Developing Inclusive and Creative Economies (DICE)

DICE explores how creativity, human connection, bold and generous collaboration and talent can be harnessed to contribute to the eradication of profound social and economic exclusion. Supporting connections and collaboration across cultures, borders and sectors is at the heart of this programme. 

Often this work is delivered through the robust intermediaries that support these social creative enterprises. Intermediaries can be investors, hubs, accelerators, incubators, universities, networks, and funders who have access to capital.

DICE Fund Collaboration Grants

 £2m DICE Fund collaboration grants of between £20,000 and £85,000 were designed for intermediary organisations that support the development of creative and social entrepreneurs including NGOs, accelerators and universities. This support could vary, from skills development and training, business development, and start up management. The length of the projects were 12 to 15 weeks and were delivered in Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan and South Africa. 

In South Africa, five DICE Fund Collaborators were selected amongst 200 global partner applications. These five projects are diverse, from upskilling vulnerable young people in Cape Town to set up their own upcycling business, to filling the financial gaps for excluded women in domestic work, and training intermediary organisations supporting social and creative enterprises in impact measurement.

Although these projects were diverse and ambitious in their delivery, they are similar because of the connection to supporting creative social entrepreneurs and contributing to an inclusive creative society. 

Read more about the DICE Fund Collaboration Grants here.

Connect.hubs 

Connect.hubs is a transformational learning programme for hub managers and creative entrepreneurs who wish to start a hub. Since 2018, Connect.hubs programme has been supporting and working with over 80 creative and social hub managers, including South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mauritius and Malawi, by providing capacity building workshops. This was delivered in partnership with its southern Africa Arts team, DICE, UK-based organisation Nesta and Hivos. 

As part of the co-design approach in 2019 the programme involved the expertise of local trainers Mutsa Samuel Kajese, Belisa Rodrigues, Lekodi Magombo and Kudzai Mubaiwa who would lead on design, delivery of the sessions and mentorship to hub managers. 

“By working with social and creative hubs we believe we are better able to strengthen the capacity of hub managers, as well as increase connections and collaboration in Southern Africa and globally. Social and creative hubs play a meaningful role in providing better support to creative social entrepreneurs and contributing to the creative economy” - DICE project manager, Thoriso Moseneke.

SOCreative Hubs Summit

Since 2019, this annual event brings together creative social entrepreneurs, cultural leaders, researchers and academics, and hub managers from Southern, East, and West Africa, and the UK. The event is aimed at connecting creative and social economies and driving the development of Hubs in Southern Africa. 

The three-day event is curated to enable connections and facilitate valuable and sustainable networks. It offers key-note addresses by thought leaders in the sector, story talks by creative and social entrepreneurs, facilitated workshop sessions that can encourage deeper engagement, and live performances that showcase and celebrate the rich cultures of performing artists and musicians from other countries. 

DICE works with creative social entrepreneurs, artists and enterprises that are working towards addressing community needs by providing them with training and capacity building to help them nurture their innate creativity, find their purpose, their support networks, their markets and their livelihoods.

Impact Makers and Creators

We mentored 120 creative social entrepreneurs through our Impact Makers and Creators Accelerator programme. This was a fully-funded, three-month business accelerator for ideation-and-growth-stage social creative entrepreneurs, developed and delivered together with British Council partners SEED Academy and Social Enterprise Academy.

The programme supported entrepreneurs in Cape Town and Johannesburg in building their creative businesses, making sure their impact is sustainable and reaches wider communities through their work.

In contributing towards an enabling environment so that creative social purpose and entrepreneurship can thrive DICE does research, convenes cross-sectoral and multi-layered dialogues and engage with policy makers. 

"The state of social and creative enterprise in South Africa” Mapping Study aims to assess the contributions that social and creative enterprises make to the economy and inclusive development in South Africa. This survey, and five companion surveys conducted in the other DICE countries, will enhance understanding of the specificities and diversity of the hybrid creative and social economies in the six DICE countries. The analysis is being designed to help equip sector support organisations, including the British Council, with information to clarify their approach, refresh programming and consider the essential value of the creative and cultural industries and wider creative social economy.  

 Read more on the report here or download the PDF below.

Pioneering solution-based journalism, the Young StoryMakers programme was designed as an opportunity for 16 journalists to take part in editorial meetings and produce articles, video, podcasts, photo essays and other paid content for publication in Pioneers Post, the UK’s leading social enterprise magazine, and British Council channels, as well as advice in pitching content to other media.

In South Africa, we supported two journalists by assigning them with mentors who gave them support in consolidating story ideas, expanding their media reach and creating professional development opportunities in the journalism and media industry in South Africa. 

The documentation of these stories promote the value and impactful work of entrepreneurs which have been supported through the DICE programme. They provide a backdrop for learning about the local and global experiences of individuals who believe in contributing to social change and working with women, persons with disabilities, young people, and the communities they serve. They also help with encouraging dialogue about issues which affect the sector and raise awareness of the various solutions available to the growing ecosystem.

View the stories of impact around the globe from the Young StoryMakers here.