The Origin
The Jeffy Story
How a view from a farm in South Africa planted a seed that would grow into something much bigger than commerce.
"I was born on a farm in South Africa. We lived in wealth and opulence, and just one kilometer away, people kept their entire worldly possessions in a single trunk. No education. No hot shower. No clean clothes. And somehow, we saw this as normal."
My family's roots in South Africa go back to its very founding—we are one of the original families. I had the best education money could buy, and I found it wanting.
But what haunted me wasn't my education. It was that view. That contrast. The inequality that we'd somehow normalized.
The School That Could Have Been
My family built a school for the local farm children—children who would otherwise walk 30 kilometers each way just to learn. It was working. It was making a difference.
Then corruption destroyed it. Misappropriated funds. A bureaucratic shutdown. Hope, dismantled by greed.
That school planted a seed. Jeffy is what grew from it.
The Journey
I've lived and worked on every continent except America and Antarctica.
I tried to go back to South Africa. Several times. The politics, the systems, the decay—they pushed me away each time.
Now I'm in China, teaching kindergarten to support my family, sourcing products directly from factories. And I've realized something: I'm in the perfect place to do what I've always dreamed of doing.
What I Believe
"The native people of South Africa are some of the smartest and most innovative people on the planet. They've just never had the opportunity to shine. I want to provide that opportunity."
I want to make South Africa proud again. I want South Africans to be the most capable and advanced people on the planet. I want to equalize the playing field that has been tilted for centuries.
I'm not asking you to trust a stranger. I'm asking you to look at what I'm building, see if it aligns with what you believe, and decide if you want to be part of it.
"Truly great men plant trees under whose shade they will never sit."
— The philosophy behind Jeffy