to act because:

• Demand for identity-based products is surging among African consumers and diasporas;

• Value chains remain under-structured, keeping entry costs relatively low;

• Cultural specificity provides natural protection against Asian and Western competition;

• Socio-economic impact is significant: skilled jobs, durable enterprises, valued academic training;

• Africa has never been better positioned to consume and produce its own innovations.

Investing in cultural reappropriation is not about returning to the past. It is about financing a rooted industrialisation, a sovereign economy and a differentiated global offering. It is about building durable competitive advantage where Africa is richest; in its creativity, knowledge systems and millennia-old identity.

Culture is not heritage, it is capital

Cultural reappropriation by African investors is not nostalgia; it is a powerful industrial strategy. When aligned across the private sector, higher technical education and public policy, it can generate:

• Thousands of skilled jobs;

• Structural upgrading of “Made in Africa” products and services;

• Differentiated competitiveness;

• A renewed and confident African soft power;

• Robust endogenous value chains serving domestic and export markets.

For Africa and Africans, the true industrial resource is not buried underground. It is already here, transmitted by mothers, master artisans and ancestral lineages. The real question is no longer whether Africa has industrial potential, but whether it will be able to transform its heritage into industries before others do it in its place.