South African Taiwanese businessman (1959–2022)
David Chih-Hsing Kan (2 July 1959[1] – May 19, 2022) was a Taiwanese-born CEO and founder of Mustek, one of the largest assemblers and distributors of personal computers and complementary ICT products in South Africa.[2] Mustek is the operational business division of the Mustek Limited Group, which also includes Rectron.
Early life and education
Born in Tapei, Taiwan, on 2 July 1959, Kan did a series of odd jobs growing up, including working as a dishwasher at the age of 15.[3] He was also a waiter, truck driver, and removal company worker.[3]
On completion of the Taiwanese equivalent of matric at Ta-Hwa Junior College in Hsinchu in 1980, he left for the US to study mechanical engineering at Pittsburg State University in Kansas.[3]
After graduating in 1986, he relocated to South Africa, where his father was working as an economic counsellor for the Republic of China.[1] Kan was working in a cutlery manufacturing facility when in 1987 he attended the first personal computer (PC) exhibition hosted by the Taiwanese government in Johannesburg.[1] It was here that Kan met the then managing director of the Taiwanese company Mustek Corporation, Owen Chen,[3] who was interested in setting up a warehouse in South Africa.[2] Kan made a partnership proposal with Chen and visited Mustek Corporation in Taiwan to receive training.[2]
Career
Kan set up Mustek in South Africa in 1987, importing and distributing components and assembling PCs for other brands, and then becoming manufacturer of the Mecer brand of computers.[1][4] Considered a pioneer in the tech space in South Africa, he led the development of the country’s first PC assembly plant.[1]
To get the business started, he borrowed $50,000 from both Chen and his father. That was the only capital investment the company would ever need.[3]
Kan attributed the company’s early success “with being at the right place at the right time”,[1] as the demand for PCs began to grow in the 1980s, and import tariffs gave Mustek a competitive advantage in establishing its dominance in the South African market.[1]
In 1995, Rectron was established as part of the Mustek Group to focus on the distribution of PC components.[1]
Mustek also comprises Mecer Inter-Ed, a controlling shareholding in Palladium, shareholdings in Sizwe Africa IT Group and Khauleza IT Solutions, and a substantial shareholding in Yangtze Optics Africa Cable.[5] Mustek operates in South Africa, with anchor operations in Zimbabwe, Kenya and Nigeria.[5]
The IT company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1997.[1] This made it the first Taiwanese company to be listed on a South African stock exchange.[6] In 2003, it did a dual listing on the Taiwan Stock Exchange through issuing Taiwan Depositary Receipts (TDRs).[7] In 2005, the company was responsible for about 25% of the computers sold in South Africa, and its ME-CER computer brand ranked first in personal computer sales in the country.[6]
Mustek reported an after-tax profit for the six months between 1 July and 31 December 2021 of R152 million, and an increase in revenue of 12.5% from R3.72 billion in 2021 to R4.19 billion in 2022.[8] At the beginning of 2022, Kan had increased his shareholding in the firm to 25.42%.[9]
Kan was a founding member of the Board of Directors of Zinox, a Nigerian tech brand launched in 2001.[10]
He died on May 19, 2022, aged 62.[1]
