Driving social change through impactful partnerships

MultiChoice is Africa’s leading entertainment and services platform with a footprint spanning 50 markets across sub-Saharan Africa and adjacent islands, 21.8 million subscribers, and almost 40 years of video industry experience.

Widely regarded as Africa’s most loved storyteller, and rightly so, MultiChoice’s contribution to society is about so much more than delivering video entertainment and consumer services. The company’s purpose is to enrich lives – not only by using the medium of video entertainment and to bring people together around a shared passion through compelling local and international stories and world-class sport but also by ensuring that the company is part of the solution for the continent’s socio-economic challenges.

In this regard, MultiChoice has embraced the opportunity to amplify our services and create value by collaborating with the “right fit” partners including: non-profit organisations, civil society, and governments with the ultimate aim of driving social change through combining insights, resources, creativity and collective leverage.

As a company that is in touch with the social and environmental ailments of the communities it operates in, MultiChoice is now getting involved in efforts to tackle climate challenges.

According to the World Meteorological Organisation’s State of the Climate in Africa 2021 report, extreme weather and climate change are undermining human health and safety, food and water security, and socio-economic development on the African continent.

MultiChoice is deeply invested in the prosperity of the African continent. In line with its commitment to enrich lives, MultiChoice has decided to collaborate with The Earthshot Prize, an ambitious global environmental prize that aims to find innovative solutions to the world’s biggest environmental problems and help repair our planet over the next 10 years.

The partnership will enable MultiChoice not only to educate communities on climate change, but to also encourage innovators to pitch their solutions, inspire other corporates to join the fight against climate change and to motivate governments to prioritise climate change as part of their national agendas.

MultiChoice will help to raise awareness and understanding of the Earthshot Prize across Africa, support local finalists, highlight their innovative solutions and mobilise communities to address sustainability challenges.

The company is also a member of the Global Alliance Membership of the Earthshot Prize that includes non-profit and international organisations committed to the environment and sustainable development.

The collective power of the Global Alliance Members gives the winners and finalists access to resources across numerous professions and sectors including manufacturing, retail, supply chains, legal advice, digital technology, business strategy and government relations.

MultiChoice believes this collaboration is the best approach to tackle this issue. It has a good track record of partnering like-minded organisations to drive social change.

For example, some of the efforts it has supported to address socio-economic challenges include partnering with South Africa’s Department of Social Development, People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) and the Uyinene Mrwetyana Foundation to speak out against Gender-Based Violence (GBV).

At the height of the Covid-19 epidemic, MultiChoice joined forces with the United Nations to counter the spread of misinformation around the pandemic and also worked with the World Health Organisation to create an educational campaign on Covid-19 in vernacular languages.

It also has a partnership with the Global Citizen, a global movement that aims to address extreme poverty through collective action. MultiChoice’s contribution is to amplify the work of Global Citizen across the African continent by broadcasting its annual campaign on its platform.

MultiChoice believes in the educational power of its platforms and that is why it continues to reaffirm its commitment to investing in Africa through its long-established hyperlocal strategy. Through its hyperlocal strategy MultiChoice has not only created a platform for African stories to be told, but it also helps create jobs and grow the economy.

However, the company is not resting on its laurels: MultiChoice remains well positioned to continue to support, uplift and empower communities through entertainment.

At MultiChoice, the African entertainment industry is at the core of who we are and what we do. This social investment programme shows our commitment – alongside long-term partnerships with government, stakeholders and creative organisations – to develop Africa’s creative industries into vibrant, economic centres. This is how MultiChoice uses the power of entertainment to enrich lives.

For example, in 2021, we entrusted our MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) class of 2021 with the task of assisting us with shooting the ninth season of the Survivor South Africa franchise. As a result, 15 new interns were moved into in-personal training and professional production placements, with 10 interns placed on professional productions, including 40 days on Survivor SA.

MTF is an entertainment industry readiness programme that affords young people the opportunity to learn from some of the leading Industry experts in the country, while acquiring valuable experience in directing, producing, cinematography, commissioning, art direction and many other skills.

The training programme also includes partnering with production companies and the New York Film Academy.

Across the African continent, communities face challenges unique to their area. This is why MultiChoice is not prescriptive in the type of community initiatives that its regional teams invest in.

In April 2022, severe flooding hit the KwaZulu-Natal province, in South Africa – almost 450 lives were lost, and over 13,500 households were affected. MultiChoice donated ZAR2 million to to Gift of the Givers and ZAR265,400 in relief packs distributed to employees.

In today’s era of proven solutions and abundant resources, MultiChoice recognises that now more than ever customers have come to expect more from the brands that they avidly support especially in a post-Covid-19 reality.

This is why MultiChoice’s approach has always been community-centric. Over the years, MultiChoice has learnt that to truly understand your customers and be a real agent of change, it must fully immerse itself in the communities that it operates in to be able to offer tailored and specific solutions.

That is why enriching lives is at the centre of every project that MultiChoice undertakes. MultiChoice demonstrates how business is not only about profits but is about delivering shared value for everyone in the company’s value chain, from employees to shareholders to customers through openness and embracing the shift to a world in which business will be held accountable by consumers.

MultiChoice is committed to the development and growth of Africa. It is living this commitment by addressing socio-economic challenges through initiatives that aim to help deliver a sustainable future for our continent. Throughout its 30 years of operation in Africa, it has used its experience, expertise and platforms to drive social change.

The company believes in using the power of video entertainment to enrich lives and leverages its broadcast platforms for social good. It reaches 21.8m households across 50 countries on the African continent. It understands how powerful video entertainment is to inform, educate and entertain. It delivers content that raises awareness about topics of public interest and mobilises resources to address social challenges.

It also understands that it cannot address socio-economic challenges on its own. That is why it recognises the importance of collaboration, which allows parties to bring expertise and strengths from various sources to focus on the same goal.

In this regard, MultiChoice has embraced the opportunity to amplify our services and create value by collaborating with the “right fit” partners including non-profit organisations, civil society, and governments – with the ultimate aim of driving social change through combining insights, resources, creativity and collective leverage.

MultiChoice’s portfolio of offerings has been greatly boosted by commercial partnerships, while its partners have been enriched and grown alongside Multi­Choice.