10/01/2026
RISE ANYWAY!
From Bloemendal in the Northern Areas of Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), in Bethelsdorp/Chatty, I learned that hope and love conquer any hardship.
During high school (1984–1988 at Chatty Senior Secondary), my father’s illness left us on a grant. Between 1984 and 1988, my parents turned our living room into a jersey factory under one dim light. As a teen, I helped stitch those jerseys — after school and weekends — learning the machine beside them. It was love, survival, and family refusing to break.
In the late 80s, my mother suffered a stroke, leaving her with one lame arm.
She cried, staring at the sewing machine.
She could have stopped.
SHE DID'NT
With one trembling hand, she kept stitching — tear-soaked, painful stitches — because she wanted me to finish my matric.
Every jersey was her silent vow:
My son will rise.
That vow became my fire.
In 1989, at 19, I started as a factory worker at Dulux in Struandale. While studying part-time for my Purchasing Management Diploma, I rose through purchasing clerk, senior buyer and material controller roles, Purchasing & Warehouse Manager, Senior Export Buyer – Electrical at a leading automotive OEM (presented at global HQ in Germany in 2001), and Material Planning & Logistics Manager at a Tier 1 supplier — mastering full supply chains.
In 1991, I married Desiree — my rock, who never gave up on me.
In 2018, I founded Booysen Logistics and Services (Pty) Ltd — family-owned, 100% Black-owned, B-BBEE Level 1 — out of gratitude to my mother’s one lame arm, my father’s vision, and Desiree’s unwavering faith.
Today we handle imports & exports freight (sea, air, road), warehousing, customs, ship’s agency, consulting, and global sourcing. We own our fleet for full control and reliability.
From stitching jerseys as a schoolboy to leading a logistics company — this is my truth:
Rise anyway.
One stitch.
One step.
One more day.
Your pain is not your ending.
Your refusal to quit is your beginning.
Never stop.
One arm is enough.
Hope wins.
As Nelson Mandela said:
"It always seems impossible until it's done."
And as my mother showed me with every tearful stitch — and as Desiree reminds me every day:
Even with one arm left, with love by your side, you can build something beautiful.
🚢✈️🚚🔥💙🇿🇦
