“We have been approached by several listed companies and financial equity companies to sell AFDA over the last seven years. Curro had indicated that they were interested in listing a Higher Education division… We met and decided to pursue a deal with them.” – Garth Holmes
Curro Holdings has recently added the South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance (AFDA) to its list of tertiary offerings. The Curro Schools brand first envisioned having a tertiary division after its successful execution and expansion of its nursery to high school targets in its classified schools.
Since then the JSE-listed education company has established Embury Colleges for teacher training in Durban, Midrand and Pretoria. However it was late last year that Curro shared its plans of expanding its tertiary education subsidiary and listing it separately from Curro Holdings.
“We have been approached by several listed companies and financial equity companies to sell AFDA over the last seven years. Curro had indicated that they were interested in listing a Higher Education division. A commercial broker approached us with the potential of meeting with Curro Holdings in late December last year. We met and decided to pursue a deal with them, which finally concluded six months later on 1 June 2017,” says Garth Holmes, co-founder and chairman of AFDA.
AFDA has been incorporated into the Curro Holdings’ wholly owned tertiary education subsidiary and also listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) under Stadio Holdings. The school believes that this JSE-listing will give them more prominence, status and opportunities, which are currently limited.
“I believe that it gives the school a certain prominence and status which is different from its current prominence and status – it allows the public to participate in the success of the school and its expansion, and hopefully it allows us to develop the educational offer, the campus, faculty and facilities with each year,” Holmes shares.
“We will become part of a larger organisation and that financial clout will allow us to expand the business in a meaningful way. We believe that it will give the brand greater prominence and assurance for all its stakeholders – similarly we will be able to increase the employment opportunities for our management, staff and faculty members,” he adds.
AFDA is a private institution focused on the creative arts with specialised degrees and certificates in filmmaking, performance and design to name a few. However the institution recently decided to add two new degrees; the B. Comm in business innovation and the BcT in digital technology, both of which will form a triumvirate of the arts, business and technology. This will help broaden the school’s fields of interest whilst also equipping the young creatives with good business acumen and knowledge of modern technologies needed to sustain them in the creative economy. Furthermore, these new degrees coincide with AFDA’s new vision to optimise the vocational opportunities of content creation in businesses and technological innovations.
“The greatest challenge today lies in the exponential changes that we are experiencing as a society moving from an analogue to digital society and the attendant shifts in the way we access, produce, package, archive and distribute knowledge (audio – visual and text),” adds Holmes.
AFDA also hopes that this merger will help them further add more degrees and certificate courses to their offerings. “They (Curro) are acquisitive and have an excellent track record for expansion – AFDA would like to expand their current degree and certificate offers and Stadio, the new listed entity will allow us to capitalise the growth and minimalise the risk that has become increasingly more onerous for us as a private provider,” shares Holmes.
AFDA was founded in 1994 by Holmes and Bata Passchier and has grown from having just six students to now having five campuses in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, and Port Elizabeth as well as in Botswana. The school now boasts 2 000 full-time students and many more part-timers.
Holmes says that the school is aimed at producing graduates who are creative, networked, collaborative, skilled and passionate. This, they do by providing customised and industry-related learning principles which are usually inspiring and thought-provoking for the students.
“We have the top people in the country (faculty) who together with the enthusiasm, talent and passion of the students allow us to constantly be a benchmark institution. We have a custom-made, market-related, project-led, collaborative and socialised learning system which makes learning challenging and stimulating – allowing students to identify, acknowledge and pursue their aptitudes and passions. It is a complex process which mimics industry as well as leading the new industry through its post graduate Honours and Masters Degree praxis.”
Holmes’ and Passchier’s vison of creating a world-class institution for the film, television and performance industries in the country spans over 23 years. AFDA students have been known to produce award-winning shows and performances that have earned recognition locally as well as internationally.
This year AFDA scooped 20 out of 46 nominations at the South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs) including Best Actress, Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematographer, Best Editing, Best Sound Design, Best Costume, Make-up and Styling as well as the Youth Achievement award.
