My Mauritius showcase experience
Last week, I was one of the seven Ghanaian delegates, who travelled to Mauritius to be part of the conference dubbed “the biggest Content Showcase” by MultiChoice Africa, the pan-African satellite pay-TV operator which runs DStv and GOtv across sub-Saharan Africa.
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The delegation left Ghana on Monday evening via a South Africa Airways flight and arrived at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Tuesday morning to get another flight to the island of Mauritius.
Thanks to the excellent travel arrangements that MultiChoice has been noted for over the years, my Mauritius trip was filled with fun and work and it remains an experience that will be with me for the rest of my life.
Now before I tell you about the event, I want to share with you something funny that took place at the Kotota International Airport as we went through travelling formalities.
Even though that was not my first time travelling outside Ghana, it was my first ever business class travel and oh, the experience itself can be turned into a movie.
Being the first person in our team to arrive at the airport, I was also the first person to go through check-in formalities. At the counter, I handed over my passport and other documents for processing after a priority tag was stringed on my luggage.
Immediately after, one of the attendants who was seated close to the check-in area gazed at me, looked me up and down for few seconds and asked her colleague if indeed, I was in the business class.
Perhaps, I didn’t carry a look of a business class person in my shirt sleeves and khaki trousers plus sneakers. Probably, she was expecting a top business executive, with a protruding belly.
When we finally got on the plane, the business class was full of really ‘big’ men. Then I understood the look of amazement on the attendant’s face. But hey, I was really in business class for real and it was a pure comfort.
Now back to the reason why I was flown to Mauritius. After we freshened up, the pre-dinner cocktail and canapés on the beach was next on our itinerary. There was plenty music, indeed enough of it on the night. Big Brother Africa host, IK Osakioduwa, hosted the event.
Other celebrities that I spotted on the night were mostly from Nigeria and Ghana. They included Ghana’s actor, Majid Michel and rapper, Sarkodie, former Big Brother Africa winner and host of Jara on AfricaMagic, Uti Nwachukwu, Studio 53 presenter and Nigerian actress, Eku Edewor, Rita Dominic and Chinedu Ikedieze popularly known as Aki.
There were also Nollywood director, Mildred Okwor, renowned football journalist, Thomas T.K Kwanaite, 1998 African Footballer of the year and now Zambia FA President, Kalusha Bwalya and 2013 England Marathon winner, Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich.
Song for the project
Africa Rising, a campaign song designed to inspire Africans to become involved in community-based social upliftment projects was launched and its video premiered to everybody for the first time. The video was shot in Ghana and it was well done.
The high point on the night to me were the live performances of the Africa Rising song by Ghana’s rapper Sarkodie, Davido, a Nigeria American recording artiste and record producer, Savage, a Nigerian singer-songwriter, recording artiste and actress, Lola, a British singer of Nigerian/Ghanaian descent who garnered recognition as a dancer in the street dance group, “Myztikal” and Mi Case, a South African band consisting of three members, Dr. Duda, J Something and Mo-T.
Content showcase
Currently, MultiChoice doesn’t have any challenger so far as Pay-TV is concerned on the African continent, so what was the essence of the content showcase event which brought together content producers and owners, movie personalities, journalists and other professionals?
The event was dubbed “Only The Best”, which runs with MultiChoice Africa’s sole aim of providing top quality and the best local and international television content in Africa via DStv and GOtv channels.
Channels that participated in the week-long conference included BBC Lifestyle, BBC Entertainment, E! Entertainment, Style, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Telemundo, Comedy Central, MTV Base and Nickelodeon.
Others are History Channel, Crime and Investigation, Africa Magic, Ebony Life TV, Channel O and SuperSport.
Nice Meyer, CEO of MultiChoice Africa said, “We are here to showcase the best of our local and international content that MultiChoice Africa has to offer through our exciting brands DStv and GOtv.”
Each of the participating channels took the journalists and special guests through their programmes, how they arrived at the final content they show on their various channels.
I was particularly so impressed with Ebony Life TV, a Nigerian based channel on DStv after their presentation. Every content on the channel was produced in Nigeria and the quality of it makes it difficult to think that, things like this can be done in Africa.
It was also a great experience and opportunity to see popular chef of BBC Lifestyle, Ed Baines, go to the market, purchase ingredients and return to the kitchen and prepare food for us all.
In the subsequent content showcase, it’s my hope that, there will be more Ghanaian content providers and owners there to showcase the best.
Though Ghana is trying, for now, majority of what we have here cannot be said to be only the best.
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