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Business Background
The Rainbow Province Creatives Private Limited, t/a, Creatives Magazine is a passion driven organization established in 2022 by a multi award-winning Arts Journalist (lady), Sithokozile Sibanda, to focus on the creative and cultural industry, particularly, the marginalized and remote rural areas of Zimbabwe.
The organization started in Matabeleland South province of Zimbabwe, hence its name, “Rainbow Province” as this is how the province is popularly known. Since its formation, the organization has focused mainly on identifying, marketing, nurturing and promoting talent exhibited by the artists mainly from Matabeleland South Province.
Talent publicity has been done using an innovative digital magazine podium, the Creatives magazine, a quarterly published magazine. To date 8 issues of the magazine have been published under different themes as stated below,
Prior to establishing this brand, in 2021, the founder, volunteered her services at Ilanga, a community newspaper under the New Zimbabwe Inter Africa News Agency, (NewZiana) where she was their Special Arts Correspondent. She was particularly encouraged by the abundant talent in the province in various art categories such as music, poetry, theatre, drama and fine art to offer her services.
Her high level of passion, commitment and dedication to uplift and empower the creatives from the underserved communities who receive limited coverage of their works led her to this position at Ilanga newspaper, hence she refers to her organization as a passion driven brand. She profiled more than fifty (50) creatives while at Ilanga newspaper, articles available on the website.
Her works earned her several award recognitions, the most noteworthy one being the 2022 Outstanding Journalist of the year award conferred by the National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA), in Harare at the Rainbow Towers. The NAMAs are likened to the USA Grammy Awards.
To continue perfecting her brand, Sithokozile has undergone entrepreneurship training programs that have equipped her with requisite skills and competencies necessary to run, manage and maintain a successful business. She has graduated from the following programs;
- African Women Entrepreneurship Cooperation, AWEC, cohort 5, where her brand also received a Resilience award in Kenya,
- Academy for Women Entrepreneurs, AWE, cohort 3,
- SME Growth Lab Digital Accelerator Program, cohort 2
- Music Crossroads Academy, MCA,
In addition to the above professional qualifications, Sithokozile holds the following academic qualifications;
- Master of Science Degree in Journalism and Media Studies from National University of Science and Technology (NUST)
- Post Graduate Diploma in Media and Society Studies from Midlands State University (MSU)
- Bachelor of Arts Degree in Media Studies from Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU)
Restructuring of the Rainbow Province Creatives Private Limited,
In 2024, the Rainbow Province Creatives Private Limited restructured, this move was necessitated by the need to address the challenges that artists face in the creative and cultural industry.
The interactions we had with the creatives made us realise that profiling them in the magazine is not enough as they needed to be fully equipped with the professional management services for their growth and development in their areas of specialization. The other reason for rebranding is so that the organization and all the team members involved can generate revenue for both organizational sustenance as well as for personnel involved to receive monetary value for their works.
Since the organization was established we were focusing on brand visibility online and offline using the Creatives magazine and we believe that now is the time to monetise the services that we offer, particularly the artist professional management services. Talent publicity platform will now be done by posting articles on the website on a weekly basis where we intend to cover emerging/upcoming artists as we seek to market and promote them. Talent publicity will be done for free. The Creatives magazine issues will no longer be published until further notice as we now seek to provide solutions to problems faced by the creatives in as far as management services are concerned. The artist management services have different packages that cater for different needs by the artists, these are,
- Production of Artist profiles
- Production of Electronic Press Kits (EPKs) for Musicians
- Production of Portfolios for Visual Artists and other creatives
- Brand deals and sponsorship Opportunities
- Grant proposal writing
- Business Plan writing
- Digital Marketing
Vision Statement
To be the most flexible and affordable leading creative and cultural industry hub for artist professional management services and talent publicity
Goals
- To produce profiles for the creatives
- To produce Electronic Press Kits (EPKs) for Musicians
- To produce Portfolios for Visual Artists and other creatives
- To search for Brand deals and sponsorship Opportunities for the creatives
- To write grant proposal for artists
- To write business plans for creatives
- To offer Digital Marketing using innovative online platforms
Target Audience
The organization covers the creative and cultural industry with a focus on creatives who specialise in performing arts and visual arts, be it renowned or emerging creatives.
Key Personnel
1. Chief Executive Officer
- Sets the company’s position and direction,
- Oversees all the activities of the organisation for smooth and thorough operations,
- Creates, communicates and implements the agency’s mission, vision and core values,
- Responsible for pricing and signing of checks, documents and other business deals for the company,
- Evaluates the success of the organization,
- Responsible for the internal and external communication of the agency
- Maintaining a record of all stakeholders and their contact details
- Represent the company in business and community fora
- Manages the website and the social media sites for the brand
2. Sales and Marketing Manager
Works with artists and their brands
- Leverage digital/online platforms, that is, LinkedIn, Website and Facebook to market and promote the brand,
- Establish and maintain relationships with key stakeholders and clients through networking,
- Manage and constantly update the Website, LinkedIn and Facebook page for the brand,
- Identify and cultivate business opportunities for brand deals and sponsorships, negotiating performance and exhibition contracts for the brand,
- Handle Public Relations related tasks to monitor and analyse the image of the brand, issuing press releases and manage media relations,
- Produce a detailed business plan that will serve as a blueprint for the brand,
- Produce content for marketing and promoting the brand, the materials include brochures, banners and posters,
- Compile a record of all stakeholders, clients and prospective customers, include their email address, cellphone number and location,
- Carry out any other duties as may be assigned by the CEO.
