Vth Season Founder, Ninel Musson, flies the SA Flag high at Annual Harvard Conference

Ninel Musson of Vth Season has been invited as a speaker at this year’s prestigious Harvard Business School’s 25th Annual Africa Business Conference.

The conference is held on 24 and 25 March 2023, at the Harvard Business School campus in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

In celebration of the conference’s silver anniversary, the theme is “Africa Accelerated: Leaps and Bounds into the Next Decade,” as it expresses the organisers’ belief that the continent has reached an inflexion point in its growth trajectory.

Ninel Musson is the founder of a leading independent record label in South Africa, called Vth Season, and has more than 15 years of experience developing talented African artists into award-winning national and continental successes. She is also a consultant in the creative industries, championing independent projects in culture, music and creative tech. Ninel will provide insight from the perspective of SA. In particular, she will talk about current developments, as well as ways to support the industry and artists in SA.

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Team Sayari on National Geographic Wild

Team Sayari hosts with WildlifeDirect team

The Walt Disney Company Africa, together with its project partners USAID, the U.S. State Department and WildlifeDirect are pleased to announce that brand new episodes of Team Sayari will premiere on National Geographic Wild (DStv 182, Starsat 221) this March. Following a successful launch and enthusiastic reception, viewers can look forward to more adventures in the natural world with episodes premiering on the channel every Saturday at 13:00 (CAT) / 14:00 (EAT) from 4 March 2023.

The first of its kind, this authentic African children’s programme aims to encourage viewers to engage in conservation of Africa’s vast biodiversity and natural resources. Led by the programme’s goals to inspire curiosity, ignite positive behaviour change and nurture environmental champions, studio hosts Mysha Hodson (15), Marita Lucas (14), Shanah Manjeru (16), Railey Mwai (12) and Adarsh Nagda (14) commence each episode in the Sayari Basecamp where a gigantic tree, with a textured trunk named Funzi imparts knowledge about the environment and gives the team various challenges on which to embark.

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Sandton City Shoppers Urged to Donate School Uniforms and Stationery

As part of its commitment to its extended community, Sandton City has launched a school uniform and stationery essentials collection drive, urging shoppers to donate anything from shirts to pants, from socks to shoes, and stationery items to help learners in Alexandra Community start their year off on a high note. Aimed at making learners’ schools journey more meaningful, the centre started the collection with the first 400 sets of stationery and hopes that shoppers will get behind the initiative that has the potential to make a real difference.

Any individual stationery items, such as pens, pencils, rulers, erasers, notebooks and crayons, are welcome. Alternatively, pre-packed sets are available from Checkers and CNA in the centre. The collection boxes are located in front of back-to-school specialists Checkers, Jet and Woolworths and will be emptied regularly until 31 January, when the items will be handed over to the non-profit organisation Rays of Hope, well known for its incredible work focused on uplifting the youth in Alexandra.

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Joburg Film Festival Youth and Audience Development Programme

With just a few weeks to go before the prestigious Joburg Film Festival takes place in Sandton, the JFF Youth and Audience Development programme continues in the Ekurhuleni and Tshwane regions this month.

Following the successful programmes in Sedibeng and the Westrand last month, the next series of workshops has now been announced with the Ekurhuleni edition set to take place at the Rhoo Hlatswayo Art Centre on 19-20 November, followed by the Tshwane programme confirmed to take place on the 26-27 November at the Women’s Living Heritage Museum.

Developed to prioritise growth and upskilling of young upcoming local filmmakers in underdeveloped areas within the province, the JFF Youth and Audience Development programme is an integral pillar of the festival. For the past few years, this event has provided life changing experiences for emerging film talent, with over 200 aspiring local young creatives / filmmakers attending the programme thus far. 

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What to watch on National Geographic this Summer

Cinematographer Tom Fitz stands semi-submerged in the ocean waters of Biscayne National Park, filming the bird life and the surrounding mangrove coastline landscape. (photo credit: National Geographic/Phoebe Fitz)

Do you want to feast your eyes on some of the best programming and content that is due to arrive on screen this summer? I was one of 50 selected media to join a live stream today, to showcase National Geographic’s new slate of programmes in the coming weeks. As a surprise, we were honoured to have none other than Bear Grylls, as a special guest, who answered questions about his National Geographic show called “Running Wild With Bear Grylls: The Challenge.”

The Walt Disney Company Africa announced the upcoming content slate for both National Geographic and National Geographic Wild for Spring/Summer 2022, with channels that now broadcast in high-definition. With a promise to ignite the explorer in all of us, and with a 133-year legacy, viewers across the continent will also be able to immerse themselves in the very latest and ground-breaking storytelling in stunning high definition for the very first time, taking them further than ever before.

Featuring the best and brightest scientists, explorers, photographers and filmmakers in the world, the coming months’ content highlights offer something for everyone, as several new natural history series, feature documentaries, and programming stunts, will showcase the wonder of the natural world, take them on exhilarating adventures and illuminate historical figures who epitomize the strength and triumphs of humankind.

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Launch of Africarare – Africa’s First Metaverse Collaboration

Boity Thulo in the Africarare Metaverse

Africarare, Africa’s first metaverse is set to unlock African creativity and connect Africa to the global digital economy. At an event in Johannesburg on 28 February 2022, plans were announced for commercialisation of the 3D virtual reality experience, that is set in Ubuntuland, a virtual world that marries creativity, cryptocurrency and commerce. 

Firstly, virtual land will soon be available to purchase and develop with MTN, Africa’s largest multinational mobile telecommunications company, joining Africarare with an upcoming 12×12 village (144 plots of real estate) secured in Ubuntuland. Additionally, M&C Saatchi Abel have entered the metaverse as the first South African advertising agency to do so. There will only ever be 204 642 plots of land available, made up of different village sizes in various community hubs. The land is positioned and priced according to a tiered value system.

Landholders will be able to customize their 3-D land spaces, such as hosting shops, producing resources, renting virtual services and developing games or other applications. Designated spaces will serve the community for work, play and wellness purposes, including state of the art meeting rooms, online therapy rooms (with optional anonymity), concert stages, film festival spaces, meditation lounges and other dynamic interactive environments. And, there’s more to come, such as staking, DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) and blockchain play-to-earn gaming.

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