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EDF FUND SET TO TRANSFORM

THE ADVERTISING INDUSTRY

The Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA)
and the Competition Commission on Wednesday 27
March 2024 unveiled a Digital Out of Home (DOOH)
billboard on Aubrey Matlala Street (M43), opposite
Soshanguve Crossing Mall in Soshanguve, Tshwane.

Funded through the Economic Development Fund (EDF)
currently administered by the MDDA, the erection and

laun o the billboard forms par o ongoing efforts to

support and equip start-up businesses in the media and
advertising sector.
The EDF is a result of fines issued by the Competition
Commission against media companies that were found to
be involved in uncompetitive behaviour in the media
industry. An agreement was signed between the

Competition Commission and the offending companies

for them to pa a fine to the MDDA for the establishmen

of the Fund.
Touch SA Marketing Solutions is a black-owned digital
marketing and outdoor media business that aims to
participate in the advertising sector and stimulate the
township economy where the owner is born and bred.

The billboard screen will flight advertisements about
household goods, funeral covers, insurance, banking, and
other products that have been carefully selected for the
city of Tshwane residents. This is part of Out Of home
(OOH) advertising that reaches consumers “on the go” in
public spaces or in specific commercial locations such as
shopping malls.

Free screen time will be given to small local businesses at
the start and end of each day’s screening, where these
local businesses will have the opportunity to have
top-flight advertisement at no cost. This is done as part of
a community support programme, which includes support
for projects like bursaries at the local schools.
“The launch of this digital billboard is set to establish a
black-owned media platform,in the community of
Soshanguve. This monumental achievement by Touch SA
Marketing Solutions exemplifies the good work that the
MDDA has committed to do, which is to develop and
diversify the media landscape through funding
agreements and provision of overall support to black
youth entrepreneurship, community media, and small
commercial entities,” said Ms Shoeshoe Qhu, Chief
Executive Officer, MDDA.