3. Creative Design Manager
Works closely with the Sales and Marketing Manager to ensure that the department is well managed;
- Create professionally laid out and designed Electronic Press kit (EPK) and Portfolio and keep these regularly updated,
- Manages the website,
- Carry out photography and videography related tasks,
- Produces graphic design and desktop publishing related materials.
- Carry out any other duties as may be assigned by the CEO.
4. Accountant
- Respond to calls for grant proposal submissions ,
- Document financial transactions by entering account information,
- Summarize current financial status by collecting information;
- Preparing balance sheet, profit and loss statement, and other reports,
- Maintain accounting controls by preparing and recommending policies and procedures,
- Provide technical support and advice on management
- Develop and document business processes and accounting policies to maintain and strengthen internal controls,
- Carry out any other duties as may be assigned by the CEO.
Products/Services
1) Artist Professional Management Services
The artist professional management services consist of skills capacitation and empowerment services meant to equip the creatives with the right materials related to the business side of their brands. This way the artists will have enough time to focus on their talent without worrying much about the professional business side as this will be taken care of by the organization.
The services include creating profiles, producing EPKs, portfolios, grant proposals, , searching for brand deals and sponsorship opportunities for the creatives as well as using innovative online digital platforms for digital marketing.
Through our extensive interactions with creatives especially from the marginalized communities, we discovered a huge gap where professionalism is one of the areas that the artists lack. They have abundant talent however they do not have well written documents for marketing and promoting their works. They also have limited knowledge on how they can monetise their brands. We also noticed that even renowned creatives are affected by limited professional knowledge. These are the gaps that the professional management services seek to fill targeting both emerging and well-established musicians in Zimbabwe and beyond.
The artist professional management services will be the main source for revenue generation, other sources will include sponsorship opportunities, grants and donations.
2) Talent Publicity
Emerging/ upcoming creatives will have an opportunity to showcase their works in such a way that their brands become attractive to potential investors, business community and other possible opportunities for their advancements in their areas of specialty. This process is done by having intensive interview sessions with artists, profiling them and publishing their articles on the organisation’s website, free of charge.
The talent publicity service serves as a community service excellence work meant to further demonstrate the level of love that the founder has in uplifting and empowering those who receive limited mainstream media coverage of their works. Talent publicity is the main driving force that ensured the formation of the organization and it will forever be.
Clientele/Projects
The following are the major clients that the brand has covered with a particular focus on Matabeleland South, Matabeleland North and Bulawayo provinces of Zimbabwe. Their works have been published thematically in the Creatives magazine issues, available on the website.
Profiled Creatives
- Female creatives
- Creative Persons With Disabilities (PWDs)
- Creatives whose works showcase traditional and cultural diversity
- Visual artists
- Creative arts role models beyond borders
- Imbube music groups
- BaTonga creatives
- Maskandi musicians
Collaborations
- The coverage of the 2022 Schools Creative Arts Drive event conducted by the T.I.M.E Project of Gwanda under the leadership of Adrian Sithole.
- The Bulawayo event hosted by Thobela Arts Foundation under the leadership of Oscar Siziba where we were “Celebrating Imbube Milestone”, in 2023. The organization published an issue for the event.
- We covered the 2023 Binga BaTonga Cultural Festival spearheaded by Insiku yabaTonga Association and published an issue featuring the BaTonga Creatives.
- We took part in the organizing and management of the 2022 Joshua Nkomo National Foundation event that ran under the theme, “Celebrating the Officialisation of 16 languages”, held in Bulawayo at the Queens Cricket ground
Awards
- 2023 Outstanding Online Media award nominee at the Roil Bulawayo Arts Awards (RoilBAA). (Creatives Magazine)
- 2023 Female Entrepreneur of the Year award nominee at the Megafest Southern Region Business Awards
- 2023 Matabeleland South Business Summit and Awards nominee (Creatives Magazine)
- 2023 Resilience Award from the African Women Entrepreneurship Cooperative, AWEC, cohort 5.
- 2022 Outstanding Journalist in Print Media at the National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA)
- 2022 Outstanding Online Media (Creatives Magazine) nominee at the Roil Bulawayo Arts Awards (RoilBAA)
- 2021 Journalist of the year award at The Eminent in Sports Music and Academic Awards (TESMA).
- 2021 Outstanding Arts Journalist award nominee at the Roil Bulawayo Arts Awards (RoilBAA).
Contact Information
Founder – Sithokozile Sibanda (Multi award-winning Arts Journalist, Artist Manager & Media expert)
Email: sibandas2308@gmail.com/ thehub@creativesmagazine.co.zw
Website: https://creativesmagazine.co.zw/issues/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sithokozile-sibanda-25574a2a2/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089675936934
Cell: +263773248538/+263719248538
