IQOQO
Client: French Embassy and the French Institute of South Africa
Period: 2020-ongoing
Multi-stakeholder partnerships
Design economy
Not-for-profit & civil society
Education & knowledge
Design & architecture
Arts, culture & heritage
01 The sneak-peek
We build ecosystems. This is one
IQOQO is the reference platform for South Africa's Cultural and Creative Industries — nine sectors, one network, born in 2020. Asked by the French Embassy and IFAS to facilitate connections between South Africa and the world, BBA Liminal conceived it, built it, and brokered the partnerships that hold it up.
02 The liminal moment
South Africa's Cultural and Creative Industries are rich, but they were hard to read. For a local funder, an international partner or a young creative, there was no single place to understand how the industries are structured, who the relevant players are, and whom to contact for which kind of project.
In 2020 the French Embassy and the French Institute of South Africa approached BBA Liminal to conceptualise and execute a project that would facilitate connections between South Africa and the global North in the creative industries. From that brief, IQOQO was born: a digital reference platform spanning nine sectors — animation, architecture, design, fashion, film, gaming, museums, visual arts and XR. The deeper task was institutional. This could not be a website alone; it needed partners with real standing. So BBA Liminal was tasked with setting up the partnerships between IFAS and SAMA, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, the South African Cultural Observatory and the DTIC that would give the platform its foundations.
03 The transformation
We laid partnerships as foundations. We brokered the relationships that made IQOQO an institution — bringing SAMA, DSAC, SACO and the DTIC to the table with IFAS, with a steering and technical committee more than 60 strong standing behind the platform.
We built a place to be found. The IQOQO website gives creatives a home in the network — a profile to register, a presence to be found by, a space to connect and communicate across international borders — anchored by research: nine launch articles, one for each sector.
We grew the network by hand. Virtual and in-person training sessions across South Africa brought new people into IQOQO and guided them through registering, while the IQOQO Sessions put the industries' challenges and innovations on stage, nine talks at a time.
04 The craft
Nine sectors, one ecosystem
A platform built to outlast its builders: the IQOQO identity and digital home, profile and discovery systems, the nine sector research articles, the training programme, the IQOQO Sessions and the Création Africa Zine — infrastructure for a creative economy, not collateral for a moment.
Création Africa Zine
05 The validation of purpose
IQOQO holds because it was built as an institution: partnerships, governance, research and a growing network. A steering and technical committee of more than 60 people stands behind it; nine research articles map its nine sectors; the IQOQO Sessions carry its questions into public. Five years on, it remains the reference point it set out to be — and the working proof of how BBA Liminal practises: we don't cold-pitch, we build ecosystems.
60+ committee members
9 sectors, 9 research articles
9 IQOQO Sessions
Partnership origination
Institution building
Brand & communications strategy
Facilitation & convening
Capacity building
Publication & editorial design
Brand identity design
Long-term stewardship
Brand platform development
Positioning & narrative
