Company Announcement - The Association for Transformation in Film and Television and ABSA Centre of Entrepreneurship Gauteng are inviting you to an introductory entrepreneurship workshop for television and film production companies. As part of the ATFT’s mandate to up skill our members in financing and business skills, ATFT is running an accelerator program supported by the Department of Trade and Industry for all the companies that have traveled with the ATFT to international film markets to date.

The ATFT accelerator program is a cohort-based program that includes mentorship in film and developmental components and will culminate in the participants attending markets selected to advance their businesses. This program aims to assess the needs and challenges for black owned South African film and television production and distribution companies, to export their content and attract foreign direct investment.

The ATFT Accelerator program will address these challenges through several combined long-term development programs that leverage the expertise local and international professionals in various fields. These programs plan to empower local production companies to make themselves and their products (content) ready for selected export markets and to conclude deals at those markets and generate sufficient ongoing revenue to sustain them.

The first preliminary workshop leading up to the export accelerator is in association with the ABSA Centre of Entrepreneurship in Gauteng. This workshop will explore how the centre can assist production companies as SMEs in accessing business tools and resources.

Absa runs an entrepreneurship centre in Newtown, Johannesburg, in collaboration with various private and public partners including the City of Johannesburg. This initiative is in addition to the R250 million in non-traditional lending that Absa committed to in 2013 aimed entirely at the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector in South Africa.    The purpose of this hub is to support support entrepreneurs beyond just their financial needs.

The private and public partners involved in Absa’s SME initiative include: the City of Johannesburg, Telkom, Microsoft, SARS, South African Breweries, GIBS, KPMG, MassCash, SAIPA, South African Bureau of Standards, Sustainable Entrepreneurship Accelerator and Proudly South African.   The overarching objective of the Centres of Entrepreneurship is to increase cooperation in the development of small businesses through the transfer of skills such as financial literacy, knowledge sharing, mentorship, networking opportunities, infrastructure and HR expertise.

The workshop will take place on the 22nd of September in the following venue:
1.  Johannesburg – 22nd September 2015 10h00 - 13h00
Venue: ABSA Centre of Entrepreneurship Gauteng, Business Bank Gauteng Corner Henry Nxumalo and Jeppe Street, Newtown

Please provide your ID number when you RSVP and also on the day of the workshop

Spaces are limited and entrance is conditional to pre-registration by sending an RSVP email to zukiswa@filmandtvtransformation.org 
For more information on the ATFT please visit www.atft.info