A filmmaker’s drive to innovate and empower the creative industry with MultiChoice

Zoe Ramashu, filmmaker, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Wrapped

In the spirit of Women’s Month, MultiChoice celebrates women who are rewriting the rules in media and entertainment. One such woman is Zoe Ramashu – filmmaker, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Wrapped, a tech platform transforming how talent is hired and managed in the film and television industry.

For Ramashu, Here For Her is more than a slogan, it’s about action. “Here For Her to me means making commitments tangible, in 2023, when MultiChoice brought in all-female crews to shoot the netball and women’s football campaigns, that was the first time I saw a company truly commit to what they say they’re going to do,” she shares.

See the Youtube short here.

That commitment is something she’s carried throughout her career. Since entering the industry in 2013, Ramashu has built an impressive portfolio, producing commercials for brands like KFC, Soul Candi, and Grandpa, creating her first reality TV show My Perfect Date in 2015, and co-founding the Swift Gender Transformation Programme in 2016 to advocate for inclusivity in African film.

Her storytelling journey has taken her around the world. In 2019, Ramashu’s documentary It Takes a Circus earned a Student Academy Award nomination and was screened at the largest documentary festival in New York City (DOC NYC), the March on Washington Film Festival and internationally. She’s also produced festival recognised work like the short film Botlhale, nominated at the Lincoln Center’s New York Africa Film Festival, Sotambe African Film Festival, and others. Her projects have reached prestigious stages including Cannes, Berlinale, and Morocco’s film festivals.

But her vision didn’t stop at the creative. Seeing the challenges faced by freelancers in film and TV, she co-founded Wrapped with Herbert Ramashu, a mobile and web platform connecting freelancers to production opportunities, simplifying hiring, onboarding and payments, while tackling diversity gaps in the industry.

They were able to make the business a success with the assistance of the MultiChoice Innovation Fund (MIF), a supportive transformation initiative by MultiChoice that provides entrepreneurs with the resources, financial support, and skills to bring their innovative and cutting-edge ideas to life.

“The MultiChoice Innovation Fund were the first funders to believe in me and that made all the difference,” she says. “For such a household name I grew up watching to back me, not just as a filmmaker but as an entrepreneur, completely changed the game.”

Today, with MIF’s support, Wrapped is part of a growing network of 79 funded businesses driving job creation, digital transformation and innovation across South Africa. It’s a tool built to help creatives thrive and a testament to what happens when opportunity meets determination.

Her journey reflects the values of what Women’s Month represents, courage, innovation, and making space for others to succeed. Through her work, she is not only telling African stories but also building the infrastructure that ensures those stories and the people who tell them, can flourish.