How our activities added value for our stakeholders
Value created for society
Society and environment
schools with 129 000 children participating in
weekly sports programmes.
We see ourselves as an integral part of every community in which we operate. We want to ensure we deliver initiatives that address the real issues in those communities to make a lasting impact. Our initiatives aim to address socio-economic challenges such as employment, contribution to the fiscus and empowering small businesses to grow.
African continent trained through MTF
over the past eight years
Doing good and 'enriching lives' is in our DNA. We are proud of our contribution in the countries where we operate. We partner with various organisations including civil society groups to address social challenges.
In the past year, we partnered with the GoodMen Foundation
in South Africa to support the campaign to educate and
mobilise citizens to eradicate acts of violence against women
and children. We participated in the National Men’s Day, which
involved a men’s walk and a gala dinner to raise funds for gender-based violence
victims. We used our DStv general entertainment channels and social media platforms
to amplify the partnerships’ key messages in the fight against gender-based violence.
In Ghana, we partnered with
Ghana’s Ministry of Education,
Ghana Education Services and
the Ghana Broadcasting
Corporation to distribute the Ghana Learning
TV channel on DStv and GOtv. It provides senior
high school students access to free educational
content, available 24-hours a day.
In Angola, we supported the
media industry to help develop
and grow investigative journalism.
We partnered with the Training
Centre for Journalists to provide workshops to
students and journalists from various media in the
country. Two training sessions were held for
40 journalists.
Our CSI initiatives focus on creating employment opportunities, developing up-and-coming filmmakers, and nurturing future sports stars.
MultiChoice Talent Factory
The MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) is a 12-month filmmaking training programme offered in 14 countries across Africa.
It includes an internship, masterclasses for industry professionals, and a pan-African digital networking portal for creatives. The internship includes producing films for broadcast on M-Net's local channels and Showmax. The four MTF academies are based in Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia and South Africa. Over the past eight years, 379 storytellers have been trained.
As part of our ongoing commitment to grow the African film industry, the MultiChoice Talent Factory has partnered with the SAE Institute to offer 300 filmmakers across Africa online short courses in production management, sound, screenwriting, cinematography, and 3D animation. All training is conducted by leading African and international industry experts.
DStv Diski Challenge
The DStv Diski Challenge is a multifaceted development programme offering PSL reserve teams the chance to play in a competition, broadcasting internships for young people, and free broadcast rights for regional TV stations on DStv to broadcast the football competition.
The DStv Diski Challenge is an important platform for developing players for PSL teams.
Since inception, 275 players have been promoted to PSL first teams and more than 200 players have represented South African national teams in international competitions.
In November 2022, we produced our first ever batch of graduates under the PSL Player Transition Programme. The aim of the programme is to equip players with skills to find careers off the field after they retire from football. The programme is run in partnership with the Gordon Institute of Business Science.
SuperSport Let's Play
SuperSport Let's Play gives young people the opportunity to participate in sport activities. 1.6m children in thousands of schools and communities have been reached through the Let's Play Physical educational challenge.
SuperSport Let's Play has also been building multipurpose sports fields in schools across South Africa. By giving disadvantaged schools and communities access to state-of-the-art sporting facilities, Let's Play encourages children to participate in healthy activities. This provides much-needed social and physical stimulation, which positively impacts their overall wellness.
To date, we have installed multipurpose sports fields at 44 schools, with 129 000 children participating in weekly sports programmes on these sports fields.
CASE STUDY
Essential Medical Guidance
Essential Medical Guidance is a South African-based intelligent search engine, providing access to the largest database of country-specific medicines, related information, and digital support tools. We flagged them in our FY22 integrated annual report and are excited to provide an update as they go from strength to strength.
Their system is aimed at healthcare professionals searching for information about medicines, as well as multi-national pharmaceutical companies looking to engage healthcare professionals directly as part of their sales and marketing drives. The system currently reaches over 35 000 healthcare professionals in South Africa.
