The Media Online’s weekly round up: TBWA launches virtual entrepreneurship academy through social media and video halls in Tanzania. Viacom International Media Networks Africa reinforces executive team. Peter Tshidi at the helm as new Thaba Moshate GM. Recruitment: amaB needs an investigative reporter. Tribeca PR wins the jackpot with Peermont. Biggest Resort in Africa appoints Red Carpet Concepts. GeoPoll becomes the only daily and independent media measurement service in Ethiopia. Accenture Interactive announces keynote speaker for IAB Digital Summit. Gumtree South Africa sports a new look.
This week’s BIG move: TBWA launches virtual entrepreneurship academy through social media and video halls in Tanzania
Advertising agency, TBWA\ Khanga Rue has launched a free 12-class series on entrepreneurship for young people in Tanzania called ‘Noa Ubongo’ or ‘Sharpen Your Brain’ in Swahili. The programme will be disseminated on social media and eventually aired in thousands of video halls throughout the country.
The initiative follows a highly successful pilot phase conducted in 2016, which saw young people learning job-hunting and other related skills.
Pat Olvera, TBWA\ KRM creative director, says a mere 35% of young people in Tanzania complete secondary schooling. “A number of factors contribute to this, amongst them, economic and cultural pressure. Many girls, in particular, are compelled to leave school early and look for work. The result is a lot of unemployed young people, who lack basic education, work skills and entrepreneurial knowledge.”
Deeply immersed in the NGO sector, Olvera and his colleagues at TBWA\ KRM were acutely aware of the issues faced by youth in Tanzania. “We have partnered with Unicef to create programming targeting youth such as Shuga and Sara and we’ve worked with Restless Development on campaigns encouraging girls to stay in school. We’ve also created many youth-centred campaigns dealing with HIV and other health issues.”
TBWA\ KRM initially applied for funding to get Noa Ubongo off the ground. “We didn’t get the funding, but decided to go ahead with a pilot phase of the project anyway. We got curriculum experts to volunteer their help and created three modules in-house. They covered three areas: ‘how to look for a job if you’ve never had one before’, ‘how to get skills’ and ‘how to write a CV’,” says Olvera.
Olvera says although the idea for Noa Ubongo preceded the ‘Common Ground’ initiative, its mission and objective of empowering young people through free education fits with the agenda of ‘Common Ground’ perfectly and the TBWA\ KRM team felt that its decision to persist with the programme, despite the initial lack of support from the funding community, had been the right one.
Olvera says the initiative now needs private sector involvement. “We want to add a mobile technology component that will enhance the programme with follow-up quizzes and gamify some of the learning. We want to link students to resources in their area or to companies for internships.
“We have a vision for a learning portal where young people can sign up for complete courses, get supplementary learning resources, interact with each other and even submit their ideas and projects for feedback. There are so many ways we can scale this up with the right partnerships.”
Who’s moved where
Viacom International Media Networks Africa reinforces executive team
Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Africa, home to entertainment brands MTV, MTV Base, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Nicktoons, VH1 and BET, has reinforced the executive team to drive its successful business in Africa.
Alex Okosi, current SVP and MD of VIMN Africa, has been promoted to executive VP and MD of the African multimedia entertainment network and will continue leading the growth and expansion of the biggest international network on the continent.
Strini Naicker, formerly senior commercial director, has been promoted to the new role of vice president, commercial and content distribution, expanding his role from overseeing ad sales to include content distribution.
In other senior appointments, Dillon Khan has taken on the role of vice president, Comedy Central, Africa. Simultaneously, Chris Torline has been promoted to senior marketing and digital media director and Richard Hill, formerly senior legal counsel, will take on the new role of director, legal, VIMN Africa.
Londeka Nxumalo has joined the VIMN Africa team as director, VIMN Africa.
“This is an exceptional, experienced and proven senior executive team, that has been instrumental in VIMN Africa’s growth and success,” says Okosi. “Their leadership and vision will help drive our business goals and position us for further long-term success.”
Peter Tshidi at the helm as new Thaba Moshate GM
Peermont Hotels, Resorts and Casinos – southern Africa’s leading hospitality and gaming group – recently announced that Peter Tshidi has been appointed as the new general manager of Peermont’s Burgersfort resort, Thaba Moshate Hotel, Casino and Convention Resort.
Born in Pretoria, Tshidi’s experience within the hospitality and gaming industry spans over 20 years, and includes local and international hotel, casino and retail management for a variety of the continent’s most respected hotel and gaming entertainment groups.
“Peter brings a wealth of valuable industry experience to this role and we are confident in his ability to ensure the successful management of Thaba Moshate,” says Mark Jakins, Peermont marketing and regional operations executive.
What’s out there
Recruitment: amaB needs an investigative reporter
AmaBhungane has a vacancy for an investigative journalist who has what it takes to expose wrongdoing and hold power to account in a rapidly changing media and socio-political environment.
The amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism is Southern Africa’s premier investigative journalism non-profit. It handles agenda-setting investigative stories, helps others do the same, and fights for the information rights investigative journalists need. It publishes via amaBhungane.co.za and a range of digital and print media partners.
