ABOUT
Connect Channel (Pty) Ltd is a digital content and television production company
that has been an Enterprise Development beneficiary of Multichoice Ltd and is led by Basetsana Kumalo and Clifford Elk. Connect.tv develops new formats and produces digital content for TV (long form) and for mobile devices (short form).
Connect.tv opens the window into Africa and entertains viewers with great stories
told by Africans. We are not only one of South Africa’s leading production
companies, we also work with extraordinary African writers, directors, creatives and
on-screen talent who offer up resonant and contemporary insights that unveil a local perspective of the continent.
From our base in Johannesburg, where the African continent converges in one city,
we have produced more than 1 000 hours of studio, reality and short form content
and covered more than 200 unique African weddings in our ratings-hit TV show OurPerfect Wedding.
Since our inception in November 2012 Connect.tv has produced some 500 hours of
light studio entertainment and over 460 hours of original unscripted television. We
currently have some 100 hours of unscripted reality shows in production and a
number of new and exciting projects in development that should appeal to viewers
from the African Diaspora where-ever they currently live.
Connect.tv has created 8 culturally relevant unscripted reality productions shot in
English and indigenous languages. These shows include Our Perfect Wedding, Date
My Family, Diski Divas, Bootcamp, Utatakho, Please Step IN, Ons Spruikies Bruilof
(Our fairy-tale Wedding) and Married in a Flash. Connect has also recently curated and hosted the SA Pavilion at the Venice Biennale on behalf of the Department of Art and Culture and has also just wrapped shooting an exciting cooking reality show for KFC called KFC Taste Kitchen.
In addition to long form video, ConnectUP has also uploaded over 400 hyper-local
unscripted videos onto WIFI-TV. The productions were produced by 14 young
interns and included the ‘ask Ramokgopa campaign’ which was an exciting
interactive communication strategy for the executive mayor, as well as 'hit the
right note' a commercial brand awareness campaign for Cepacol.
All videos were between 3-5 minutes long suitable for watching on the move, and broadcast over the City of Tshwane's free wifi network to mobile devices.
SHAREHOLDERS
MANAGEMENT : 35 %
Basetsana Kumalo
Clifford Elk
BROAD-BASED, SOCIAL INTEREST GROUPS AND DIRECTORS: 52.5 %
Medi Mokuena : Malibongwe Trust
(trust dedicated to the upliftment of women)
Gilbert Mosena : NAFCOC
National African Chamber of Commerce & Industry
LEVEL 2 B-BBEE CONTRIBUTOR
70 % Black and 46.5 % Female Ownership
78 % Black and 57 % Female Employees
80 % Black and 80 % Female Management
MANAGEMENT TEAM
EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS
Basetsana is one of SA’s most recognised personal brands, as well as being a leading figure in the television and content industry. She is one of the founders as well as the executive CEO of Connect Channel, a self-made businesswoman, a philanthropist, a WEF Young Global Leader and spokesperson for UNICEF. As chairperson of Tswelopele Productions, she has also produced Top Billing (SABC 3) and Pasella (SABC 2).
Clifford is one of the founders, as well as an executive director of Connect Channel. He is a social entrepreneur and architect, has a track record of developing businesses as a resource to drive transformation and social change, has served as a director of the Mineworkers Investment Company (‘MIC’) continuously since 1995, initially as the founding CEO (1995-2003) and founded and implemented the renown Peermont School Support Programme to develop schools of excellence in Gauteng.
HEAD OF CREATIVE
PRODUCTION / CREW
40 Crew
8 Support
10 Creatives
36 Freelancers