Creating Opportunity Through Storytelling and Digital Entrepreneurship

When Morena Mofokeng reflects on his life before joining Sunshine Cinema's Spark Impact Programme, he remembers feeling uncertain about his future.

Growing up in Orange Farm, he watched youth unemployment, gender-based violence, and social injustice shape the lives of people around him. Quiet and introverted, he struggled to find his identity and saw the film and media industry as simply out of reach.

"I was looking for a way in, but there was no clear path," he recalls.

Today, Morena is a confident Impact Facilitator, filmmaker and entrepreneur who has worked on SABC1's Daily Thetha, partnered with global organisations such as the National Geographic Society and Disney, and leads community dialogues on mental health, gender-based violence, climate justice and the empowerment of young men. His journey illustrates what becomes possible when young people are equipped not only with skills but also with opportunities to apply them.

His story is one of many emerging from Sunshine Cinema's Spark Impact Programme.

Founded on the belief that storytelling can drive both social and economic change, Sunshine Cinema created the programme to address a challenge that extends beyond unemployment. Many young people possess talent and ambition but remain excluded from meaningful economic participation because they lack professional networks, practical experience and access to markets.

Rather than focusing solely on technical film production, the programme develops media entrepreneurs who use storytelling to facilitate dialogue, mobilise communities and create digital content for organisations working across conservation, education, health and community development. Through intensive training and continued mentorship, participants build skills in impact facilitation, digital storytelling, media production, communications, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, event management and digital marketing.

These skills are immediately applied through real-world assignments, enabling participants to build portfolios, gain professional experience and generate income.

Since its inception in 2021, Sunshine Cinema has trained and supported 120 young people through its innovative model. Together, they have delivered more than 1,128 community screenings, engaged 44,795 audience members, and generated R2.78 million in participant income. Graduates have gone on to establish freelance careers, launch businesses and secure work with respected organisations across South Africa's creative and development sectors.

What sets the programme apart is that the learning does not end once the training is complete.

Through Sunshine Cinema's Impact Facilitator Network, graduates remain connected to mentorship, paid gig opportunities, professional networks and enterprise support. The model recognises that while training creates potential, sustainable livelihoods depend on continued access to markets and clients.

Recognising the potential of this innovative model, the Jobs Fund partnered with Sunshine Cinema following the organisation's successful application to the 11th Call for Proposals in 2023. Implementation began in 2024, enabling the programme to expand its reach and strengthen its long-term sustainability.

The Jobs Fund’s partnership with Sunshine Cinema to date*
R8.4 million		R5.5 million		137
Jobs Fund funding		Matched funding		Jobs, Placements and Internships

Beyond funding, the partnership has enabled Sunshine Cinema to strengthen its operating systems, expand training opportunities, improve monitoring and evaluation, and generate evidence demonstrating that storytelling and community engagement can become viable pathways to entrepreneurship and employment.

As Sydelle Willow Smith, Co-Founder of Sunshine Cinema, reflected, "The Jobs Fund believed in this model before many others did. Its investment helped us prove that storytelling can create livelihoods and laid the foundation for a new generation of youth-owned creative enterprises."

The programme also demonstrates an important lesson for South Africa's evolving labour market. While traditional employment opportunities remain constrained, the creative economy continues to generate demand for facilitators, digital storytellers, communicators and community engagement specialists. By equipping young people with practical, market-relevant skills and connecting them to real clients, Sunshine Cinema is helping build a generation of entrepreneurs capable of creating their own opportunities.