Johannesburg, South Africa
FRIDAY, 28^TH MAY 2021

FRENCH MINISTER INAUGURATES THE LAUNCH OF
TRACE ACADEMIA

Trace, in the presence of the honourable French Minister Elisabeth Moreno and South African partners, today formally announced the inauguration of Trace Academia in South Africa, and the signing of a protocol of cooperation between Trace, Senghor University in Egypt, and Agence Française de Développement (AFD), to create a training programme to develop and support the professionalization of the creative and cultural sector in Africa.

Elisabeth Moreno, the Minister for Gender Equality, Diversity and Equal Opportunities (travelling as part of the French presidential visit to South Africa this week) together with the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Trace, Olivier Laouchez and Trace Academia Co-MD, Prejlin Naidoo, launched the company’s latest youth empowerment programme.

Trace Academia is a free online vocational training platform built for young South Africans looking to build their skills to find or create jobs. Created in response to the high rate of youth unemployment in South Africa and the continent, Trace Academia will focus on empowerment through educating and training young people.

More than 50% of Africa’s population is under 25 years old. The youth are struggling with the effects of a longstanding economic and psychological crisis. The reach of the global pandemic has further accelerated the need for new approaches to education.

Trace Academia courses are created in collaboration with leading companies, institutions and experts to ensure that the skills provided are well matched to market needs. A localised, interactive and entertaining course format keeps the learner’s attention and significantly improves course completion rate.

Trace Academia will primarily target young South Africans in its inaugural year. The platform will launch with several locally produced training courses including Get Started with Digital Marketing (Grow with Google), How to Become a DJ (Trace), Spark your Interest in Electricity (Schneider Electric), Become a Successful Entrepreneur (Valued Citizens & UJ), Become a Real Handyman (Leroy Merlin) and Own Your Situation (Durex). Trace Academia will take the learner through the journey towards skill acquisition.

The Trace Academia platform will offer:

• Vocational Training
• Entrepreneurial courses
• Soft Skill and Well Being courses
• Social Learning Features
• Job Information

Learning Engagement – Engaging content keeps the learners’ attention and maximises completion
Testing and Certification – Course certified by industry leaders providing credibility and applicability
Employment Opportunities – Learners are connected to an ecosystem of employment enablers

With the mammoth goal of training over 25 million youth by 2025, Trace Academia aims to develop hundreds of courses to help empower these young people to become employable or become employers.

Part of the launch centred on the signing of a protocol of cooperation between the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Senghor University in Egypt and Trace to establish a partnership to support the development and professionalisation of the cultural and creative sector in Africa through the Trace Academia programme. AFD’s financing of €650k will cover a training course dedicated to understanding the challenges of the sector and providing workable solutions. The learning content of the training is to be developed through this partnership between Senghor University in Egypt, Trace and Campus AFD, AFD’s training centre.

Johannesburg, South Africa– In a deliberate move to balance out the playing fields with their ongoing commitment to gender equality, Trace last month solidified its bold pledge to institute TRACE 50_50 video airplay for womxn artists and other womxn produced content.

Following the decision taken by the team during Womxn’s Month in August, Trace consequentially began slotting in more female produced content across their channels. And with another substantial increase in September, Trace officially confirmed the move from the previous 40/60 ratio to a committed 50/50 on all their thematic shows. Trace will also focus more on womxn generated shows and music content, further pushing their equal play agenda. 

A unique celebration of womxn talent – a first of its kind on the continent is finally at our doorstep.

This new womxn balanced airplay includes programming across Trace Africa, Trace Urban and Trace Gospel on the following shows: 

TRACE URBAN SHOWS

Femme Hour  

Trace Urban adds a more flavour to the musical treat with a brand new show – FEMME HOUR every Monday at 6 PM CAT. FEMME HOUR allows women in the music game to own their throne in a brand new way.

R&B VIBEZ

Want to soak your heart in music that speaks to the soul. Well stay glued to your screen for the new Trace Urban show – R&B Vibez every Monday at 9 PM & Sunday at 11 AM, right here on Trace Urban

REWIND

Press REWIND to your favorite jams and relive the musical experience of it all. Catch Trace Rewind right here on Trace Urban every day at 9 AM

TRACE GOSPEL SHOWS  

SOUNDS OF SOUTH AFRICA 

TRACE GOSPEL brings you the best of South African Gospel Music. Enjoy 100% Mzansi Gospel Music on Sounds of South Africa every day at 4 PM and again at 9 PM CAT only on channel 332. 

PRAISE VIBES 

100% Praise 100% Vibes, tune in to TRACE GOSPEL for your favourite old and new Praise songs, every day at 8 AM and 7 PM CAT – ONLY ON CHANNEL 332 we are gospel music.

STAR UP

Get up, dress up, and get your holy groove on! Start your day on a high note, catch Star Up every day at 6 AM with your get up and go songs only on TRACE GOSPEL channel 332 – we are gospel music. 

The only exclusion for Trace 50_50 will be the ‘Chart Shows’ and ‘Playlists’ which are governed by public popularity, ranked by the number of gross audience impressions, computed by cross-referencing exact times of airplay with official viewer data. 

“Trace remains committed to celebrating and advancing Womxn in the music industry to ensure inclusion and equality for all. We are extremely excited about this movement, especially in light of Trace’s ongoing commitment to create gender equality, Trace 50_50 just made perfect sense in balancing out airplay for womxn in the industry” shared Trace’s Managing Director – Southern Africa & Regional Director Anglophone Africa Valentine Gaudin-Muteba,”, Yes it’s an audacious move as a music channel, but we are here for it. We are here to lead the change that is so desperately needed! At Trace we focus more on walking the talk, with the hope of paving the way until all genders have the same opportunities for airplay.”

Tune into Trace Urban (DStv channel 325) Trace Africa (DStv channel 326) and Trace Gospel (DStv channel 332) to hear more of your favourite womxn artists now. Alternatively, keep it locked on Trace social media platforms:

Facebook: @TraceSouthernAfrica

Twitter: @Trace_Inter

Instagram: @tracesouthafrica

#Trace50_50