Tswelopele Productions is a leading TV production company with an audited BEE certificate of Level 1. It is accredited by Impumelelo as one of South Africa’s Top 300 empowerment companies. The company’s flagship brand is the Top Billing TV show that is produced for SABC3 and is targeted at successful South Africans, proud of their country and their heritage,who aspire to and who do lead the good life via their achievements, lifting as they grow.
Top Billing is the longest-running entertainment and lifestyle television programme in South Africa, and celebrates its 15th birthday this year.In recent years Top Billing’s success has brought more projects to the reputable Tswelopele brand, such as the Afrikaans magazine programme on SABC2 (Pasella), a youth TV show in SiSwati on SABC1 (Ses’khona), and a sophisticated glossy print magazine (Top Billing) that covers the best of the good life in terms of homes, décor, food, gardens and travel. Top Billing magazine is produced by Tswelopele Publishing, a relatively new addition to the Tswelopele stable, with the same company shareholding. The ability to translate a brand from television to print ensures an immediate audience. To date Tswelopele has enjoyed great success with the publication of the best-selling Pasella cookbooks, as well as the monthly Top Billing magazine.
The Top Billing TV show and the magazine, connect with viewers and readers through brand building events in proud association with SABC3 - hosting art workshops, food and wine pairing evenings, and travel opportunities to local and international destinations.
Thanks to the experience of these brand building events - the company has the ability to stage manage and co-ordinate successful, stylish lifestyle functions.
Interview with Patience Stevens
BEHIND THE BRAND
What was your motivation for creating the Top Billing brand? When I created the Top Billing television programme 15 years ago, I did so with the idea of celebrating South Africa and the achievements of South Africans. We continue this celebration to this day. Now produced through Tswelopele Productions, which we registered in 1995, Top Billing has been joined by Pasella and Ses’khona in providing exciting weekly television programming across the national broadcaster’s three channels – SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3. The addition of Tswelopele Publishing has meant the introduction of Top Billing magazine under our media umbrella, resulting in an impressive multi-media company that is able to venture into brand-building-aligned event management.
What are the principles by which Tswelopele operates? Tswelopele aligns itself with Impumelelo by recognising the achievements of people in the arts, entertainment, travel and design arenas in the same way that Impumelelo recognises the achievements of people in the business environment. Both these spheres encompass many an entrepreneurial success story, and we are proud to highlight these successes. By profi ling those people who are making a contribution to the country, putting a spotlight on architects, interior designers, craftsmen, movie makers, business achievers and the like, Tswelopele provides a valuable contribution to industry in South Africa. Tswelopele is one of a very few empowered television companies. Although it is important to us, in that we are proud to be recognised as one of the Top 300 empowered companies in South Africa, we never assume the acquisition of business contracts based on this. Companies want to work with us because of our reputation of getting a job done on time and in the most professional manner. For them, the fact that we’re empowered is just an added bonus.
What role has human resources played in the development of the company, and how has Tswelopele in turn helped to advance the lives and careers of their employees? Fifteen years ago, we were a company of six people, running one television programme. Today, we have 70 employees responsible for three television programmes and a monthly magazine. There are a number of women in senior management who play a vital role in both creative and business decisions. The theoretical ‘glass ceiling’ has never been an issue we’ve had to deal with at Tswelopele. We allow women to excel because, for us, achievement should not be based on a person’s gender or the colour of their skin. I prefer to focus on a person’s performance and their efficiency in the role they’re given. I believe that everyone has a talent and the skill of management (and a vital duty) is to work out what each person’s talent is and to allow individual staff to excel in certain areas and, indeed, to encourage them to do so. I also know the importance of skills transfer, so on-the-job training becomes an added bonus for employees who demonstrate a natural aptitude for certain jobs or roles within the company. I do, however, insist that staff should fi rst demonstrate the will to achieve as well as demonstrate an inherent ability to succeed before we embark upon specific training programmes. It brings me great joy to see our staff developing to their maximum potential because no dream at Tswelopele is ever too big. Through this in-house skills transfer we are succeeding in developing sought-after skills that add to the talent within the local television industry. As head of Tswelopele, I feel it is vital to lead by example. It’s not easy to maintain the high standards we have set over the years, but we continue to do so because of the dedication and passion of all our employees. We have a staff that is creative, intelligent, hardworking and well trained, and we are blessed with an extraordinary collection of South Africa’s brain power in our offi ces. It is the culmination of all this ability and hard work that viewers get to see on air and readers find in the pages of the magazine. Our programmes and magazine are all a work of art that we are proud to share with the rest of South Africa.
