Press
Press, speaking and official materials.
Approved biographies, speaking themes, photography and contact information for journalists, event organisers and institutions.
Short biography
Thapelo Letsholo is a Botswana-born entrepreneur and institution-builder. He is the founder and Group CEO of Bolden, an African platform business spanning publishing, convenings, trusted networks and strategic counsel. His career has crossed banking, commercial strategy, marketing, corporate affairs, entrepreneurship and public service. From 2019 to 2024, he served as Member of Parliament for Kanye North and chaired Botswana's Finance and Estimates Committee.
Long biography
Thapelo Letsholo is a Botswana-born entrepreneur and institution-builder whose career has moved through corporate life, independent business, Parliament and the creation of African platforms.
He studied Psychology and Organisational Psychology at the University of Cape Town before working across banking, commercial strategy, marketing and corporate affairs at institutions including Debswana, Barclays and Kgalagadi Breweries.
He later left corporate life to establish Red Pepper and build an independent career in business and communications.
From 2019 to 2024, Thapelo served as Member of Parliament for Kanye North and chaired Botswana's Finance and Estimates Committee.
Today, he is the founder and Group CEO of Bolden, an African platform business spanning publishing, convenings, trusted networks and strategic counsel. Across this work, he helps people, institutions and nations become better understood.
Speaking themes
Trust, reputation and legibility
How names, institutions and nations become understood, remembered and trusted.
Leadership after office
What remains when authority, access and formal titles move on.
Institution-building in Africa
Creating platforms, records and relationships that outlive a single moment.
Public life and borrowed power
Leadership as stewardship rather than ownership.
People, institutions and nations
How serious work becomes clearer, more visible and better understood.
Approved photography
A documentary black-and-white portrait, approved for editorial use.
Media and speaking enquiries
For interviews, speaking invitations, institutional engagements and official biography or image requests: