The Zimbabwe MultiChoice Talent Factory winners Rutendo Mahofa and Nobert Mapfoche joined other African winners in Lusaka Zambia on Thursday to begin their filmaking course at the MultiChoice Talent Factory Academy for Southern Africa.
The students were welcomed at a launch where Zimbabwean Ambassador to Zambia Gertrude Takawira, was also in attendance. She congratulated the Zimbabwean students on being selected to join 18 others from across Southern Africa. 
The opening event featured entertainment acts such as traditional dancers, stilt walkers, jugglers, a ladder show and Zimbabwean beatboxer Probeatz, who gave what MultiChoice Zimbabwe publicity and public relations manager Liz Dziva described as a sterling and dazzling performance that wowed the crowd. 
The launch event was held at the Zambia Institute of Mass Communication, an independent professional media training trust and heritage site in the heart of Lusaka, attended by Zambian dignitaries and industry professionals, as well as the students and other representatives of various countries in the region. Zambia’s Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, Dora Siliya, opened the academy and commended the initiative.
“The fact that MultiChoice can take a chance with the young people of the region calls for a special applause and I want to remind the private sector that the magic in the film industry in countries such as Nigeria results from the private sector and others taking a chance on supporting the film industry,” she said.
“We are not going to showcase our own stories if we are going to wait for financial support from overseas. We can only tell our stories if the private sector in our countries in the region takes a chance on these young people and the film industry as a whole.”
Berry Lwando Lusaka academy director told the gathering that the 20 students would be provided with skills to make use of their talent, and would be connected with industry professionals.
“The MultiChoice Talent Factory is committed to empowering young filmmakers and enriching the industry, and the academy is our key to doing this helping to addressing gaps across the region,” he said.
“We believe that, given an opportunity, an empowered new generation of filmmakers and TV professionals will rise to take their place at the forefront of local creative industries, producing the very best of local African content for our continent.”
Ms Dziva said that the launch event was a fitting glamorous start for an initiative that would be instrumental in helping develop the industry across the region, including Zimbabwe, and would see a flow of new content onto platforms such as the DStv channels created to showcase local stories and local talent.
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