What role does the content of your TV programmes play in improving South Africa on a micro as well as a macro level? Tswelopele and its programmes and magazine are platforms where we are able to bring to the public’s attention the positive aspects of our country. We build on the great things South Africans are doing, providing people with good news and entertainment, and encouraging others to go out and do the same. We show viewers and readers that there is no glass ceiling for South Africans either. Our mantra is: A dream that is dreamed is a dream that can be realised. Because South Africans want to hear about themselves, we pride ourselves on our great variety of local content. South Africans want to travel locally, but they also want to see fellow South Africans making it abroad. South Africans based overseas have a reputation for being hard-working, reliable, good tempered and friendly. Such a reputation makes us proud as well as happy to be living in South Africa. South Africans are amazing in that they want to make a difference and are actively committed to strengthening and growing our country. They feel a responsibility towards improvement. This encourages the entrepreneurial spirit that seems to govern our country, where South Africans look for solutions to problems rather than letting them be. It’s this spirit that we embrace at Tswelopele – celebrating South Africa’s prosperity. Much of our audience will never have the opportunity to travel to the destinations we travel to, eat in the restaurants we feature or meet the actors we do. Through our TV shows and the magazine, however, they are able to sit in their armchairs at home and experience these fascinating aspects of South Africa and the rest of the world. At the same time, they’re forming ideas on what to do with their leisure time, as well as being given home-improvement projects to try around the house.
The success of your company seems to be built upon establishing extremely popular and enduring brands that capture a significant market share in the TV industry? Most certainly that has been instrumental to our success. All three of our television programmes are extremely popular on their various SABC channels. Top Billing falls consistently within the Top 10 programmes on SABC3, and Pasella enjoys the same status on SABC2. In fact, since Tswelopele took over the production of Pasella, the show has grown into a programme with one of the highest advertising rates on television. The demand from companies to be associated with this programme that celebrates the Afrikaans language and culture, has meant the unprecedented introduction of a third advertisement break in a half hour programme. Ses’khona has also been extremely successful. Even though it is presented in the niche languages of Siswati and Ndebele, its appeal has succeeded in stretching to a wider audience. The success of the Top Billing magazine is not measured merely by the number of overall copies sold, but rather by the high sales fi gures generated through our target market at upmarket retail outlets. Top Billing’s audience is an extremely loyal one. By providing this audience with the additional brand offering of a monthly print magazine, which they can take home and read at leisure, we are encouraging an even more loyal base of viewers and readers, while strengthening and extending our brand presence. The Top Billing brand is no longer one dimensional – it has become a lifestyle brand that people can now touch and interact with. Viewer and reader events are providing us with constant opportunities to build relationships with and learn from our audience, giving us the opportunity to develop a special unique relationship with our market. This is only the tip of the iceberg, with new opportunities for growth being explored on a daily basis. The possibilities for the brand are endless. This year, we are looking forward to inviting Top Billing viewers and readers to join in the 15th birthday celebration by joining us as we travel to the top 15 destinations around the world, as well as our monthly art workshops and food and wine pairing evenings hosted by top restaurants and wine estates. To what do your ascribe the overall success of Tswelopele? I believe that Tswelopele consistently produces excellent products because of our philosophy of never compromising on our work ethic and the quality of our work, as well as our attention to detail, meticulous research, careful planning and our high standards of performance and delivery in all three of our programmes and our magazine.