Currently boasting over one million searches per month, Essential Medical Guidance has onboarded the majority of the multi-national pharmaceutical companies that operate in South Africa, with the support of the National Department of Health.
Essential Medical Guidance was one of the six SMMEs shortlisted to showcase their technology at Expo 2020 Dubai and given support from the MultiChoice Innovation Fund, Essential Medical Guidance has signed contracts with a major pharmaceutical retailer and manufacturer. These contracts have enabled them to expand rapidly on the African continent and internationally.
MultiChoice Enterprise Development Trust
The MultiChoice Enterprise Development Trust aims to support and grow start-ups and small enterprises.
The trust manages the Innovation Fund, which aims to fast track entrepreneurs to leadership in the technology, film and content production industries.
It provides start-up entrepreneurs and established SMEs with the necessary tools, skills, and financial support to bring their business ideas to life and create much-needed employment opportunities.
Since inception, the fund has disbursed ZAR379m in loans, grants, and business development expenses to assist beneficiaries in acquiring skills and assets. The number of jobs created by the beneficiaries who received funding this year is 181.
The MultiChoice Accelerator aims to support small businesses to secure funding from global investors to scale their business. The support includes mentorship in business development and business management. In 2022, 20 entrepreneurs from South Africa participated in the programme and six finalists secured more than USD12m in investment from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The accelerator programme has been expanded to include: Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia, Angola, Ivory Coast and Senegal. In February 2023, 11 start-ups were selected to pitch their ideas to global investors.
African wildlife
In 2022, Irdeto completed its three-year partnership with the African Wildlife Foundation to protect Africa's most threatened species by using its anti-piracy and cybercrime technology. During this time, 82 social media links advertising the sale of illegal animals were detected and four suspects who were advertising live African wildlife were identified. In the next phase of its collaboration with the African Wildlife Foundation in 2023, Irdeto will utilise its experience and success to further disrupt criminals involved in the illicit wildlife trade.
MultiChoice is committed to the Sustainable Development Goals set out by the United Nations (UN). We understand that natural resources are finite.
Transformation
Both MCG and MCSA are level 1 BBBEE companies. We are committed to transforming our broader industry and contributing to an inclusive society. We believe that transformation is a business imperative and a catalyst for economic independence.
We recognise that owning economic assets plays a critical role in reducing inequality. That is why we are very proud of Phuthuma Nathi, our BBBEE share scheme. Phuthuma Nathi is one of the most successful and longest running BBBEE share schemes in South Africa. It has almost 77 000 black shareholders from all walks of life - ranging from individuals to collectives and black-owned companies - and has been in existence since 2006.
Phuthuma Nathi (RF) Ltd, our black empowerment scheme, owns 25%(1) of MultiChoice South Africa and through this scheme, we share the success of our business with thousands of black South Africans. To date, Phuthuma Nathi has paid ZAR16.4bn in dividends.
| (1) | Phuthuma Nathi empowerment shareholders have an effective shareholding of 23.2% in MultiChoice South Africa – see group structure |
Environment
In the countries where we have a licence to operate, we ensure our consumption of natural resources is minimal and that we comply with all existing environmental legislation. MCG aims to minimise impact on the environment through a risk based and phased approach.
Partnerships
As the leading video entertainment company in Africa, we are committed to making a meaningful contribution to a sustainable future in Africa.
In the past year, we partnered with the Earthshot Prize to help address climate challenges on the African continent.
The Earthshot Prize is a global environmental prize that aims to find scalable solutions to address the world's biggest environmental problems and repair our planet over the next 10 years.
The Earthshot Prize is awarded to five winners in five categories, with each winner receiving a GBP1m grant to continue their work.
Our partnership with the organisation aims to raise awareness and understanding of the Earthshot Prize across Africa, support local finalists, highlight their innovative solutions and mobilise communities to address sustainability challenges.
