By Nosipho Maketo – van den Bragt

In any setting the minute you walk in a gathering, right after the social niceties of, “How are you?” and the polite exchange of names – the next question is “So..what do you do?” When I tell people that I am a CEO and co-founder of a creative studio called Chocolate Tribe – there often is a “Wow! That’s so AMAZING! I also want to start my own thing and be my own boss!” and “By the way…do you make chocolate?” No…we do not make chocolate. We are in the film, animation, VFX and content development space! And yes absolutely! It is AMAZING being a CEO – you are at the helm of making highly impactful decisions that can change the fortunes of your industry, company, employees and family. But honestly, it’s only the tip of the iceberg!

Here are my 10 points of reflection.

I started the CEO role at Chocolate Tribe 10 years ago after leaving law practice. The key driver for incorporating Chocolate Tribe was not only to create a seat at the table, but the table and the room itself. I wanted to be an author of my own destiny and change the narrative around success, excellence as well as access to opportunities.

From a personal perspective, I also naively thought it was a great way of managing my time and pursuing the things that I was truly passionate about. I didn’t want to be tethered to other people’s limiting beliefs about me. Being an ambitious woman of colour, wife and mother of 3 young kids, I aspired to do it all!

I quickly realised I couldn’t be in 2 or more places at once. I had to learn to prioritise as well as delegate. Even though you cannot delegate passion. Accept that some things have to be done later.

It’s vital to have a healthy dose of naivety to be a successful entrepreneur, it keeps you unburdened by excess baggage from other people’s experiences. It keeps you curious and open to new possibilities!

In the early stages of the company, I began from a place of no experience. At least not in the creative space. Being a lawyer had given me the practical and academic anchor to think through processes and challenges, critically and creatively. In addition, I had had the background of loving various artistic expressions such as film, writing, fashion design, theatre, dancing, singing and naturally – at some point I did think I could challenge Whitney Houston…until one karaoke night when I realised that I had to vigorously defend my day job!

Be self aware. In learning and exploring, also understand your limits – so you don’t get drawn unnecessarily into spaces that you will not immediately excel in.

Another crucial benefit I had early on in this role, was having a creative partner who was equally passionate especially about the creative side of animation, VFX and content development industry. As a result, there was a constellation of both our stars in understanding not only the vision but the mission of Chocolate Tribe.

Just as I started from a place of no experience and being aware of my limitations, I was willing to commit myself to learning about this industry from scratch. It was not just learning from books, but online courses, attending conferences and festivals. It was about allowing myself to be surrounded by talented people who understood the industry better than I did.

It’s ok to not know, however – it’s crucial to seek that knowledge and engulf yourself with a team and community that is highly skilled, motivated and passionate.

As we were only 2 at the genesis of the company, amongst my first tasks stepping into this dynamic role was emailing and phoning various production houses, to let them know we were open for business.

Not only did I have to learn the language of creatives, but their vibe, tone and infuse tenacity as phone call after phone call I had “no thanks” or “chocolate who?” which was followed by a phone click. There were many “no thanks!” until the one big yes! which came in the form of the Robot and Scarecrow project with UK Director Kibwe Tavares and DMC films. This project early on opened the door for us to an international clientele and audience. Even with this early success that came with international accolades, the primary focus was to churn out work that spoke for itself.

Don’t be precious (even as a CEO) – roll up your sleeves and do what it takes to push the cart up the hill; be an active team member. Do not lose sight of the goal and as much as marketing is crucial – what travels further than a fancy marketing campaign, is word of mouth and the calibre of work you produce.

As we grew in numbers (30+) and in confidence as a studio, I began to find my rhythm. But the thing about rhythm is that for it to inspire the full breath and width of growth, it has to embrace change.

Change is constant and sometimes painful. Not only do projects come and go, so do people in your company. The first time under my CEO watch that I experienced a loss of a project and an employee resigning, it was like a break up – I was heartbroken. It felt like a personal rejection.

