Sony’s Earth F.C., a formidable team to be on
Sony is stepping up to the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) plate with the launch of their impressive campaign “Earth F.C.” , a major social investment initiative anchored around the FIFA World Cup Football tournament taking place in South Africa in less than 3 months (woopee!) … let’s not forget Sony is lucky enough to be an ‘official partner’. We’ve had a look at their offering and we must say we approve, it’s creative, well thought through, meaningful, through-the-line and at the same time fun. Good job Sony. Represent! The campaign is made up of three main elements, first, the “Public Viewing in Africa”, a series of awesome public screening areas planned for the colourful West African countries of Ghana and Cameroon (both qualifying countries) where access to TV is limited but soccer is everything. “Sony employees have teamed up with UNDP, JICA and local NGOs [so] our caravan of vehicles can move around the country, setting up big screens in public places like village squares and schools. The live broadcasts will primarily be for matches involving African teams.” Sony have also incorporated an HIV/Aids education drive into the program, offering ‘education, counseling and testing can be offered before the matches and at halftime’. ‘A trial run co-sponsored with JICA in Ghana last year delivered impressive results: 7,200 people took part in the event (five times the normal JICA figure in rural areas) with 1,100 of them getting tested for HIV test (3 times the normal figure). Clearly this approach can increase the reach of HIV/AIDS education.’ JICA and GHANA you can also read more about the Ghana trials here. The second prong consists of a bunch (1000) of ‘ highly durable yet environmentally conscious vegetable-based Join the Team plastic footballs‘ that have been designed by Sony’s engineers with the aim of creating robust footballs suitable for the African terrain and conditions. Sony is hoping to get a million clicks – with every 1000 clicks a ball will be donated. It’s simple, go here and click on Join the Team and play some virtual soccer ball passing around the globe (FYI we were pass number 9359 and 9 balls so far have been donated (it’s the 1st of April 2010)… ) The third part of the program is a little closer to our hearts, as it’s about giving out 15000 tickets to South African kids between the ages of 12 and 15 who would otherwise never be able to afford the matches, we’re not sure how they’re managing this but they will be transporting and looking after them and of course dressing them in specially designed Sony bandanas 😉 There’s...
Donna Karan you’re so two and a half years ago
“The Black Coffee everyonecanbeadesigner dress – designed 2.5 years before Donna Karan’s infinity dress…”Need we say more? Actually, yes. Johannesburg-based (yes, that’s in South Africa) design team Jacques van der Watt and Dannica Lepen, otherwise known as Black Coffee, launched their superb concept dress known as “everyonecanbeadesigner” to market in 2007. Not that it’s needed, but we can testify to this date as it was the year I got married and Jacques’ partner had proposed I wear one for my wedding dress… I wish I had now, as I’d have had a photo of me looking oh-so-2007 to tie down the facts (actually, when I look at the photos now, my hair was clearly plucked out of a childhood dream hairstyle ergo ’89). Anyway, the point is, Black Coffee’s byline was ‘a new way of looking at clothing’ and the campaign around the dress was a gorgeous 360 concept that included a video showing you all the ways you could wear the dress. Just go see the site. Come 2010 and suddenly we see a very similar looking dress rehashed as a ‘Donna Karan’s Infinity dress’. Pfft. Something seriously fishy going on people, what you reckon? Coincidink? I don’t know how you feel, but in general, I’m getting a little bit tired of the ‘big overseas chiefs” helping themselves to African goodness, minerals, inspiration…and scuttling off. For how many centuries will we be their buffet table? We sit perched on the end of our struggling continent just minding our business and producing high quality, exceptional work and then get stomped over by a big western made-in-china foot. Genoeg is genoeg. Africans, it’s really enough now, time to STAND UP and of course I’m talking about everything here… I’m so chuffed the World Cup Soccer is taking place in South Africa so we don’t have to make movies to prove what a sublime place we live in… and so that the 1 million visitors who would never have stepped foot in Africa before, can get a hands-on real time lesson and go back and re-educate their brethren about Africa, and in particular Southern Africa and just how much we rock. But of course, just the thought of going up against a US mega-icon like DKNY to say ‘i had that idea first!’ must be freaking daunting… this tiny little speck of dust from Africa daring to lay claim to genius that was born outside of the U S of A. We say STUFF THAT – go for it…! We support you and of course ♥ you long time Black Coffee. If you are tired of bullshit too – let your...
