MTV, MTN give voice to African youth

11 May 2011

LAGOS: MTV Networks Africa and MTN have partnered in a pan-African multimedia campaign aimed at inspiring African youth by connecting them with some of the world's most influential personalities. They will partner to produce MTV Base Meets...with MTN, an eight-part youth empowerment initiative and TV series that creates a dialogue between young people and political, business and cultural leaders.

Among those who will feature in the series are: Liberian President Madame Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (Africa's first and only elected female head of state), Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda and South African politician Julius Malema (President of the ANC Youth League). A panel of young people representing different youth interests will be assembled from across the African continent, with participants coming from Cameroon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda, among others.

African youth will be encouraged to nominate influencers and submit their proposed questions for the programme via the MTV base Meets...with MTN website or via their mobile handset. To register go to www.mtvmeets.com or http://mtvmeets.mobi or follow the campaign on Twitter using #MTVMeets.

Inspiring young people across Africa

Julius Malema and the panel.

click to enlarge

Commented Alex Okosi, senior VP and MD, MTV Networks Africa, "MTV base Meets...with MTN provides young people with the opportunity to engage directly with decision-makers and world leaders in order to address some of the key issues that are important to them. The initiative demonstrates our belief in the positive impact that the youth can have in shaping the future of the Continent. We hope that MTV base Meets...with MTN will inspire young people across Africa to know that their voice matters and to help prepare them to take their own roles among the leaders of tomorrow."

"Through this series, MTN hopes to give this growing segment of Africa's population a bridge to connect with decision-makers through dialogue. Gone are the days when young people were relegated to the periphery of important debates in business and politics," says Bola Akingbade, MTN Nigeria chief marketing and strategy Officer.

MTV Base Meets...with MTN is an African localised version of the established MTV Meets... franchise and has previously interviewed influential individuals including Nelson Mandela, Tony Blair, Morgan Tsvangarai and Wyclef Jean. The series will air across African from 18 July on MTV base (DStv Channel 322), and on terrestrial, DTT and CATV channels including STV (Nigeria), HiTV (Nigeria), WBS (Uganda), NTV (Kenya), Canal2 (Cameroon), Muvi TV (Zambia), Zuku (Kenya), ZAP (Angola), Smart TV (Kenya) and Star Times (Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, and Burundi).