Tshepiso Chikapa Phiri is the CEO and founder of the Known Associates Group of Companies, which includes a below the line agency, design studio, film production development and finance company and is currently building a state-of-the-Art film and television Studio in the Cradle of Humankind outside Johannesburg. KA skilfully produces and directs world-class projects in the communications, experiential, and relationship marketing industries, both locally and across Africa.
She is a University of Cape Town Alumni, with 20 years’ experience in communications, events, media, marketing, and film and television production. Her career includes working in international events including the North Sea Jazz Festival and Sithengi Film Festival. She has also worked in classic advertising as a ‘suit’. In 2007 she decided to commit to a career as a television and film producer. Her training ground was at Bomb Productions where she was the Associate Producer on the drama series Zone14. In 2008 she formed a boutique film and television production company Zing Entertainment with her partner Joel Phiri. Zing in partnership with Pulp Films produced MTN’s The Beautiful Game, a football documentary filmed throughout Africa. She sits on the board of Media Heads 360 and is a shareholder in the business. She is a trustee of the Smile Artist Foundation and the Gerald Sekoto Trust.
She is also on the board of the Cradle Nature Reserve, which controls over 10 000 hectares of land in the Cradle Precinct. In 2018 she founded Known Associates Entertainment with Dan Jawitz. The company has recently purchased Moonlighting Films PTY LTD, a leading television and film servicing company. The first KAE production, uBettina Wethu was a multi season series based on the Columbian smash hit telenovela YO SOY BETTY LA FEY (adapted as Ugly Betty in the US).
The company has serviced international productions including Universal Studios’ feature film, Beast and Sony Pictures’ The Woman King. KAE produced ETV’s first EVOD feature film, Atlantis (2021), John Barker’s The Umbrella Man, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022 and Fabian Medea’s feature film Wild Is The Wind, which premiered on Netflix in 2022.
