Leonard Talent Management – International Is Not Impossible
Carlos Leonard is an entrepreneur, personal development speaker actor and commercial model. In 2018, his childhood dream came true – he attended a life changing programme called Hollywood Immersive in which he represented Africa.
After returning from Hollywood his first initiative was the establishment of a Talent Management Agency known as Leonard Talent Agency. Their core business is training, developing and managing talents and models. Their aim is to help Namibian talents and models to reach internationally (USA, Canada, and Sweden. The agency offers acting, modelling, music and dance training. They also host personal development boot camps. Organizing local and international training workshops with industry professionals is also one of their activities.
” At the moment, three students from those we have trained in the talent segments, are already successfully employed in the dance industry, and make a decent earning from their dance careers.” – explains Carlos Leonard, the founder of Leonard Talent Agency.
After being to several states abroad, Carlos has seen that the market there is plentiful. That made him have a realisation that Namibian artists do not need to stay stranded and limited to Namibian borders.
“There is a whole world out there that is able and willing to pay because they understand the value of arts and entertainment. Leonard Talent Agency intends to open that door for young people and assist Namibians to get there.” – explains Carlos.
In the year 2017, Leonard Talent Agency established a foundation through which they develop communities and address social ills. They host personal development boot camps three times every year, targeting young people. These boot camps are free of charge. The aim is to have many young people walk away with a clear purpose for their lives, motivated and driven to conquer life. They also conduct activities such as feeding the needy at the dumpsites, bringing successful entrepreneurs from around the country to train single women with financial challenges on how to start and run their own business. Additionally, the have toured in the regions of Namibia to perform acts that address social issues such as teenage pregnancy, gender-based violence & alcohol/substance abuse.
Some of the main challenges Namibia has been facing is local transport around the country and city, lack of proper facilities to operate from and a lack of production equipment needed to create social content, equipment such as cameras, lights, sound. Another challenge the country faces is the lack of proper remuneration for team members that results in teams get demotivated because of having to receive little to no pay.
Another challenge, which is partly why Carlos started the Leonard Talent Agency is; Namibia has a very small population of about 2.4 million people who have limited understanding of the power of arts/entertainment and the value it has. Unfortunately, unlike other countries, people in Namibia in the entertainment industry and talent business don’t get to make enough money to get by. That’s why they are forced to get jobs that they don’t feel passionate about and they slowly begin to lose the passion for art. However, there is still hope.
Carlos believes that art can change the world into a better place because performing art is a direct communication to the soul and he believes that through films and educative performances, they can influence people. With arts they can teach principles and morals, and he believes that Namibia has unique talents and cultures and stories that the world needs to see hence why they’ve set up a network for the fellow Namibian artists to thrive on the international markets.
“I would like to say that we respect the value of art and entertainment. International is not impossible. We see ourselves soon becoming the best Talent Agency in Namibia.” – concludes Carlos.
For more information, please check the Instagram page of the Talent Agency.
Photo credits: Carlos Leonard
