After matric, I did military service at the Heidelberg Gymnasium officers training camp, where I became a chef for the brass. In 1969 I went back to Bloemfontein and worked for Frasers, who sent me to Lesotho for a couple of years to manage their supermarket.
In 1970 I moved to Johannesburg where I worked for Hofman property developers as a letting realtor. In 1979 I was head-hunted to a realtor company who let offices to Citiplan (later Incity).
During this period, I dealt with two Italian guys to whom I let a few shops for the first Italian take out stores (Pizzaghetti) in Johannesburg. I found premises for a store for myself, and there you go: it became a Pizzaolla. I subsequently started a few stores and also created a little sunglass boutique in the famous Hoek Sreet, leading into park station.
I worked for a couple of other townhouse developers. I was married (ek het haar lewendig verloor), with whom I had three kids. My current spouse and I have been together for 33 years.
We have a “yours, mine and ours”, i.e. six and seven grandchildren.