Q:Starting from your childhood to you now being a successful young entrepreneur, producer, writer & Director –can you tell us more about your background and your journey leading up to now?

TS:My journey has never been simple, it’s not an easy journey because I’m in a town where my line of business doesn’t really make waves, so it’s actually an introduction of something that is kind of new especially for the fact that I’m in the North west province in Rustenburg. First of all from funding to support and clientele, I’m suffering a lot I’m not getting the clients that I really need and I can’t get people to sponsor this initiative because nobody really believes in media in the North West province.

Q: What have been some of your biggest challenges?

TS: We actually realised back in school. I met Onalenna at MSC College when we were both studying Information Technology (IT) Software Development. We both gained a neck for media as time went by and we realised that IT can work well with media —meaning telecast, that’s when we started and we thought of developing an application called NuInferno Television which is available for download on google play store. So I would say the love for media and production started when we were still studying Information Technology.

Q: What have been some of your biggest challenges?

TS: Our biggest challenge is not getting the particular clientele that we need or getting people buying into the concept as in the North West province you don’t have many people that are interested in being out there in the media, nobody really cares or believes about appearing or being seen out there. And not many people believe that anyone can start something like this from the ground, everyone believes in mainstream media.

Q: What have been some of your greatest successes?

TS:I would say working very close to mainstream media and the biggest artists in the country, including international artists like WizKid, we’ve produced content for WizKid in 2019. I think we’ve worked with almost all the biggest artists in the country, including the president during the Covid-19 lockdown when everybody was on lockdown we had a permit to move around and get news for the province. We were deployed by the North West government to cover stories and news during the first hard lockdown.

Q: Greatest lesson/s you’ve learned about being in the production industry?

TS: The greatest lesson we’ve learned about being in this industry is that qualifications don’t really matter, it’s not a necessity to have a qualification of any kind in the media industry. I believe everyone is born for something so I would say that if it’s something that God has purposed for you, dark or blue come hell or high waters you still can be able to do it, as long as you set your mind right and you give it your all. One of the biggest lessons that I realised in the production industry is that whenever you feel like you wanna do something, don’t even think twice – just work on it and give it your all, all you got to do is start what you want to do, people will catch up and you will also grow and improve as time goes by.

Q: If there’s anything about the film and television production industry that you would change to make it more accessible and easier to navigate, especially in your fields, what would it be?

TS:Well to be honest media and production specifically is very broad, and if there’s anything that we would change or trying to change is bringing film production and television into the fourth Industrial Revolution hence we created the application. Meaning we taking it to the next level as people can no longer watch TV from our normal television sets in our homes anymore, they can access most of their favourite and local content from their phones at the expense of using data bundles. And again what we want to change is the mentality of our people that the only way you can make it in the media industry you have to leave our province and go to other provinces where media is taken seriously, we wanted to show young people in the province that it’s also possible to become an actor, producer and a director of your dreams, hence we created this platform for everyone who loves this field as much as we do.

We recently got invited to a school revamping initiative hosted by Spar Sun Village powered by Mankwe Game Lodge, Sun City and their other partners. This project falls under Spar’s yearly plan of events and seeks to achieve one of their main objectives which is to develop and empower communities that support them as their clients and customers by giving back through impactful initiatives that change their lives. These amazing change makers are being steered by a visionary businessman and community leader who has dedicated virtually his entire working -career to the development of youth, women and disadvantaged individuals in the vicinity of the Moses Kotane Municipality, especially around Ledig, Mogwase, Mabeskraal and other neighbouring villages. Catch our Cashless Conversations In Session interview with Stavros Phieros to learn more about on their plans to help others as Spar Sun Village through their various social impact programs.