Foreword

Dear friends

We trust you are all well. We have been fortunate to count ourselves as your friends in small and medium practices. We have found men and women with strong ethical and family values who are also true specialists in their fields. You represent to us, true CA(SA) business advisors or governance gatekeepers. You are people whose integrity is so beyond question that your communities accept something because it comes from you. We seek to bring such of you together to form a virtual firm called THAWT. We come together when there is a need.

We find ourselves in a position where we see so many people of ability with strong ethical values who do not have access to major consulting opportunities simply because they lack critical mass.

As large consulting firms market critical mass as a key requirement to clients, those without are faced with a barrier to entry. We find this unacceptable given the value, we believe, smaller consulting firms can add to business, the public sector and South Africa at large. The critical proviso is that we must come together within sustainable structures.

The model that we are proposing can address the critical mass question while maintaining the flexibility of smaller firms and avoiding the ethical trap of chasing big budgets. It also has the unique ability to unleash the power of individuality by allowing multiple team matrices to be assembled in minutes to service a client need.

We are cautiously optimistic that, if we can come together as like-minded consultants and use disruptive technologies to connect with each other, we can create the practice of the future.

NB: This venture can only succeed if big business supports us. With the support of big business we can test this model.

• If supported, we commit to facilitating the growth of other such initiatives led by suitable teams.
• Our risk management proposition to big business is "If we don't deliver, don't pay us".

The key element of our model is that it does not force or restrict. It is an invitation to come and play.

We look forward to engaging with you all.

Kindest regards

Afzal Khan

Country Chairperson