SOCIAL CAPITAL IN THE AFRICA CONTINENTAL TRADE AREA: LESSONS FOR SELF EMPLOYABILITY IN FILMS AND TELEVISION INDUSTRY

Abstract

Social capital has been noted as an important commodity for individuals’ selfemployability. Social capital allows for networking opportunities, self-marketing, social media presence and social engagement that results into employment opportunities and prospects. Individuals’ employability remains as a factor which requires nurturing to seize the various possibilities and opportunities within one’s domain. The Africa Continental Trade Area presents numerous opportunities for these transactions to take place as it allows for the expansion of the Labour market into a single unified status as opposed to being exposed to opportunities existing only in one’s country. The film and television industry is a creative industry that is dominated by Actors who are independent contractors who rely mostly on their social capital to gain employability prospects, especially self-employability. African film and television industry (Nollywood) is one of the 2nd largest in the world in terms of revenue generation and offers a lot of opportunities. With the expansion of the trade area, there would be more transfer of skills necessary for growth and development of independent contractors in Africa. The study seeks to employ a qualitative research method underpinned by a constructivism worldview to explore the various factors to be considered to boost social capital of Actors. The study shall use grounded theory as the theoretical framework of the study. The population will be Actors who are involved in mainstream film and television projects in the various African countries and using a non-probability sampling of purposive sampling several focus groups would be formed to collect data and analyzed by means of content analysis. The findings of this research shall enable the contribution of the study to African Union goal number 1 concerning a high standard of living, quality of life, and wellbeing of all citizens.