Accra, January 4, 2018//-Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo today opened MultiChoice Ghana (MCG) state-of-the-art headquarters building in Accra, with a call on companies operating in the country to be gender sensitive towards the employment of women.
Mr Akufo-Addo who made the call in a speech read on his behalf by the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof Kwabena Frimpong Boateng at opening of the multimillion dollar headquarters, said the “opening of the building shows that MultiChoice Ghana is here to stay”.
A Deputy Minister of Communications, George Andah noted that the MCG has been a worthy contributor to the broadcast sector throughout its existence in Ghana and has been an integral part of the digital migration efforts of the country.
He used the opportunity to congratulate the board, management and staff of the company on their pioneering role played in the digital satellite and terrestrial broadcast space for over 24 years.
“Your invaluable contribution to the setting of high broadcast standards cannot over emphasised and deserves commendation”, Mr Andah said.
New building design
In his welcome address, the Board Chairman of MultiChoice Ghana, Richard Darko, said:”Ultimate customer convenience is at the heart of the design of our new office complex with easy accessibility, ample parking space, a customer experiential zone for new products and services as well as a Q-matic system to manage and schedule customer waiting time.
“This office is also equipped with a warehouse, a decoder repair centre, a call centre, state-of-the-art conference and training rooms. Our staff are well catered for with a canteen and fully-equipped gym”, he added.
Mr Darko was quick to emphasise that MultiChoice Ghana has a steadily growing mixed-distribution network model comprising-full service branches in Tema, Kumasi, Takoradi, Tamale, and Cape Coast.
In addition to these, the leading paid TV service provider has 72 key dealerships, over 1,500 retailers/moms and pops, installers and outlets in seven shopping malls across the country.
MultiChoice’s Journey
“Our journey started in 1993 with 16 staff from our first office location adjacent to the Electoral Commission in Ridge, to Ring Road Central, followed by various movements to multiple buildings within the Airport Residential Area, then finally to new location which hosts a total of 142 staff from the Ghana and West Africa and Central African regional operations”.
He explained that MultiChoice Ghana’s mission is driven by the consistent demand by Ghanaians for top quality international and local video entertainment.
This, according to him, has resulted in the steady growth of the company’s operations as they strive to deliver even bigger, better and more accessible spaces to ensure that their paid-TV services efficiently reach their customers across the country.
Jobs
“This network provides over 3500 direct and indirect jobs spanning the corner of your street to our head office”, he told government officials, customers, among others at the opening of the magnificent head office edifice.
Also, MultiChoice Ghana has directly contributed over $23 million towards the gross domestic product (GDP) of Ghana in the last three years, Mr Darko revealed.
“This is addition to significant investments towards positive progression in our social environment including the provision of Resource Centres in 88 Senior High Schools, major sponsorship support for the Spelling Bee Competition for Primary Schools for the past five years. In 2016, Efua Ansah, a young talented 14-year-old pupil from the Ridge Church School made history and Ghana proud by making it to the top 45 finalist of the Global Scripps Spelling Bee competition.”
Mr Darko was quick to add that the DSTV EUTELSAT Star Awards essay and poster competition across Africa for students aged 14-19 years in secondary schools has produced three Ghanaian winners in 2011, 2013, and 2015.
Mixed-distribution model paying off
The implementation of this mixed-distribution network model has facilitated the accessibility of the company’s products and services nationwide, thereby ensuring world class service delivery to its customers.
“This has also enabled us build better relationships with our business partners in the banking institutions, payment platform integrators and telecommunication companies”, Mr Darko stressed.
Instructively, the DStv service was launched in 1995, off the heels of Naspers’ subsidiary company MultiChoice Africa’s M-Net was Africa’s first single pay channel distributed with a rebroadcast analogue format.
This has evolved into a Direct to Home satellite service of over 185 High and standard definition local and international channels, available in over 55 countries across sub-Saharan Africa including Ghana.
The vision for the Ghana business was led by a group of local investors which included the late Louis Caseley-Hayford, Bryan Harris, MultiChoice Africa, and Mr Darko.
Today, the DSTv platform carries and maintains the uplink of 10 premium Ghanaian channels of which two are across Africa.
These include GTV, TV3, Metro TV, GHOne, UTV and Joy News. MultiChoice Ghana also operates GOtv channel which was launched in 2013.
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report