We are also a member of the Earthshot Prize Global Alliance (Global Alliance), a global network of non-profit and international organisations committed to the environment and sustainable development. The collective power of the Global Alliance gives the winners and finalists of the Earthshot Prize access to resources across numerous professions and sectors, including manufacturing, retail, supply chains, legal advice, digital technology, business strategy, and government relations.
Mukuru Clean Stores was announced the winner of the environmental prize for clean air in December 2022 at The Earthshot Awards ceremony. It is a start-up based in Kenya, which provides cleaner burning stoves to women in Kenya to cook in a safe environment and reduce unhealthy indoor pollution.
Irdeto joined CarIN, a global association of 300 members dedicated to the interoperability of the Combined Charging System (CCS) and MegaWatt Charging System (MCS) vehicle charging standards. As a core member, Irdeto and CharIN share the same vision of a sustainable future and a mission of promoting a secure and standardised charging system for electric vehicles.
Climate change
Initial climate change risk assessments have been conducted and business is working on refinement with a biannual review process planned. Climate related risks identified include compliance with legislation, the impact of extreme weather events and natural disasters, high diesel and energy consumption, carbon emissions and the impact of climate change on workers' health and safety. Mitigating activities are being researched and some have been deployed in line with the holistic phased approach implemented.
Controlled companies in the MultiChoice Group are at various stages of maturity.
Consequently, our approach takes into account proportionality for the individual businesses, such as size and workforce, resources and complexity of activities. We aim to minimise impact on the environment through a phased approach - initial plans include bedding down the way the business recognises and assesses its impact on the environment and the potential adverse impacts of climate change on the group and its stakeholders.
Most of our office buildings are environmentally friendly or, where possible, retrofitted for energy and water efficiency. Our Randburg South Africa office has a five-star green rating from the Green Building Council, and our Hoofddorp Netherlands office that runs on renewable energy has an energy label A+.
In the countries where we have a licence to operate, we ensure our consumption of natural resources is minimal and that we comply with all existing environmental legislation.
MultiChoice measures its carbon footprint from scope 1 and 2 emissions according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Our organisational carbon footprint reporting boundary identifies three types of sites:
Office buildings, with a 3% materiality level
Warehouses, owned or leased (>1 000m2), excluding shared leased premises
All key broadcasting sites
Our carbon footprint in FY23 was 75 060 tonnes of CO2e (FY22: 86 080 tonnes), with the largest contributors being electricity, accounting for 100% of scope 2 emissions (51% of total emissions, FY22: 52%). Our primary impact arises from using coal-fired electricity, which is the primary source of energy in many of the countries where we operate. During electricity outages, we use fuel such as diesel to power generators.
| Scope | Source | Total in CO2eq in tonnes |
| Scope 1 | Diesel | 33 210 (FY22: 37 921) |
| Petrol | 2 345 (FY22: 2 468) | |
| Fugitive gases | 1 413 (FY22: 785) | |
| Liquid petroleum gas | 40 (FY22: 21) | |
| Scope 2 | Electricity | 38 052 (FY22: 44 885) |
We have implemented several initiatives to improve our resource usage efficiencies. These include:
Energy-efficiency and energy-saving measures for electricity, air-conditioning, data centres, heating and ventilation, and investing in green infrastructure, such as light motion sensors in buildings, LEDs with daylight harvesting, solar panels and energy-efficient invertor technology.
Waste reduction initiatives including recycling, e-waste management, waste separation and biobins.
Water-efficiency measures or our green accredited buildings, including low water use taps, dual-flush toilets, pressure reducers and educating employees and guests on water use efficiencies.
Green initiatives such as encouraging people to use video conferencing facilities instead of air travel to reduce carbon emissions
A solar solution for MultiChoice City building will be implemented in FY24 and FY25 that will assist in reducing the building electricity consumption by approximately 25%.
Net Zero emission reviews were conducted on all SA-owned buildings in excess of 25 000m2.
