BACKSTORY: Corporate Image’s Tamra Capstick-Dale

What’s your one top tip for doing a deal?

Do very careful research on your counterpart before negotiations start. Be clear about what you’ll give and stick to it. Don’t be afraid to walk away.

What was your first job?

Serving cocktails in a bar.

How much was your first pay cheque, and how did you spend it?

R250 a month. I saved most of it and spent it on a gap year abroad.

What is the one thing you wish somebody had told you when you were starting out?

Not everyone is honest, so try to not let it upset you too much.

If you could fix only one thing in SA, what would it be?

Corruption definitely. Apathy and too much patience. The skills flight needs urgent attention.

What’s the most interesting thing about you that people don’t know?

I collect antique maps and orthodox icons, and I love to fish. I read Russian (badly).

What’s the worst investment mistake you’ve made?

We did a deal to sell our company in 2000. It was a giant mistake and we very nearly lost the company. We clawed it back from the brink.

What’s the best investment you’ve ever made? And how much of it was due to luck?

Buying property abroad has been good to me. Not much of it was luck, though I did manage to buy my first one in Westminster just as the 2008 global financial crisis hit, which meant I bought low.

What is the hardest life lesson you’ve learnt?

Life is very short. You don’t know how short until you lose someone close to you very suddenly.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Humility.

What is something you would go back and tell your younger self that would impress them?

The hard work will pay off. Ethics will count. And you can actually do everything you want if you try hard enough.

Was there ever a point at which you wanted to trade it all in for a different career? And if so, what would that career be?

Yes, definitely. I always wanted to run a marlin fishing charter business in the Bahamas.

If you were President Cyril Ramaphosa, what would you change, or do, tomorrow?

I’d start by getting out of the way. There’s too much regulation and red tape of every variety in our country, and we have an incapable state. Then I’d start firing people who clearly are in jobs beyond their competence. Cadre deployment has to go, and fast.