African culture is varied and manifold, consisting of a mixture of countries with various tribes depicting their unique characteristic and trait from the continent of Africa.
Africa has numerous ethnic nationalities all with varying qualities such as language, dishes, greetings, dressing and dances. However, each of the regions of Africa share a series of dominant cultural traits which distinguish various African regional cultures from each other and the rest of the world.
Culturati, Africa’s largest cultural fusion has been fostering the development of Africa’s tangible and intangible cultural assets as a means of developing comparative advantages in an increasingly competitive tourism marketplace, and to create local distinctiveness in the face of globalization.
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It has sustained the fusion of arts, culture and tourism as major drivers of destination attractiveness and competitiveness.
Culturati 2023 had exciting and educating activities that weave around African culture, with Culturati food fiesta portrayed the rich assortment of African food and beverages, connecting various people to African food delicacies, components and economic opportunities, while boosting the local tourism and hospitality sector.
The fiesta programmed to herald the annual Culturati celebration brought tourists closer to locals through a delightful variety of foods and beverages and flavour the local economy by creating jobs around local food products.
The fiesta provided identify conservation and authentic brand development with food items regarded as culturally embedded symbols and markers of place identity.
In many senses, the Culturati Food Fiesta can be considered a real-time platform to promote and enhance place identity to a wide range of target groups.
Idris Aregbe, the organiser of Culturati, who spoke during the 2023 Culturati said as an African cultural enthusiast with a penchant for creating value, he believes African Culture can be translated into a sustainable vehicle for youth empowerment, tourism promotion and other economic initiatives that resonate with global sustainable development goals (SDGs), given the latent economic potentials therein.
“The dire unemployment situation precipitated the cultural movement SISI-OGE in 2006 to bring attention to the potentials in African culture.
“Over the course of a decade SISI-OGE metamorphosed into Culturati which has become Africa’s largest cultural fusion, continually creating business opportunities for many young cultural buffs to leverage on rewarding cultural excellence while celebrating Africa’s rich and diverse cultural heritage,” Aregbe said.
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He said this year, the event was a lot more robust in terms of brands and audience engagement with a number of interactive segments that amplified the beauty and diversity of African culture with the Culturati market showcasing the ingenuity of craftsmen, the Culturati food Court saturated with an assortment of delicacies portraying the richness of African cuisine, the Culturati Fashion Show, with the best dressed African of the evening carting home a prize.
Aregbe noted that the whole essence is to open up economic opportunities in African culture for youth empowerment, tourism promotion and general economic development.
