The first cohort of the Future Creative Leaders programme began its journey at Henley Business School in August, bringing together 14 founders and creative entrepreneurs determined to turn creative talent into sustainable, scalable businesses.
Selected from 49 applicants, the cohort spans an age range of approximately 23 to 55 and reflects the breadth of the creative economy. Participants bring experience from across film, television, gaming, animation, fashion, visual effects, fine art, drones, digital content and immersive technologies, including Unreal Engine.
The intensive, fully funded incubator forms part of the Henley Creative Universe platform, an initiative focused on building a more sustainable and investable creative economy. Designed by Henley Business School Africa and the Leaders in Motion Academy (LiMA) in association with the Department of Sports, Art and Culture, the 12-contact-day programme combines practical action learning with commercial, legal and leadership development.
‘Our focus was on how to intentionally support creative entrepreneurs who do not have the financial resources to attend private institutions,’ said Thato Moraka, Chairman and Founder of LiMA.
Speaking at the launch of the programme, Henley Business School Africa Dean and Director Jon Foster-Pedley said, 'South Africa’s creative economy has no shortage of imagination. The opportunity is to connect that imagination to sound strategy, financial fluency and market access so that creative enterprises can grow, employ people and compete with confidence at home and internationally.'
The opening week introduced the programme’s purpose and Action Learning Project, followed by sessions on communication skills, intellectual property, commercial law, production finance, negotiation and brand reputation. Later blocks cover financial acumen, tax compliance, funding readiness, marketing for market access and scale, personal development, strategy, leadership and storytelling.
‘We’re not here to turn creatives into conventional business people, said Barry van Zyl, Global MBA programme lead at Henley, himself a highly accomplished musician as former drummer of the Johnny Clegg band. ‘We are here to give creative people the language, tools and confidence to build viable, sustainable businesses on their own terms.’
Rather than completing abstract assignments, participants will apply each learning block directly to their own enterprises. By the end of the programme, each founder is expected to have four practical growth tools:
An implementable business plan grounded in financial, legal and operational reality.
A financial and market-access roadmap designed to support revenue generation and export expansion.
An investor-ready pitch deck refined for real-world capital raising.
The programme also draws on industry expertise. Emmy Award-winning film and television producer Dan Jawitz joined participants for a conversation on business in film as they prepared their final presentations. The programme culminates in a Creative Den pitch day, after which selected businesses are expected to pitch at the annual Creative Universe event at Henley on 13 November.
'For this inaugural cohort, the journey is both personal and collective: strengthening individual ventures while demonstrating how a diverse, commercially equipped creative sector can contribute to jobs, innovation, and long-term value creation,' concludes Moraka. ‘The value chain needs to work together. That is really the purpose of the Future Creative Leaders Programme: to build a stronger future not only for ourselves, but for those who come after us.’
Dr Puleng Makhaolibe, executive fellow at Henley Business School Africa, and a lecturer on the programme agreed, ‘Creativity has the power to change the world, and creativity is the future.’