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Evelyn Maruping (32), whose name is expected to soon be on everyone’s lips, is a young, passionate woman who is well on her way to becoming one of the country’s top mediapreneurs.
Maruping has returned to Kimberley, her home town, to realise her childhood dream of creating an online television channel for Kimberlites. She calls it Beleef Kimberley.
The idea came to her on 18 July, and a month later the Facebook page for Beleef Kimberley TV was up and running.
“For the first time, work does not feel like work. With only my camera, talent and industry knowledge, I wake up every morning to shoot, edit and upload,” Maruping said.
She studied at Afda, the South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance.
“During my studies, I was keenly focused on producing. Now I am producing, writing, directing, editing and distributing on a daily basis.”
She is assisted by Dedre Moseki, her production coordinator.
with the incredible assistance of a young vibrant lady working as my production coordinator and in training every day.
“We work night and day to make my vision for Kimberley a reality.”
The channel consists of seven original magazine programmes, broadcast both in English and Afrikaans.
The programmes include a business show, fashion and lifestyle show, talk show, travel show, music show, events show and a food show.
She says 90% of the programmes are shot in Kimberley due to current financial challenges affecting production logistics.
All presenters were sourced locally.
The official launch is expected to be held later this year.
Elaborating on the challenging journey to reach her dream, Maruping remembered her days of going to school hungry and coming home to nothing.
“I had to wear open sandals to school in the winter, for which I was mocked. Yet I had the prettiest friends from the best backgrounds, and they never ever made me feel inferior.”
After completing Gr. 12, Maruping volunteered at a local radio station before heading off to Johannesburg to complete a seven-week course in television presenting.
This turned into a year of working at a non-profit organisation as a sponsorship coordinator.
She returned to Kimberley and took on various jobs, but continued to search for possibilities in the entertainment industry.
After a while, Maruping was selected by the South African Scriptwriters Institute to do a screenplay writing course.
In 2010, she won a national film-making competition and was one of the seven winners to direct My documentary in my City for SABC1.
In the same year, she saw an advertisement for an Afda television short course in Kimberley and applied. She passed the interview and test and completed the seven-week training.
“To my surprise, I was offered a fully-paid bursary to study towards a degree and eventually an honours degree at Afda in Cape Town.” It took me three years of studies to realise that I was not dreaming. I was really studying and I could stop pinching myself” she admitted.
After completing her honours degree, she returned to Kimberley. Maruping was to be one of four pioneers to establish a community television station, but these plans were derailed.
In 2016, she worked as a production secretary on the local Afrikaans soapie Getroud met Rugby.
Maruping tried her hand at a number of projects, like an online YouTube channel talk show called Talking to Eve.
She started her company, Maruping Media Productions, in 2015, but only went into business full-time in 2017.
She offers several services, from video production to photography, and is developing an accredited short-course television and film training programme.
Maruping also runs an empowerment project called She Sparkles for teen girls. The project equips teenagers with confidence, skills and education to become the best version of themselves.
Her intention is to build a media empire and become one of the top mediapreneurs in the world, but, most importantly, she wants to put the people of Kimberley back on the map with Beleef Kimberley.
