Career geographies in the Ghanaian fashion industry: from brain drain to brain gain and brain circulation

Abstract

Brain drain has long been argued to be one of Africa’s key development challenges. This paper provides a more nuanced analysis of African career mobility through a focus on professionals in the creative industries, specifically Ghanaian fashion designers. Drawing on interviews with 31 fashion designers but focussing on the career geography of internationally renowned Kofi Ansah, we show how ‘brain drain’ turned into ‘brain gain’ and consequently ‘brain circulation’, fundamentally transforming Ghana’s fashion industry. The paper thus demonstrates how the knowledge and expertise return migrants gather through international career mobility can be converted into assets at an individual, national, and international level.