Mustek founder and CEO David Kan – a legendary figure in South Africa’s technology industry – passed away on Thursday. He was 62.

Kan, who founded Mustek in 1987 after relocating to South Africa from Taiwan, was a well-liked and highly respected businessman with an enormous sense of humour.

A pioneer in the tech space in South Africa – he led the development of the country’s first PC assembly plant – he built Mustek into an R8-billion-revenue business with profit last year of R292-million.

Mustek was unable to share further details immediately about Kan’s passing.

TechCentral wishes to extend its deepest condolences to Kan’s family and to everyone at Mustek whose lives he touched so deeply.

Listen to a podcast interview with David Kan from 2017, in which he reflected on 30 years of leading Mustek:

“I respected David and thoroughly enjoyed every encounter I had with him in my years covering the company as a journalist,” said TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod.

“Despite his enormous success in business, he never allowed it to go to his head. He always made time to shoot the breeze and, of course, as anyone who met the man knows, he had a wicked sense of humour. He will be deeply missed not only by the team at Mustek, but by everyone in the IT industry. A giant has fallen.” — (c) 2022 NewsCentral Media