Durban University of Technology’s (DUT’s) Journalism graduate Mduduzi “Dawud” Phungula’s plans of building a media empire are well underway. Phungula who recently graduated with a National Diploma in Journalism at this year’s June Virtual Graduation ceremony is also the founder of Dawud Media.
His company which runs the popular YouTube channel, Dawud TV ZA has expanded its offerings to include videography, photography, graphic design, YouTube channel management and music distribution services.
Phungula who hails from the dusty streets of Inchanga, a village situated in-between KwaZulu-Natal’s Durban and Pietermaritzburg has always been passionate about the media industry.
His humble background meant that family couldn’t afford to pay for him to attend university, so after matriculating, Phungula had to work as a cashier for three years in order to take care of his family and try to save money for his fees. It was also at this time that he was working as a radio presenter for Inchanga FM. His stint with the radio station gained him a lot of praise from his community and he eventually moved to Inanda FM then Ligwalagwala FM as an entertainment contributor. Phungula has also worked at Radio Al Ansaar and in 2017 when he became a DUT student he worked for Radio DUT as a presenter.
Phungula’s YouTube channel, Dawud TV ZA which he started back in 2017 already has over 50 thousand subscribers. The vernacular channel focusses on entertainment news in South Africa.
“Basically, my channel started back in the year 2017 when I was in my first-year journalism, it’s basically four years now but it started gaining thousands and thousands of subscribers last year,” he said.
Phungula’s hard work hasn’t gone unnoticed. Since venturing into the world of media entrepreneurship, he has won numerous awards, including KwaZulu-Natal Young Achiever’s Awards for Best Youth Radio Initiator Award in 2017 and Best Social Media Initiative Award in 2019.
Picture Caption: Mduduzi “Dawud” Phungula, founder of Dawud Media
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