Interview with Basetsana Kumalo
APPLAUDING EXCELLENCE
What was your motivation for joining the Top Billing brand? Top Billing is an aspirational brand that celebrates South African excellence in areas such as the arts, fashion, architecture and music. It showcases South African success stories and is a truly South African brand – but it also exhibits an international fl air and is able to compete with the best in the world. It’s a brand that allows people to believe in themselves and the fact that it is possible to achieve greatness in every industry. What are the principles by which Tswelopele operates? Being the Tswana word for ‘progress’, Tswelopele demonstrates the principles of growth, development, transparency, ubuntu, and the building of people, including employees. Two great examples are those of Pule Tsoai and Mfundo Khumalo, who went from working in our gardens to becoming an established and skilled cameraman and sound engineer respectively. People like these two young men aspired for a better life, and Tswelopele gave them an opportunity for growth by helping them acquire certain skills. The progress and growth of our employees becomes the progress and growth of our company. Employees at Tswelopele go the extra mile and have a common passion for what they do.
What role does the content of your television programmes play in improving South Africa on a micro as well as a macro level? Our content serves to applaud excellence. By profi ling individuals, such as artists or bead workers, we make a difference on a micro level. These people use their talents to better our country. By providing them with a platform to celebrate their success, and in turn inspire others, we contribute and meaningfully participate in creating a better economy in our country on a macro level. Content is king, and this has a ripple effect on many other factors.
The success of your company seems to be built on establishing extremely popular and enduring brands that capture a signifi cant market share in the television industry. Tell us about this. We have set ourselves apart as a production house by fi nding a niche in the market to produce the best lifestyle programmes that are accessible to the general South African public – Top Billing, Pasella and Ses’khona. A great strength of these programmes is that they are not shot in a studio – instead, we literally take the viewers into other people’s homes. We are out in the fi eld, at events and places of interest, touching lives in a tangible way by seeing what people do and how they live. We’ve tapped into the voyeur that is inherent in each and every one of us: people are interested in what happens in other people’s homes and are looking for ways to improve their own lives, so our viewers take something back with them to their own homes in order to create a better environment for themselves. How does Tswelopele advocate environmental responsibility? All our programmes favour eco-friendly content and entrepreneurs in this fi eld who follow these principles are always highlighted in our programmes and magazine. Even the paper we print our magazine on is ecofriendly.
What makes Tswelopele different to other production houses? My partnership with Patience Stevens is a very special one. Many times we agree to disagree, but we always work with a high level of respect for each other. We both bring two unique qualities to Tswelopele: I’m a marketer, and she’s technically astute. I call Patience the Spielberg of television. Our different skills complement each other. What makes South Africa an exciting country to work in with regards to television and generating content? Living in South Africa affords one such a wide scope where you can create something from nothing. Television plays a critical role in shaping minds and changing perceptions. Programmes like Top Billing and Pasella allow people to dream a bigger dream. For this reason, we have a responsibility to use television as a tool for ‘infotainment’, creating a balance between entertainment and education.
Why is it important for your programmes to produce local content? Being a proudly South African brand, it is very important for us to be involved in developing positive perceptions of our country. By producing local content, we celebrate success and help change people’s mindsets. South Africa cannot afford to have the ‘brain drain’ people speak of, so we like to show viewers that there is so much on offer in South Africa – so much to stay here for.
What positive changes have you seen taking place in the South African media industry since Top Billing started 15 years ago? Media ownership has changed hands, which has been an important development in growing the industry to a different level. There’s also more female involvement now, where the industry was previously male-dominated. Because the media is such a powerful instrument, it must be in the hands of people who are responsible. The annual Sithengi Film and Television Market showcases upcoming talent – young people are coming into this industry space now, and that is really encouraging and exciting. What are the exciting developments we can look forward to from Tswelopele? We are going to be producing new programmes within the stable very soon. We took a leap of faith when extending our brand into the Top Billing magazine – something more tangible to complement the ephemeral television show. This was the first of its kind in the country, and has chartered the course for us to move into the multimedia space.
