Tshepiso Chikapa-Phiri

Tshepiso is the CEO and founder of the Known Associates Group of Companies, which includes a below-the-line agency, a creative design studio, a film production and finance company, and a state-of-the-art film and television studio currently under development in Gauteng’s Cradle of Humankind. A University of Cape Town alumna, she has more than 20 years of experience across communications, events, media, marketing, and film and television production. After working on major international events including the North Sea Jazz Festival and Sithengi Film Festival, she founded Known Associates in 2014. In 2018, she co-founded Known Associates Entertainment (KAE), later reacquiring full ownership alongside Moonlighting Films, one of South Africa’s leading film servicing companies. KAE produced the hit multi-season series uBettina Wethu. Tshepiso served as South African Production Executive on Universal Pictures’ Beast starring Idris Elba, and Sony Pictures’ The Woman King starring Viola Davis and Thuso Mbedu. Her producing credits also include Atlantis, The Umbrella Man, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Netflix’s Wild Is The Wind. She serves as Chairperson of the Independent Producers’ Organisation (IPO), Managing Trustee of the Gerald Sekoto Trust, a trustee of The Smile Artist Foundation, a board member of Media Heads 360, and a director of the Cradle Nature Reserve.