It is difficult to refer to Thabiso and Ayanda Tlelai in the past tense.
As a personal friend, business partner and brother, I met Thabiso in 2002 — a common friend introduced us while Thabiso was looking for a board member for one of his companies. I reached out to Peter Moyo, whom I had known for many years. In 2002 we established what became NMT Capital. While people know him as the owner of the Don hotels, he was involved in businesses with Ayanda long before that.
Thabiso was a very easy guy, with a very warm character, yet an extremely hard worker who was focused and tenacious, and taught us that we should never be discouraged by setbacks as we pursue success. He was resilient. How do we forget Ayanda’s infectious laugh while showing interest in conversations? Her ability to converse in a number of SA languages made conversations easy with a whole lot of other people.
Thabiso Tlelai was a true businessman with compassion. What a loss!