The Founder
Duma Ndlovu

The company has easily navigated the space of TV production, PR, communication, and events management through the leadership of its founder, Duma Ndlovu whose transformative vision and talent in multiple disciplines has built a company that has shaped not only the television industry, but the entertainment industry as a whole.

Ndlovu was conferred with 2 honorary PhDs,one by the Venda University in May 2011 and the second by the University of Zulu land in May 2022.

In all our projects, we encourage and promote skills development, training and education. At some point, Rhythm World boasted off, the highest number of graduates in the television space. Over the years, we have seen other TV producing companies following suit.

NDLOVU'S ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACCOLADES INCLUDE

• He is the casting director for Disney Theatricals' THE LION KING - a position he has held for the last 20 years. He was the chairperson of the South African Music Awards (SAMAs) and was credited with having turned the SAMAs around, and helped to make them acceptable to a wider fraternity of musicians within the broader South African music industry. He has served on several corporate boards, through which he has applied his vast experience of the transformative agenda to transform companies. His latest board membership has been with the leading advertising agency in South Africa - Ogilvy.
• He has also served on a number of boards of not-for-profit organisations including the UKHAHLAMBA DEVELOPMENT TRUST and the KING MATIWANE TRUST. He also served on the board of THE PLAYHOUSE COMPANY between 2005-2008.
• He is the founder & chairperson of the WOZA AFRIKA FOUNDATION in New York, through which he funded a number of South African organizations and projects. The 9th of May 2016 was declared Duma Ndlovu Day in Harlem, New York City by Congressman Charles Rangel in recognition of the work done by Ndlovu to introduce South African cultural expressions, and raise the bar for the arts in the neighbourhood.
• He is a distinguished writer. producer, and director; with a number of plays and television shows to his name.
• He has compiled and edited a collection of South African plays in work titled: WOZA AFRIKA.

1984

He worked with a number of black not-for-profit groups in Harlem, New York including the Black United Fund and Roger Furman's New Heritage Theatre. It was at the New Heritage Theatre that he produced the hit South African play, "Woza Albert" in 1984.

1986

In April 1986 he together with Voza Rivers,Roger Furman's Executive director, brought the much acclaimed play, "Asinamali" to the U.S. and in September he put together the highly successful South African Theater Festival, "Woza Afrika", at the Lincoln Center.

The five plays that were presented at the festival together with "Woza Albert" were later published in an anthology: "Woza Afrika! An Anthology of South African Plays". He edited the anthology. It became one of the very few anthologies on South African theatre.

1987

In April 1987 he assembled a group of producers and took the acclaimed South African play "Asinamali" to Broadway. It marked the first time that a Black South African play came to the Broadway stage and the first time that a South African was involved as a producer on the major leagues of theater.

Through the Woza Afrika Foundation, which he is executive director of, he was instrumental in giving grants to numerous South African Township theater companies and individuals. One of the companies was Committed Artist, formed by Mbongeni Ngema, which went on to create the hit Broadway play;

He then worked with Lincoln Center Theater to bring Sarafina to the United States for what was intended to be a limited ten week run but became a highly acclaimed extended run on Broadway. Sarafina toured the United States and the world for six years.

Ndlovu's play, Sheila's Day, celebrating the commonalties between African American and a South African domestic workers was produced by the Crossroads theater Company in New Brunswick, in 1987. It went on to tour the U.S. with performances at The Ford Theatre in Washington D.C, and the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta. The play toured for a total of four years.

1992

He returned to his native South Africa in 1992 after the release from prison of Nelson Mandela and the un-banning of political organizations. In South Africa he has written and directed plays and produced for television. Among his plays are Bergville Stories, The Game (which won a number of Vita Awards including best director, best script and best play).

His other play, The Ritual, was commissioned by London's Million Feds Productions, was performed at London's Riverside Studios. His most recent play, a musical, The Journey, travelled to Switzerland in January 2004, as part of 10th Anniversary Celebrations of our democracy.

1997

Among his television credits are documentaries and made for TV dramas. Muvhango, thirteen episode drama ran a highly successful season on SABC2 and it is now in it's 19th season and is averaging 6 million viewers a day, making it either the 2nd or 3rd highest watched television program on television.

1999

A workshop project, Black Codes From the Underground, conceived and created by Ndlovu, co-written with Gregory Holtz and Laydin Kaliba, was recently produced as part of the Lincoln Center Festival, July 1999.

Duma Ndlovu has travelled all over the United States speaking to college students, reading his poetry, and addressing conventions and seminars on South African arts and culture. He was a visiting professor at Stoneybrook University part of the State University of New York where he taught African history and political science for two years.

1999

In 1999 he was head hunted by the IEC (Independent Electoral Commission) to be part of a media center, and was tasked with turning the negative media around the elections around.

2001

In 2001 he was asked by the Bergville Community, where he originates from, to mediate in a conflict between two warring chiefs. He put together a delegation of tribesmen and community leaders and created a structure that resolved the conflict peacefully and brought to an end an internecine war in the region. He has been part of a number of peace initiatives.