Experienced leadership team well-positioned to grow group’s leading entertainment company position in Africa Naspers today announced the executive leadership team for the newly formed MultiChoice Group (formerly Naspers’ Video Entertainment business). Calvo Mawela has been appointed Group Chief Executive Officer and Imtiaz Patel has been appointed Executive Chairman of the MultiChoice Group. Further appointments include Tim Jacobs as Chief Financial Officer and Brand de Villiers as Group Chief Operating Officer. The appointments will be effective 1 November 2018.
The rapid advances in digital technology in Africa have created new opportunities to innovate on TV content delivery. Digital disruption seen in mobile devices is changing the way Africans access TV content. As a result, Over The Top (OTT) viewing, which streams contentdirectly to viewers via the internet onto their devices, has grown exponentially in recent years.
Broadcasting specialist Berry Lwando has worked in Zambia’s TV, film and radio industry for decades. And has recently been appointed academy director for Multichoice Talent Factory (MTF) in Southern Africa, which includes countries Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. MTF is a brand-new initiative dedicated to training 60 individuals from 13 African countries to hone their film and television production skills in a year-long funded programme supported by MultiChoice Talent Factoryacademies hosted in Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia.
Naspers today announced its intention to list its Video Entertainment business separately on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and simultaneously to unbundle the shares in this business to its shareholders. The new company will be named MultiChoice Group and will include MultiChoice South Africa, MultiChoice Africa, Showmax Africa, and Irdeto. Commenting on the transaction, Naspers CEO Bob van Dijk said: “This marks a significant step for the Naspers Group as we continue our evolution into a global consumer internet company.