A Glance Into
MultiChoice Botswana’s Talent Factory Initiative
M
ultichoice Botswana continues to make positive strides in the development of the local communities through its flagship Created Shared Value (CSV) programme titled the “Multichoice Talent Factory”. The company carries strong community empowerment initiatives centered on MulitiChoice Talent Factory, according to Thembi Legwaila who holds the title of Corporate Affairs Manager at the company. Legwaila is tasked with managing the reputation of MulitiChoice through issues management, corporate communications, stakeholder engagement, and internal comms as well as creating Shared Value, which other organizations refer to as Corporate Social Investment. SHARED VALUE INITIATIVE Legwaila takes pride in the company’s red flagship MultiChoice Botswana Talent Factory Initiative, saying: “This initiative seeks to ignite Africa’s creative industries through three pillars; the first being the MTF Academy where we send young aspiring filmmakers to a film academy for a fully sponsored one year programme under the tutelage of some of Africa’s, and the world’s, most respected film and television experts.” “Our second pillar involves the MTF Master classes, which are the one-day long classes for more experienced filmmakers, where they are taken through specific functions of filmmaking such as sound, directing, and storytelling from our partners around the world, and lastly, the MTF Portal which is a free online networking system which allows creatives to collaborate and connect with other creatives all over Africa and the world-at-large, “said Legwaila while explaining the initiative . Legwaila says content is king as we all know and all around the world, content is becoming a highly valued currency. “Through MTF we aim to raise the standards of filmmaking in Botswana through empowering filmmakers to have the capability to not only make great films and tell great authentic stories but to also flourish in the business of filmmaking and to create an industry here that is profitable; one that can rival industries such as that of Nollywood and South Africa’s booming film industries,” she said.
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Thembi Legwaila Corporate Affairs Manager
MTF ACADEMY OUTCOMES Furthermore, Legwaila relishes the high positive impact brought by the MTF since its inception. “To date we have had four young Batswana students graduate from the MTF Academy and we are also incredibly proud of these young ladies. Nikita Mokgware and Serena Serene Mmifinyana from our inaugural Class of 2019 graduated and returned home to start an N&M Productions. The ladies have already been engaged to work on the projects both for MultiChoice as well as other local broadcasters. Mokgware and Mmifinyana launched a podcast called ‘This is Africa’ which was available via the MTF Portal, and which featured different creatives throughout the continent and how they are changing Africa’s creative footprint,” she said filled with full of confidence.
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