Any applicant must have at least five years reporting experience and a track record of agenda-setting investigative breaks; have a solid grasp of the ethical and legal requirements of the field; write competently; have a passion for truth, justice and serving the public interest; be a self-motivator who can work independently and in a team; and have a drivers’ licence valid in SA.
Attributes that will be a plus: online investigative competencies and data management skills; an understanding of financial statements and concepts; a solid grasp of/competencies in the digital environment and social media; and multilingualism
Individuals from a disadvantaged background are encouraged to apply. Remuneration is subject to negotiation.
Please email your CV, a short letter of motivation and two or three examples of previous work to nomagugun@amabhungane.org by March 20, 2017. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. amaBhungane.co.za
Who’s won what
Tribeca PR wins the jackpot with Peermont
Award-winning hospitality and entertainment company, Peermont Hotels, Casinos and Resorts (Peermont) has appointed Tribeca Public Relations to manage the public relations and communications activity for the group’s portfolio of properties and its ongoing CSI activities.
Peermont is renowned for its excellence in design, development, management, ownership and operation of multi-faceted hospitality and gaming facilities, including fine dining restaurants, luxurious hotels, exciting casinos, live entertainment and conferencing services.
“We chose Tribeca as our PR partner for many reasons, but most importantly because of its ethos, its business-led approach to clients and the fact that there is such a strong cultural fit between our two teams,” says Mark Jakins, group marketing and regional operations executive.
Tribeca has extensive experience in managing public relations for lifestyle, travel and hospitality brands.
Biggest Resort in Africa appoints Red Carpet Concepts
Full circle bespoke communications agency, Red Carpet Concepts (RCC) has been appointed by Zanzibar Amber Resort, a Pennyroyal Gibraltar Limited development, to handle its below and through the line marketing portfolio.
Zanzibar Amber Resort is set to be the largest five-star beach, golf and hospitality resort development in East Africa, stretching across 1520ha of prime Indian Ocean coastline and 4km of private beach in North Eastern Zanzibar.
Serving both new investor residents and visitors alike the resort offers an exclusive portfolio of five of the finest international hotel brands and an array of premium residency options that extend from penthouse condominiums to beachside villas and private islands.
Who’s making moves
GeoPoll becomes the only daily and independent media measurement service in Ethiopia
GeoPoll has announced that the GeoPoll Media Measurement service has launched in Ethiopia, and is currently collecting daily data on TV, radio, and print audience measurement. GeoPoll is now the only daily and independent media measurement service in Ethiopia. Ethiopian firms can now benefit from real-time measurement of media consumption.
Steve Gutterman, CEO of GeoPoll, added, “Over the past three years, our clients in East and West Africa have used GeoPoll’s media data to view audience shifts in real-time, assess the performance of their advertisements, and monitor viewership of one-off events. GeoPoll Media Measurement will further impact the media landscape in Ethiopia by bringing a reliable, real-time solution to audience measurement that has been vetted by researchers at both GeoPoll, and Kantar Media. “
GeoPoll started its media measurement service in June 2014, becoming the largest provider of overnight audience data for TV, radio, and print in Africa. In the past year, GeoPoll has built on its flagship product by adding tools for media planning and post-campaign evaluation, allowing brands and agencies to assess the performance of their advertisements in near real-time. The joint product with Kantar Media will refine the mobile data methodology that GeoPoll has used to collect daily audience data.
Accenture Interactive announces keynote speaker for IAB Digital Summit
Accenture Interactive, diamond sponsor for the IAB Digital Summit, has announced that Didier Uljasz will be the keynote speaker at the IAB Digital Summit 2017. Uljasz, MD at Accenture Interactive, is the head of the agency’s personalisation practice across EALA and digital marketing lead for Middle East, Africa, Russia and Turkey. He will bring deep experience on channeling detailed customer data for tangible business impact.
Uljasz will discuss ‘The art of knowing me: the customer genome and the new state of hyper-personalisation’. This presentation is rooted in Accenture Interactive’s ground-breaking research into the customer genome.
The IAB Digital Summit, powered by Accenture Interactive, will be held on 16 March 2016 at The Galleria Sandton from 9am until 3:30pm.
Gumtree South Africa sports a new look
South Africa’s largest classifieds site Gumtree.co.za is sporting a new homepage, along with several improved features, and rolling out a PWA (progressive web app).
The homepage will feature trending ads (that displays which ads are most popular in a user’s area), activity card notifications (similar to Facebook, informing users of activity occurring near their location), an improved search bar and location recognition and improved browsing capabilities on mobile devices.
It marks the commencement of an ongoing journey to improve and change the site, with new features expected to roll out over the next few months.
These changes follow the introduction of professional dashboards for property agents, automotive dealerships, recruiters and professional sellers known as ProTool in late 2016.
“We rank among the top five biggest websites in South Africa, drawing six million unique browsers per month, making us a powerful marketing platform for brands and SMEs. Much of the innovation implemented has been directed towards enabling these customers to speak to their customers more efficiently via Gumtree,” says Johan Nel, head of Gumtree South Africa.