While Henry de Vos was knocking on doors to sell insurance policies in Oudtshoorn, fate came knocking at his.
On that day in 2021 he was doing some old-fashioned cold-calling in the adjacent Bongolethu township when he noticed a VW Polo whose driver seemed to be looking for someone.
He approached the young man, who was searching for an “agent” in First Avenue, to offer his assistance. De Vos knew exactly where that was and jumped into the car to navigate the man to his destination.
The vehicle was strewn with brochures and he asked the driver what type of business he was in.
The latter told him that he worked for Multisure Corporation, a company specialising in the sale of affordable funeral cover to people and their extended families.
“Exactly the same thing I was doing,” De Vos said.
“I had never heard of them but, when I told him I was in the same line of work, he asked me to come and see him at his office in George.”
Henry de Vos has found everything he was looking for as an independent consultant at Multisure Corporation. Photo: Supplied
De Vos, admittedly, was highly sceptical at first. What he did not realise was that he had just hitched a ride with Darren Goodford, son of Multisure CEO Denton Goodford.
He duly travelled to the Garden Route city to meet up with Goodford.
“As soon as he saw me, he said, ‘Hey, Mr Henry. How are you?’ He then asked where I was from, where I was staying.
“He said I needed to prove myself first, so he gave me some forms and told me to go and sell, which I did. They checked everything and it all went through.”
It wasn’t long before he was presented with the keys to a vehicle.
Five months after this meeting of minds, De Vos and his partner Yolanda moved from the shack they had been living in to a brick-and-mortar home in Oudtshoorn.
This was quickly filled with trappings like flatscreen televisions, a washing machine and a bed and chest of drawers for his son.
“My life changed immediately,” the 62-year-old, who can never be accused of not paying his dues, said.
He grew up in Worcester, left school in 1979 with Grade 7 (Standard 5) behind his name and found a job at a general store in his hometown. But he believed there were far greater opportunities on the East Rand.
In those years candidates were not required to present potential employers with their matric certificates as they do now and he was fortunate to land a casual position at a major clothing retailer in Alberton.
His superiors were impressed by how he was able to charm his customers, often upselling them when they initially only needed a single item.
Many of the young worker’s clients returned the favour by sending letters to his managers, commending him on his talent for sales, and he was quickly promoted to supervisor.
Though he spent four years with this employer, South Africa’s transition to democracy brought greater expectations and with it came the need for staff to have the necessary qualifications.
In 1994, after a brief stint as a part-time employee at the Alberton Municipality, De Vos returned to Worcester to assist his father in delivering clothing and other essentials to farms in the area.
His next move was to modern-day Kariega in the Eastern Cape, where he signed up students for clothing accounts with the same retailer he had worked for in Gauteng.
While he was without the requisite National Senior Certificate, his background in sales enabled him to work part-time.
It was during this period that he met his former wife and became a father to a boy and girl, now 19 and 21, respectively.
De Vos returned to his roots in 2018 to help his family establish a church and in the same year met Yolanda, with whom he moved to Oudtshoorn driven by a need to forge their own path.
“Jobs were very scarce. There was no work for Landa and we had to stay in a small shack in a squatter camp,” De Vos, who kept himself busy by handing out catalogues for an appliance business, said.
Yolanda eventually found work at a fast-food outlet and he transitioned to selling life-cover policies.
“I was there for less than three months when I met Darren [Goodford].”
De Vos said Multisure gave people hope by first empowering them as agents and then as independent consultants.
“I went to Kimberley and built a team there. I built a team in Graaff-Reinet, I built teams in Oudtshoorn. I’ve recently been in Cradock.
“Multisure is not a one-man band – it’s a company that gives people life. It’s a place where you can grow.”