Blantyre, October 17, 2019: Minister of Information, Civic Education and Communications Technology, Hon. Mark Bottomani, MO, has described Africa’s leading entertainment company, MultiChoice as the best catalyst that can help put Malawi on the international map.
Bottomani made the remarks Thursday in Blantyre when he visited Multichoice premises as part of his ongoing familiarization tour to establishments that are in line with his ministry.
The minister urged Multichoice to closely work with content producers to promote local skills and talent such as drama and music as they are the best avenues to tourism boom.
“Other countries like Nigeria and India have boosted their tourism industries through Multichoice television channels. They now have their own Bollywood and Nollywood respectively and why can’t Malawi have its Mollywood? Through channels such as CNN, BBC and Aljazeera, a lot about Malawi can be featured and this can help attract international tourists,” said Bottomani.
The minister then applauded the company for contributing significantly to the socio-economic status of the country and assured of good policies that will enable them operate in a conducive business environment.
Multichoice Malawi Managing Director, Gus Banda, said the minister’s timely visit will help the company work even better in order to satisfy and reach out to many Malawians as possible.
Banda said “We are working towards ensuring that local content is shown on both DSTV and GOTV regularly and this is something that will happen before the end of the year. With 35% growth last year only, it is our hope that we continue to grow and expand to reach out to many, even those in the rural areas”.
Established in 1996, MultiChoice Malawi which has a viewership of over 300, 000 aims at providing Malawian customers with a choice of DStv and GOtv packages respectively. The company’s local operations are also supported by a nationwide network of agents and installers as part of nurturing young skills.
The Minister was joined on the tour by Director of Information, Gedion Munthali and Technical Advisor, Frederick Ndala while Banda had Head of Regulations at the Regional Office in Zambia, Lloyd Momba and Christopher Chibwana from the Regulatory Regional Office in Zambia and some top officials in Blantyre.