Kershnee Govender: Women are taking their places alongside their male counterparts.
Kershnee Govender believes that corporate social investment (CSI) projects have played a role in improving women’s daily lives and providing them with opportunities they may not have had before.
“When we were looking to recruit 12 of the country’s best film and television graduates for our internship programme, we were really looking for the best, irrespective of gender,” she says. “It so happens that almost 50% of the best are women.
“This wasn’t contrived, these women were chosen on merit. What this means is that women are taking their rightful place alongside their male counterparts.”
Govender has been in the corporate affairs environment for the past 18 years and has worked for a number of South Africa’s biggest organisations, including a power utility, financial services, the petrochemical and gas industry and media and broadcasting.
At M-Net she oversees corporate marketing and communication, the CSI programme and events. “The corporate brand is positioned through strategic sponsorships and socioeconomic development programmes.”
Govender says she is committed to making a difference and one of her greatest achievements was her role in the launch of the M-Net Magic in Motion Academy. This initiative offers high-achieving graduate students from disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to fast-track their experience in the industry and thereby gain employment.
“The campaign has seen stakeholders from all corners of the industry rallying behind it and lending their support,” she says.
A related initiative was the launch of the M-Net Magic in Motion Expo in August 2014, which gave students access to career opportunities in the film and TV industries. “This year we are taking the expo to Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.”
The academy and expo form part of M-Net’s socioeconomic development outreach initiatives. Govender has also streamlined the marketing and sponsorship strategy of the company to lend greater support to the arts, including events such as the Grahamstown Festival, Cape Town Fringe, the Durban Film Festival and Big Concert productions.
“The launch of the academy and the introduction of the first intake of interns was a very moving experience,” says Govender. “The months of conceptualising, planning and getting industry to buy in and support the academy lent themselves towards a very gratifying moment.”