Corporate Citizenship

COMMUNITIES

The group is active in its communities, focusing on literacy and educational programmes in Africa.

Given the nature of its business, MultiChoice plays a key role in its communities. Aiming to achieve a sustainable impact on the country’s socio-economic challenges, MultiChoice companies have implemented various initiatives.

MultiChoice has developed a social investment strategy aligned to its aims. This will contribute to broader South African transformation. The strategy focuses on generating skills critical for MultiChoice’s industry and consolidates its social programmes into a single vehicle, DStv Be More.

Launched in 2005 SuperSport’s Let’s Play received the best Social Responsibility in Sport prize at the Virgin Active Sport Industry Awards for 2010. Let’s Play encourages primary school children to participate in sport and has forged partnerships with, among others, Unicef, and the departments of Basic Education and of Sport and Recreation.

During the 2010 Fifa World Cup, Let’s Play partnered with the Local Organising Committee and the Department of Basic Education in the My 2010 Schools Adventure programme involving 7 500 schools. Through the Let’s Play a Million project, 220 000 soccer balls were distributed to schools and communities throughout the country.

CASE STUDY – SUPERSPORT’S INVOLVEMENT IN AFRICAN FOOTBALL LEAGUES

SuperSport is involved with the soccer federations in Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Angola, Ghana and Uganda. In some cases, the fees SuperSport pays for rights to broadcast the local soccer games constitutes as much as 75% of their revenue. Our football consultant, Stanley Matthews, conducts regular workshops which improve corporate governance, administration and management of the leagues. SuperSport assists with managing their websites and employs and upskills locals and invests heavily in infrastructure such as studios, outside broadcasting vans and the like. We help the leagues to secure sponsorships and allow them to participate in an exchange programme with the German Bundesliga, where administrators, players and journalists attend workshops in Germany. Spectator attendances have increased rapidly since SuperSport became involved in the federations, with Kenya as an example increasing on average from 2 000 to 20 000 spectators per match.

MultiChoice, in partnership with ministries of education in African countries, established MultiChoice Resource Centres as a learning tool for learners in under-resourced schools. Nine hundred of these centres are now operational in 28 countries – 172 new centres were rolled out in the past financial year. MultiChoice provides and installs decoders, televisions and DVD recorders.

The DStv Educational bouquet is provided free to MultiChoice Resource Centres. The bouquet comprises eight educational channels: History, National Geographic, National Geographic Wild, BBC World, BBC Knowledge, Discovery, Mindset Learn and Animal Planet. In addition, educators in these schools are trained to integrate this educational programming into curricula.

Media24 wants all South Africans to read. Accordingly, the company has invested in numerous projects that educate, uplift and develop, especially as regards literacy. In the past year Media24 invested some R13m in community projects throughout South Africa focused on welfare, health and education. In addition, its newspapers and magazines provided free editorial and advertising space to create awareness and harness support for a number of socio-economic issues in the country.

Paarl Media is active in its communities at both social and environmental levels. Some of its current projects include:

• Established a R10m bursary trust for previously disadvantaged students from the Paarl community.
• Assisted the Miqlat learning centre in Paarl East with learning and computer resources.
• Sponsors printing of The Big Issue, whose vendors are mainly unemployed people from informal settlements on the outskirts of Cape Town.
• Supports the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies for food security programmes.
• Implemented a food tent at The House orphanage in Berea that provides nutritional food and skills development.
• Provided financial support and blankets to The Haven Care Centre.
• Sponsored a vehicle for Amado, an organisation that empowers disabled children through animal-assisted therapy.
• Donated school clothes, stationery and food to Prissked Charities.
• Provided support to the Carel du Toit Centre, which cares for children with hearing disabilities.
• Contributes annually to the Paarl Post Christmas fundraising project in aid of the Western Cape Community Chest.
• Subsidised printing for the Society of the Blind and Tsiba College.
• Assisted Monte Christo Ministries with feeding schemes at schools, soup kitchens and hospitals.
• Continuously donates to the National Sea Rescue Institute and SOS Children’s Village.
• Partnered with the Paarl Mountain Project to create employment opportunities in clearing the mountain of alien vegetation.
• Provided financial assistance to Helping Hand SA, a missionary organisation that distributes food, clothing and other goods to the poor.

 
COMMUNITY BENEFIT

MultiChoice reaches out to the local communities in which it operates, supporting initiatives such as disaster relief donations in Uganda for the victims of mudslides in the eastern part of that country and Farmer’s Day celebrations in Ghana.

 In Nigeria, MultiChoice supports the Sickle Cell Foundation. We provide vehicles and advocacy support for the foundation by using our platform to create awareness about the disease and provide information on treatment. In some businesses where we have minority investments, valuable work is also being done.

• The Tencent Charity Foundation donated almost RMB10m (R10,4m) to construct school buildings, dormitories and other infrastructure to improve local educational quality and school conditions in poor regions. Tencent employees founded the Tencent Volunteers’ Association, which has more than 1 000 members. Among these are middle- and high-ranking management headed by the chief executive officer and the core backbone of various departments. They use their spare time to implement projects funded by the Tencent Charity Foundation. These include educational development and university talent development projects. Other activities include help to the elders, safe internet surfing training for young people and donating clothing to disaster regions.
• In the Philippines, Sulit joined the Bayan-Anihan (“community harvest”) movement, a partnership between the Department of Agriculture and Gawad Kalinga anti-poverty organisation. This movement aims to address the pressing issue of hunger in the Philippines. To mark its fourth anniversary, Sulit organised the SULITulungan project – 23 employees and some 40 members of the Sulit community built a farm and provided sustainable living for families from a village in Laguna region.
• Each year Level Up! uses viral marketing and celebrity endorsements to encourage gamers to donate blood in its Life Quest project, working with the Apro Sangue Institute. To mark Tree Day, Level Up! hosts a quiz on its website, with player participation supporting the company’s donation of some 200 trees to Tropical Flora.
• OLX Argentina runs a computer donation programme to help schools, charities and notfor- profit organisations (NPOs) in their focus on education. Twelve organisations benefited from donations of computers and laptops in good condition. In addition, OLX supports numerous NPOs focused on education, literacy, vulnerable children and people with disabilities.
• Ricardo participates in the largest fundraising activity in Switzerland, Jeder Rappen zählt, (before Christmas each year) by running charity auctions on www.ricardo.ch, supported by promotional marketing and employee volunteers. Ricardo also supported fundraising for the international Red Cross. Artworks incorporating a red cross created by prominent people were auctioned on www.ricardo.ch. This project received the prestigious Swiss Dialogue Marketing Prize 2011.