From the ground up, we had built an unblemished repertoire of projects and nurturing environments in Cape Town and Johannesburg for all of us to harness our dreams. One studio facing the world famous Table mountain, and the other with a view to Hyde Park and the City of Johannesburg; a chess board, card games, beautiful art, month-end drinks, training sessions every Friday, a team with a quirky sense of humour and a tight circle of trust! And now the project is gone and/or a team member wants to leave?

I openly embraced the lesson of growth within the context of change. This lesson is highly relevant, more so now than ever before! Especially as our industry like many,  is going through tectonic technological changes.

In the beginning of my journey as CEO, I had been hugely uncomfortable and uncertain. Like most people, I had suffered bouts of imposter syndrome – I had heard the whispers of “what is a lawyer (woman) doing in this space.” Not just from men in this industry, but from women too. “Lawyers are troublemakers, they also don’t understand the creative industry.”

Integral to the Chocolate Tribe business and leaning on my past experience, I had introduced a strong governance structure with contracts, policies, processes and procedures for everything. I was told, “In this industry, we have been working through gentlemen’s agreements – we trust each other and do not need contracts.”

There will be overt and covert resistance to change coming from different quarters, but stay true to yourself, as well as the mission and vision of the company. And by the way, structure, workflows and pipelines in any organisation are critical for certainty, clarity and coherence.

No skills are lost! Creativity emanates from everywhere and anywhere, even from lawyers! My imposter syndrome of feeling that I had gone into a space I was not trained in, became my superpower.

Besides my core role, I saw new and interesting opportunities from (legal) deal negotiations, advocacy for creatives, investing in thought leadership on developing a strong African narrative, mentoring, training other creative business owners, to fostering diversity for women and marginalised creatives who would not have easily gravitated to this industry. I mentored (still do) for global organisations such as Women in Animation (WIA).

Part of this journey led me to begin an annual festival called AVIJOZI (read more about last year’s AVIJOZI festival here) in partnership with Netflix which broadly creates paths of succession in the industry for youth and professionals. This festival is now a movement and is going into its 4th year in 2025 and has connections with other international festivals.

With 10 notches on my CEO belt, and reflecting on the successes we have had; from building a super-talented team, a company with 2 branches from scratch, international and local awards, working with global partners such as Netflix, Disney, Amazon, Showmax, BBC, and many more, as well as being part of a crucial movement to change the African narrative in the global film industry is truly stupendous!

Take the wins no matter how seemingly small!

On 7 November 2024 we turned 10 and celebrated this amazing milestone in our Johannesburg studio with karaoke! And yes again, karaoke did not miss a beat in humbling many of us. Needless to say we all had an AMAZING time!

In order to pivot, you have to be AGILE on all fronts!

All industries are changing at a maddening rate with the advent of AI. There is a barrage of information and knowledge coming at us with lightning speed. We are still in a climate crisis. For the first time in known human history, we have 5 different generations at the same time in the workplace. All seeking different things. Mental health concerns are rife.

Covid 19 changed all our lives. Remote and hybrid work came along. Huge unemployment amongst youth. Real diversity is still a challenge locally and globally. An enormous demand for content to keep a diverse and ever growing population entertained. Flexible hours and need for wage increases. At the same time, most economies are shrinking and so are industry budgets.

IN SUMMARY

There is a lot to contend with when you are the CEO of a company on a macro and micro level.

Challenges and opportunities come at you in equal measure and keep you up at night – so much for starting a business to manage your time, attend more PTA meetings and do date nights regularly! Stay healthy, curious, develop a strong sense of humour, pace yourself and choose all your battles wisely!

In all of this push and pull – what has been AMAZING is learning different things, including from my repeated travels to Stuttgart, Annecy, Abidjan, Durban, Cape Town, Nairobi, Mumbai, Rome, Leipzig, New York, Paris, Cannes and London. The fellowship that I continue experiencing within the creative community and within the Tribe is priceless.

Raising a glass to everyone.
Best wishes for 2025!

Nosipho (aka Nosi)

Wanna (s)talk some more? Check out Chocolate Tribe’s Company Website.