07/05/2024
UP-CLOSE WITH COPORATE COMMUNICATION GURU, Masuzyo MASUZYO NDHLOVU
Zambia’s corporate communication industry would be incomplete without the mention of Mr Masuzyo Ndhlovu, who graced our television screens with his prolific news anchoring charisma.
Masuzyo, a passionate communicator, golfer and Vedanta’s communication specialist, was born on Christmas day,49 years ago in Livingstone, and humbly boasts of over two decades of experience in Zambia’s media & corporate communication landscape, having risen steadily to become undoubtedly one of the country’s industry's rare gem.
Thornpark Primary School was where Masuzyo’s academic journey started and later on, attended secondary school at Nkumbi International in Kapiri Mposhi, and Holycross and St Raphael Schools in Livingstone.
A devoted Presbyterian Christian and father of two, (Tionge and Wongani), Masuzyo already knew what he wanted to achieve and therefore embraced the love for academic consistency and excellence.
Livingstone Trades Institute where he started electronics training in radio and television, kickstarted his communication career and catapulted him to join the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC), where he served for 21 years in various positions while enriching his academic portfolio.
He bagged a University of Zambia diploma in journalism under the adult education programme, two degrees, one in public relations, and another in business studies and marketing at Greenwich University in the United Kingdom, and a Master's degree in Business administration at the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI).
Among many other professional courses, Masuzyo, whose work enabled him to extensively travel across the world, also holds a generic MBA, a Master's in communication and public relations and an executive master's in business administration in leadership and wealth creation.
These vast academic credentials and background in strategic communication have made him adept both in traditional and digital communication channels, leveraging them effectively to enhance organizational branding and messaging.
Apart from the conventional media training he attained, Masuzyo was privileged among many, to be trained in South Africa in television directing of sports with a bias in football and golf, making him a certified trained director to cover golf which he passionately plays as a hobby.
While at ZNBC, Masuzyo, held different positions, among them, corporate affairs manager,controller TV, programmes director, sound and vision technician, camera person, and news anchor. He also headed the international desk and was the focal point person for the Southern African Broadcasting Association (SABA), and the Africa Union of Broadcasting(AUB).
For eight years as programme director in charge of all directors, Masuzyo then responded to an internal advert for a public relations officer position and was elevated to public relations manager, which position was later changed to corporate affairs manager, during the reign of Mr. Chibamba Kanyama as ZNBC Director General.
“it was an exciting time for me because it opened so many doors for me to travel the width and breadth of this country and beyond borders and enabled me to amass professional knowledge of how the industry holistically operates”, he recalls.
In 2017, Masuzyo was then moved to be the director for Media and creative services to be in charge of local content production & promote the Zambia film industry, whose progress he prides on, having spearheaded transformational processes of cinematography and local film production, following the government's adoption and approval of the national film policy which required interpretation, implementation and promotion in line with the digital migration from analogue to digital transmission as prescribed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) then.
Painfully but personally Masuzyo decided to leave ZNBC, which had become his home for over twenty years, after responding to an advert from the Road Development Agency (RDA), which was seeking the services of a director for communication and corporate affairs.
His application for a new job as a communication specialist in the country's road sector was successful and took a different direction for him, but thankfully under what he knew best, communication.
Masuzyo’s career highlight, according to him, came when he was charged with the responsibility of managing communication with his Botswana counterpart, for the famous Kazungula bridge under the RDA, which was a bilateral project between the two countries.
10th May 2021, the day of the commissioning of the bridge, remains Masuzyo’s career climax as he was director of programmes for the day when heads of State from the SADC region converged and gathered to witness the historical event
” For me, that was a huge moment and enormous achievement’, he recalls, thanks to the support accorded to him, which "baked" him to withstand any task regardless of its magnitude.
Masuzyo 's stint at RDA, however, came to an end after 3 and half years and later moved to the United States of America, where his family still lives, and did communication consultancy for only eight months before receiving a call from Vedanta Resources Limited, the legal owners of Konkola Copper Mines seeking his services of a communications expert to help with communication-related issues at the mining firm.
From April 2022 to date, Masuzyo describes his work as director of corporate communication at Vedanta as heartwarming and enjoyable having engaged in high-level dialogue with the government resulting in the handing of KCM back to Vedanta, now pending the finalization of transitional processes.
When it was not fashionable, Masuzyo represented Vedanta on various media forums to highlight Vedanta’s mining vision, and now expresses his joy that the standoff between the government and Vedanta during the year 2019 is now over after so many engagements and dialogue, thanks to his tenacity and communication efforts.
These and many other scores make Masuzyo an invaluable asset at Vedanta, whose mining commitments everyone on the Copperbelt and the country as a whole eagerly awaits when the scheme of arrangement is concluded.
He now looks forward to seeing Vedanta’s mining commitments start to bear socioeconomic fruits, as he applies his honed communication excellence, to navigate the complex mining landscape.
He says being part of Vedanta’s mining vision is an enormous privilege, not to be belittled, but leveraged on to push mining development in all areas and through the $20 million corporate social responsibility budget in programmes such as health, sports, education and empowerment to a whole different level.
"The Copperbelt and the country at large are undoubtedly getting back to their mining glory days because what Vedanta has committed to do is socially and economically life-changing", he assures.
Masuzyo is also optimistic that Zambia will attain the 3 million tonnes per annum copper production target by 2031 through Vedanta’s ambitious mining vision.
Even before Vedanta takes full control of the mine, notable social cooperate responsibility programmes are already bearing fruit such as the donation of sanitary towels in various schools across the country, the sponsorship of football and netball teams, which Masuzyo says is just a tip of the iceberg in terms of what has been outlined by the mining giants once in the mining driving seat.
Indeed, for Masuzyo, his personal and professional life has been laced with unforgettable experiences, enabling him to excel, while making an indelible footprint in the media and communication landscape.
His advice to upcoming and already established communicators is to be "consistent, versatile, and resilient" in the ex*****on of duty in pursuit of both organisational and personal development.
Asked if he misses anchoring news, Masuzyo says he would not mind being invited by ZNBC for a news anchoring shift, which he reminisces about and misses sometimes.
Source : Sunday Mail