Support Haiti in the spirit of UBUNTU ♥
Represent’s good friend, the gorgeous Melanie Ramjee, is spearheading a party on Saturday night to raise funds for Haiti – so if you still haven’t had a turn to help the Haitian people out, or even if you have, here is your chance to get involved. Get to Premium night club on Saturday night – they’re asking for R50 or more, new clothes (come on, Mr P!) and non-perishable canned food. Dignified. Come on now, REPRESENT! Good luck Mel, we ♥ you long time. Premium night club together with the support of reputable relief organization Gift of the Givers Foundation and local ‘do-gooders’ Cheesekids will be hosting a fundraising event this Saturday 30th January 2010 at Premium in Rivoniva, where all proceeds will be donated to the Heal Haiti cause. What : Haiti SOS Where : Premium When : Saturday, 30th January 2010 Time : Doors open 9am DJ : Vigi-lante / Voodoo / Naves / Zinhle / Biz / Master M / Paul / Switch / Franky Donation : R50 upwards /Non-perishable canned foods / Clothing Following the recent natural disaster in Haiti earlier this month, with an urgent plight from the Haitian people for basic survival support, Joburgers are asked to ‘stand up’ and make a difference now. Haiti SOS was created for that purpose. Premium hosts 2 dance-floors, with house and hiphop beats, DJ’s donate their time and skill. With additional support from various urban brands, the initiative hopes to raise over R100 000 in money and goods. All proceeds made on the night, will be donated to the Gift of the Givers Foundation based here in South Africa, who conduct direct weekly deliveries to Haiti. ‘So many Africans want to assist and just don’t know how. With support from the Gift of the Givers Foundation, we know that the right people will get our donations,’ says Raphael Benza, Managing Director of the Vth Season. Requested donations include a financial contributions (R50 or more), new clothing and non-perishable canned...
Mweet Muzi Mohale & retweet to win fab travel prizes.
Represent gets in touch with another inspirational Southern African this week who has followed their dreams and made them a reality… Meet Muzi Mohale, the intrepid travel blogger and tweeter who spends his days sharing useful information on his growing SA travel and tourism blog TravelWires – Muzi is celebrating his blog’s 3rd birthday with a bunch of freaking awesome travel prizes – all you have to do is tweet away… read below and enter fast. Sharpile Muzi for your words and hey… hook us up with the Rastafarian community in Knysna1 Hi Muzi, thanks for meeting with us, tell us a little bit about yourself: My name is Muzi Mohale born 35 years ago in Swaziland where I attended both primary and secondary education. A year after my O’ levels in 1994 I relocated to Johannesburg to study Financial Management at Benoni Technical College. Between 2000 to 2002 I was employed by Classic FM and therefore by Moneyweb until I resigned in March this year to nurture my dreams of being a fulltime blogger. What attracted you to the tourism industry? My love for travelling and the internet attracted me to the tourism industry. Since discovering the internet in 2000 I’ve been hooked and have made it a point to learn more about running an online business. Through my work at Moneyweb, where I was involved with updating their in-house websites, I figured out that I could also earn an income from running a website as well. Then in 2003 I created www.accommodate.co.za which was basically a lodging booking portal focused on B&B’s in Soweto. Tell me about Travelwires.com – what is it and why/how did you start it? I started adding industry news on www.accommodate.co.za just to spice up the offering, as displaying only lodging facilities on a website was a stagnant exercise. Updating industry news daily was meant to generate interest with browsers so they could visit the website on a regular basis. Then in 2006, Christine Searle the owner of www.sa-venues.com sponsored the creation of www.travelwires.com a standalone website to exclusively cater for tourism news. I now blog fulltime, which allows me the opportunity to discover the various tourism routes the country has on offer and to earn a living doing what I love. Who is your ideal target audience? I’m more focused on helping small tourism operators on running profitable websites for their operations. A website if used properly can greatly improve the bottom line of your business. Besides helping small tourism operators I also blog about the latest trends within the industry in South Africa. May I also take this opportunity to invite...
