All set for the 21st Old Mutual NAMA awards

The stage is set for the 21st National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) powered by Old Mutual Zimbabwe tomorrow at the Harare International Conference Centre, with the organisers aiming to provide a unique experience for the industry and the fans.

This year's event will run under the theme 'Unlocking Dreams.' Arts mother body, National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NAC), said this year the ceremony will recognize outstanding achievements within the arts sector by locally-based artists.

The line-up of performers includes the who is who in the local music industry, songbird Gemma Griffiths, mbira queen Hope Masike, Tocky Vibes, Poptain, Feli Nandi, poet Obert Dube and socialite Mai Titi.

Also billed to perform are gospel singer Mathias Mhere, hip-hop stars Saintfloew and Holy 10, dancehall singer Freeman, Andrea the Vocalist, songstress Ammara Brown, urban groover ExQ and DJ Tamuka.

Old Mutual Zimbabwe continues to be a responsible business in the communities through financial education, financial inclusion, education, skills development, entrepreneurship, and diversity and inclusion. As Zimbabwe's largest integrated financial services group, Old Mutual recognizes the awards as the best platform to build a strong arts sector in the country and as a result, offers opportunities to educate and encourage artists to plan for their future, and unlock their dreams.

Hence, Old Mutual continues to partner with the arts and culture sector to empower artists and to make a positive difference by providing sustainable, tailored, and meaningful support through conducting financial literacy/education workshops under the flagship programme "On The Money" which is designed to teach all on how best to manage finances using relatable behaviours of Africa's Big Five animals.

Last year, through these workshops Old Mutual managed to financially educate artists, equipping them with the knowledge that positively influences their financial behaviour while empowering them with a money mindset. This year a series of Financial Literacy workshops have been scheduled aiming to continue furnishing artists with knowledge on how best they can handle their finances investing into both now and the future so that they are financially prepared for life during and after fame.

The key areas of focus that are taught to artists using Old Mutual's On The Money program are Financial Planning, Savings, Budgeting, Managing Debt and Investing.

NAMAs are designed to recognize outstanding achievements within the arts sector and Old Mutual augments with financial literacy programmes.

 Empowerment of this nature will allow our artists to exploit financial products to their advantage and sharpen their saving, budgeting and investment skills.