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Hannelie Bekker has been working in broadcast since 1992, with a focus on content and channel management.
In her native South Africa she spent 10 years with SABC, the public broadcaster.
As an international buyer in the post-apartheid 90’s she introduced shows like Sex & the City, Survivor, The Amazing Race and countless others to South African audiences, before moving to oversee both commissioning and acquisitions for one of the SABC’s channels.
A later period as General Manager of SABC 3 meant taking overall responsibility for the performance of the channel, ito audience, mandate and bottom line. This period was part of a concerted four-year strategy that achieved profitability and financial independence for the SABC, while at the same time delivering on increased local content obligations.
Subsequent to leaving the SABC she worked in film and pay-television in SA before forming her own company, Octant, in mid-2009, to focus on strategy and business development in the broad media space.
A consulting arrangement with Kenya’s Wananchi Group led to her appointment as MD: Wananchi Programming is 2010, with a brief to establish a programming group in Nairobi.
The group launched 6 new pay-tv channels in October 2010 (4 movie channels, 1 GE and 1 documentary). It now manages the entire tv propostion across two platforms (cable and DTH), consisting of more than 120 channels, and represents a skills base in multichannel pay tv and broadcast management that is unequalled in East Africa.
