Ayanda was born in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa and is the second of six children. In his formative years, he had the privilege of being brought up and exposed to values from a rural village in Tsomo, township life in Port Elizabeth, as well as completing high school at a rural boarding school in Cofimvaba. These, when combined, exposed him to a variety of incredible cultural richness and diversity prevalent in the different environments. He went on to study Medical Technology, and completed in record time. At that stage, their family battle cry was “no matter what, failure is not an option”, as it would result in withdrawal of scholarships. On completion, he approached friends for a job in a Medical Technology Laboratory, he established a Bacteriology section, with the intention to buy equity at some stage. While the operational
side of the laboratory was a success, owing to lack of experience, the business side was a miserable failure. Ayanda went back to a job at a leading medical research institution.

A few years later, he joined the pharmaceutical industry as a Medical Representative at Pharmacare, now Aspen. Fifteen months later, he was promoted to Product Management. It was during that period that Ayanda’s entrepreneurial dream was reignited through exposure to the founders of Aspen. As such, he focused on honing his skills and experience in brands of different stages of life cycle, from launch to maturity, unique and substitute brands alike. He attended international congresses and established key opinion leader networks locally and abroad. He joined the Animal Health division of Pfizer as Marketing Manager for a livestock portfolio in 2006.

Following an in-depth market research into the communal sector, Talitha Pharma® was conceived, as an idea to establish a company that would focus specifically on the communal sector niche, addressing the pertinent gaps identified in the research. He realised that, what he was about to build was much bigger than him; and so, in addition to all my experience and learning, including studies in Master of Business Administration, he still needed specific expertise in veterinary, community and farmer development, and proven success record in these fields.

Talitha Pharma® went to market in August 2013; and since then, we developed a LIVESTOCK HEALTH PROGRAMME, which guarantees increased yields (lambing, kidding and calving), translating to increased weaning rate and profitable farming, specifically for communal farmers.

The name ‘Talitha’ embodies the qualities, the spirit and the behaviours described below, which are our inspiration.

In the Gospel according to Mark, Jesus said these words to a presumed dead girl, "Talitha cumi" (Hebrew), which mean - "Little girl, I say to you, arise" or "get up". => Talitha® means a miracle

The traditional star name “Talitha” refers to two stars in the Ursa Major Constellation. => Talitha® stands for Excellence

Talitha is also an Arabic phrase, which means the third leap of a gazelle. => Talitha® stands for vitality, agility and alertness to the environment around us.