MDA plays match-maker with mentors

Singapore - Chief executives of Singaporean media companies will be mentored by five international experts at the ‘Business Executive Mentorship Programme' - part of Media Development Authority's (MDA) effort to help local companies build scalable and successful media enterprises.

The one-year pilot programme will see experts in entertainment and media law, merchandising and licensing, intellectual property exploitation and capital financing share their knowledge, skill and their networks with five local media companies, which have intensions to expand their business overseas.

The local companies involved in this programme are CR Media, Mediafreaks, Scrawl Studios, Upside Down Concepts and Verite Productions.

"As local media companies strive to move from a domestic to a global horizon, the skills and characteristics of the local CEOs will need to keep pace with and be ready for the challenges facing them. This pioneering programme can make a marked difference in the lives of the various individuals who will now benefit from the broad and deep experiences of their respective mentors," Andrew Craissati, programme chairman and chief executive of Transpac Media, said.

Other than Transpac Media's Craissati, the international experts include David Mansfield, executive director of Ingenious Media; Liz Kalodner, EVP and GM of CBS Consumer Products; Jon R. Peisinger, president of Creative Branding Systems; and Stephen Scharf, partner at O'Melveny & Myers LLP.