Investing in women: A catalyst for change in Africa

Investing in women: A catalyst for change in Africa

Empowering women empowers entire societies, but for MultiChoice Africa, the most effective way to change perceptions and accelerate gender transformation is through the power of media and entertainment.   

Empowering women is about more than justice, gender equality and human rights. It is the most effective way to improve standards of living for entire communities – especially in emerging economies. 

As the world marks International Women’s Day (IWD) this month, it is an ideal time to reflect on the value of empowering women for all of society – not to mention the next generation of women.

A report by the International Labour Organisation determined that, “at a basic level, women’s employment, paid and unpaid, may be the single most important factor for keeping many households out of poverty.”

This is because – as other studies have found – women are more likely than men to invest a large proportion of their income to educate their children. Therefore, as women enter the workforce in greater numbers and earn higher salaries, more is spent on children’s education, including girls’ education. This can then lead to an ongoing cycle of better education for future generations of women.   

Pan-African entertainment group MultiChoice Africa is well positioned to support this process of empowering women through training in the media and entertainment sector. 

The organisation has long shown a deep commitment to promoting diversity, and its preferential procurement policies are intentionally aimed at empowering women. MultiChoice Africa invests in building a gender-balanced workforce through strategic recruitment and people development – and this has borne fruit. 

Today, the group provides entertainment and consumer services to 20.9m subscribers across sub-Saharan Africa. It produced 6 502 hours of local content last year, with more than 30 local content channels across 10 markets. The group has customers across 49 markets in sub-Saharan Africa and adjacent islands through DStv and GOtv, and its linear OTT service DStv Stream. 

This continent-wide penetration has been achieved with a workforce made up of 48% women employees – up from 47% in 2023 – and 43% female representation in senior management positions. 

MultiChoice spent ZAR90 million on the training and development of women staff in 2024 through initiatives like its Advancing Women Mentorship Programme. This initiative offers select groups of women the chance to attend masterclasses with executives, as well as networking sessions, mentorships and expert classes to enhance their technological and management skills. 

In addition, since 2012, the MultiChoice Innovation Fund has disbursed ZAR407 million in loans, grants, and business-development expenses, specifically targeting black women and youth-owned businesses in fintech, edutech, healthtech, HR tech and media. To date, 77 black-owned small businesses with at least 50% female, black ownership have benefited, creating more than 1 400 jobs.

The empowerment of women is a direct, purposeful MultiChoice business strategy, brought to life through significant empowerment programmes and budget allocations.

Progress through storytelling 

However, as Africa’s most-loved storyteller, MultiChoice Africa sees its fundamental role as being to entertain, inform and empower the African communities that inspire and build the company in return. 

In fulfilling this purpose, it works to also empower women through the hyperlocal content it produces for markets across the continent. 

In line with the goals of International Women’s Day, MultiChoice aims to achieve full gender equality in its industry, and on the African continent. Indeed, the group is well on the way to achieving that in its workforce and in its content strategy. 

The MultiChoice approach is to ensure women have a voice in the media and entertainment industry. It is working to help them acquire the skills to express themselves creatively, and to inspire audiences of millions of African girls and young women. 

A powerful platform for achieving this is through the MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) academies in three African capitals – Lusaka, Nairobi and Lagos. These institutions provide fully paid annual courses in the fundamentals of TV and filmmaking – everything from screenwriting to directing to sound engineering, editing and producing.

Half of the students intake are females, and their time at MTF sees them equipped to produce films of their own. Many young women filmmakers have produced highly impactful work that has premiered on MultiChoice platforms and won accolades at awards shows across the continent. 

Their work is itself an expression of the IWD theme to “Accelerate Action” towards gender equality. 

MultiChoice Africa platforms have achieved encouraging gender-transformation successes. The right inputs are being implemented, and they are generating the right outputs. 

While more remains to be done right across society before full gender parity has been achieved, the media has shown itself to be a critical platform for shaping perceptions and encouraging change. 

At MultiChoice Africa, women have found their voice. They are shaping Africa’s future. And they are doing that through the power of African storytelling.