-- Pollen Creative Media accused of financial mismanagement and fraud --
Wed, 04 Nov 2015 08:27
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SCREEN AFRICA EXCLUSIVE: Bridget Scarr, the managing director of Pollen Creative Media, is a South African entrepreneur. She co-founded The Hummingbird Group, which consists of five companies that offer creative content, advertising and technology services, and was named one of South Africa s Top 200 Young South Africans by the Mail and Guardian in 2014. Prior to founding Pollen, Scarr garnered production and management experience working at advertising agencies, production and post-production companies. In the last year her management of various businesses within the Hummingbird Group as well as her interaction with organisations such as the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) and Media, Information and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority (MICT SETA) have come under scrutiny, eventually erupting in a series of allegations which were posted on social media platforms by anonymous whistle- blowers.
Scarr was accused of not paying her staff, receiving funding for projects which were never completed, obtaining loans with no intention of paying them back, receiving bursary funding which was never paid over to institutions and even fleeing the country with partner Tobias Jaeger. Screen Africa was alerted to these allegations by an anonymous Twitter account, which has since been suspended. It has been confirmed that Scarr is back in the country, and she states the purpose of her trip was to attend the MIPCOM content market, held annually in France.
In August 2014 Pollen Creative Media elected to run a year-long animation training programme called Afriantics. The full-time programme would see animators of varying levels of experience participate in one of three projects (two 22 episodes of 20 minutes and one 52 episodes of five minutes) as a way to enhance their skills and knowledge. According to an anonymous source, MICT SETA had provided funding for the 60 participating junior animators, and Scarr had included this contribution in her dti rebate application. The source stated that the rebate was processed, with a number of milestone payments made. The source also claimed that facilitators abandoned the programme due to salaries not being paid for two months. Jabu Sibeka, senior manager of Learning Programmes at MICT SETA confirmed: The MICT SETA has taken the necessary steps to ensure that all interns have been placed with a new service provider that has undertaken to complete the programme. When asked about funds contributed by MICT SETA to execute this initiative, Sibeka responed: This information is part of a service level agreement (SLA); due to a confidentiality clause in the SLA, MICT SETA cannot disclose such information. Scarr added, Pollen TV rendered services to the official production entity, Brave Creative Media, which is headed up by Matsobane Lebelo. The production is currently in its final stage and is expected to be finished by the end of the year.
A registered MICT SETA vendor, Pollen Creative Media also facilitates bursary payments to AFDA students on behalf of the institution as it cannot pay the school directly, and has been accused of withholding these funds. AFDA issued the following statement to Screen Africa: AFDA can confirm that for a number of years Pollen TV has channelled MICT SETA funds in the form of bursaries to AFDA students. There is truth to the allegation that Pollen TV has fallen behind on their payments and as a result thereof over the past two years 34 students have been negatively affected by this to an amount of R850 000.00 in outstanding student fees. It must be understood, however, that students enter into an Enrolment and Tuition Agreement with AFDA, the service provider, and the students remain contractually responsible for the settlement of all fees, irrespective of where their funding is sourced. Thus, AFDA has no other recourse but to make demand for outstanding fees against such contractee, such demand having been made. MICT SETA has stated that it is taking legal action in this regard, while Scarr states, Pollen TV has several contracts with MICT SETA and has worked with SETA excellently over the past five years without any incident. Pollen is still expecting payments from SETA as part of the current contracts. Currently, there are two active contracts in place with SETA and neither one has been completed to date. For outstanding payments to AFDA there is a payment plan in place, which was agreed upon by both parties.
A local businessman, who asked to remain anonymous, claimed to be one of many people in the industry who loaned Scarr money to assist with what she explained was cash flow constraints in her business. The half a million rand loan, which was issued early in 2015, was never repaid despite a signed acknowledgement of debt agreement between the two parties. After months of delays, the source confronted Scarr: I actually went round there unannounced. At that stage they said that they had paid and that the money hadn t yet reflected in my account so I had requested a bank certified proof of payment. I pitched up at their offices and then got Bridget and her finance manager into a meeting and they called the bank. The bank said outright that no payment had been made and that no payment had ever been attempted. It became clear that she could not be telling the truth. After that she cut me off, would not speak to me or return my calls. From that day all correspondence has been through attorneys.
Scarr responded to allegations in a press statement issued by PR agency Meropa. In it she states that allegations against the Hummingbird Group stem from one or two disgruntled former employees ; that the group is 100% operational ; that cash flow issues have resulted in scaling back on sta
