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Mbulelo Mpofu, Showbiz Reporter
LATELY, an events company has been promoting talent from Matabeleland through various events and initiatives and their works are showing.

Dab Three Events, co-owned by Diction Ndlovu (34), Archy Hadebe (38) and Bekezela Ncube (33) has been carving a name for itself, showing a strong statement of intent in recent months. The trio has been responsible for organising events such as Impi Yobugabazi, House/Kwaito Movement, and Kasi 2 Kasi Tour which have been resounding successes. They are also behind the popular Enkundleni podcast. Besides hosting their own events, the company has partnered with several event organisers to ensure that events in the city are staged successfully.

Various artistes who have had the chance to perform at some of the events have expressed gratitude with musician Nkwali simply saying: “Dab Three Events, thank you so much for supporting us.”
Hadebe told Chronicle Showbiz that the trio was a match made in heaven.

“Diction, Bekezela and I are church colleagues. We established Dab Three Events in 2017 as a way of growing the arts sector in the space that we’re in. There was a common factor among us, which is artiste management, podcasting, and generally, events management. We believe in making clientele’s satisfaction our priority and that has been working like a charm,” he said.
Since the company’s inception, Hadebe was of the idea that they promote talent from the province. Dab Three Events really took the bull by its horns last year, citing met goals and objectives.

“In 2022, we were able to promote various artistes in the sector especially those from ekasi through events we organised. This has enabled our brand to grow from strength to strength in its various capacities,” he said.

Sharing their plans for 2023, Hadebe said they want to continue promoting local talent and have a more robust digital footprint, especially with their podcast on their YouTube channel.

“This year, we look forward to more local representations with the first being the Asante Mo show to be staged at the Bulawayo Amphitheatre next month and the continuation of our robust online shows on our channel.”
However, the trio feels they could do way more if they had funding.

Bulawayo Amphitheatre

“The major challenge that we’ve faced so far is that of lack of funding as we had to dip into our pockets to make Dab Three Events what it is today. In this business, one needs healthy financial backing in order to purchase state-of-the-art industry-standard equipment in order to compete,” said Hadebe.

What has stood out from the catalogue of services provided is their IsiNdebele podcast, Enkundleni hosted by Sipho Mercent Nyathi, airing on YouTube.

Podcasting has had a chokehold on the art and entertainment sector with hot interviews and easy-going conversations characterising them.

The podcast with a lot of mfomfimfo (kasi lingo for information) has interviewed personnel in diverse sectors such as poetry, music, theatre, football as well as the corporate world. UGagisa, Ankela Zex Mdawini, Prince Mahlangu, Vusa Mkhaya, Madlela Skhobokhobo, Nomsa ‘Boyz’ Moyo, Tonderai Shoko, Asaph, Mimmie Tarukwana, and Junior Garnet have all been guests on the podcast.

Madlela Skhobokhobo

Having worked with different artistes, Hadebe said this has benefitted them as they are also learning from them.

“Working with and promoting local artistes has been an eye-opener. We’re learning every day. We’ve witnessed a lot of growth because people are responding positively (to Dab Three Events initiatives) and the artistes now know that there’s a platform for them to showcase their talent,” he said.

Other than promoting talent, Dab Three Events provides audio and visual equipment, live sound engineers and events management. – @eMKlass_49