Get some perspective at the NetWeb event tomorrow
In July we interviewed young entrepreneur Mongezi Mtati the organiser of the monthly Netweb events for entrepreneurs. It’s their first year anniversary (congrats!) and they’re going out big tomorrow night at Cappello’s in Ghandi Square with lots of give-aways and a presentation from Don Packett of Thunk! – they’re focusing on PERSPECTIVE in business… so go and get some! “When a group of smart people are struggling with an innovation based problem, it’s never a lack of knowledge that’s holding them back – it’s a lack of perspective.” Thunk! You are an expert at what you do. No one else does it better than you. You’ve learnt all there is, applied yourself, changed perception and discovered what works. But when do you start innovating? As industry influencers, however, we tend to get stuck in our ways. In Rules For Revolutionaries, Guy Kawasaki says: “we hardly ever consider a problem in the broadest way possible.” The legacy of what we’ve proven works stunts our creativity. Perspective, a way of solving your innovation based problem, is critical in reviving the change you always wanted to create. Can you still remember that first time, when you knew there was change needed in your current field? When you have thought about a problem for long periods, you are less likely to change things within that industry. The 90/10 rule at Thunk! is: what you know, all that you’ve applied before, only worked 90% of the time. The 10% is where the ability to innovate lies, which is the product of perspective. Don Packet, one of two perspective merchants in South Africa and the co-founder of Thunk! will be speaking at the Netweb Event. The other is his business partner. His experiences as co-founder of the only ‘perspective lab’ in the continent ensures, you will leave with new ideas to change (what’s now become) your old ways. He delivers on insights, ranging from work done with corporate companies and entrepreneurial ventures. At this anniversary Netweb Event we are also giving away: – A 1 year subscription to Succeed Magazine – A R50 000 corporate video customized for your business (Sponsored by Missing Link) – And a bottle of wine. RSVP here. What else?: If there are any questions please contact Mongezi at 011 794 6445 or email info@aquanova.co.za ——————————————————————————– Mongezi Mtati is a speaker, the founder of Netweb Event, NetwebTV and blogs here. He talks to himself and plays video games. Find him on Facebook and Twitter Links: a. Thunk! – http://www.thunklab.com/ b. Don Packett – http://donpackett.com/ c. Netweb Event – http://netwebevent.pbworks.com d. Succeed – www.succeed.co.za e. Missing Link – http://www.missinglink.co.za/ f. RSVP here...
Take the Alter Route through Soweto
I’ve never known how to feel about the tourist buses and taxis that bump through Soweto crammed with foreign faces pressed up curiously at the windows, only stopping at very specific touristy haunts- on one hand, it kind of eeks me out, on the other, it’s what tourists do in any interesting place… and damn Soweto is interesting. And tourism brings many great things with it, including strange sock-sandal combinations. Thing is, those buses are only ever going to catch the surface and perhaps cliched view of the charm-oozing hub that makes you never want to leave- but there’s an underside to Soweto that’s been brewing over the last decade as an evolving creative youth explores and reinvents their identity in a postrevolution South Africa. Be privy to this change as it’s happening right now, get to a celebration of hip and happening Soweto in 2009 next weekend at Alter Route. Oh and don’t tell the sock-and-sandle clad tourists, we’d like to keep it to ourselves for a bit as it’s just so… nice: Winter is on its way out, summer’s almost here and what better way to awaken the hibernated senses with Alter Route Soweto on Saturday August 29, 2009 at Est 1912, Rockville Soweto. Alter-Route is an exhibition that encapsulates the spirit of its surroundings and serves it up through a mix of visual, auditory and culinary ingredients that would appeal to everyone. Kgomotso Morena, event organizer, says “Soweto has passed the phase of being labelled a township. Its streets have changed, its face has undergone reconstruction and its mentality has grown. Throughout all this change, its youth has been preparing a multi-genre, multi-cultural and mix-flavoured brew of new age talent and Alter Route Soweto is a collection and celebration of all that.” All this means is that, apart from one hell of an event, Alter Route Soweto will be a platform for the brands that will be on display to be exposed to new markets and new patrons, it’s a way of showcasing unconventional artistic elements in hope of bringing people of diverse backgrounds together. For R30, the public will first be treated to the renowned Dr Badela, The Layders, Wysdiman, Meat the Veggies, Wireless Gee and playkaystat who will all not just satisfy your hearing but set the mood for the entire event. Then, as if that isn’t enough, Soweto’s finest vegetarian chef, Far a field from Shifty, whose repertoire ranges from delectable gourmet cuisine to simple yet equally tantalising takeaways will be seen cooking up a storm and selling some scrumptious bites. What’s a celebration without some visual stimulation? Guests’ eyes will be amazed...
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