Although living in a foreign land, Arthur Tendai Mangwende, Tafadzwa Munemo (Taffie DT) and Kumbirai Chimbwanda share a vision to put their country on the map. They formed Final One Productions, whose main activities include marketing Zimbabwean music in neighbouring South Africa.
Mangwende has a degree in Marketing, Business Leadership, General Management and Multimedia Studies and is currently studying for an MBA with the University of South Africa. Chimbwanda is doing a degree in programming at UNISA, while Munemo is now doing his PhD, also at UNISA.
“They say great minds think alike and that has been true for us,” said Mangwende, the company’s general manager.
“Our main aim is to take Zimbabwean music to the rest of the world. We are currently offering packages where we also do videos for artists who come and record an album with us.”
With its vibrant marketing techniques, getting clients has not been difficult for the trio.
“We are well-connected and get to meet many artists in the industry. We have done work with Trevor Dongo, Dr Clarence and Nox. We have unleashed talented new artists like Shonamite, Zovega and many others that we are still grooming.
“We also produce beats and record music and videos for upcoming South African artists. We also do demos for them so that they can go and market themselves to bigger recording studios. I attend all music award ceremonies and functions. Music is our passion and we do this because we really enjoy it,” said Mangwende.
Their company is currently on a drive to improve its equipment and expand into a regional and continental giant.
“We really enjoy Zimbabwean music because it is unique. You can’t find any like it. Taffie DT sings R&B and Soul and also does Zim Urban grooves. He serves as our Creative Director. Kumbi, who sings Ragga, is our producer and video editor. I am more into the management and marketing, but I also record and edit videos, which I really enjoy doing.
“I have a wide knowledge of business development that enables us to grow our business and take it to another level. We are currently looking at organising regional and international tours for Taffie DT and other artists in our stable.”
Mangwende grew up in Harare and worked as a customer care and business development manager for Cellstop Tracking. He moved to South Africa about a decade ago, where he worked as General Manager for Alliance Media.
“I returned to Zimbabwe and started my own company, Tendai Communications, which dealt with IT and Telematics. I had started Tendai Entertainment to provide multimedia presentations for other organisations on contracts. At that time I was attending church at Christ Embassy CBD in Harare, where I was Group Head for the Multimedia Ministry. In that capacity I assisted the church in Southern Africa in all functions in audio and video recording and editing.
“In 2009 I moved back to South Africa, where I met Taffie DT and Chimbwanda in 2010 were we decided to work together to create a brand that would basically market Zimbabwean music internationally,” he said.
Post published in: Entertainment