Hagen was born in Okanhanja and lived on a farm for the first four years of his life. When they moved to Pretoria. He can remember that his parents were always broke. His parents did not have any secondary education. Because they had been working for 40 years, and were still struggling, they told their 3 boys to rather go and study, so that they didn’t have to struggle like they did. So, Hagen studied for 10 years and after receiving his degree, he started working as an engineer at a major motor manufacturing plant.

Edelgard growing up in Bloemfontein, and being the eldest of 4 siblings of a middle class family, got to know the concept of direct selling, very early in her life, because although her parents had their own business, her mom was always looking for ways to increase the income for the family. All Edelgard can remember are all those products that had to be sold...! 

But one thing that had a much bigger impact on her life was the way her mom and granny showed the family how to eat healthy, ‘the natural way’ and only using ‘alternative medicines’. That convinced Edelgard to become a nursing sister with the idea to understand the body better and ‘help’ the sick ‘in the same way’, specializing in Paediatrics. 

When they got introduced to network marketing the first time, Hagen really wasn’t interested at all. “It just sounds too good to be true” he said and would rather just focus on his job and not start another project. He just wanted to spend his free time with his 2 children and his wife. Then his upline did one really good thing. They took him along to a big function where a speaker really got his attention when saying the following:  

“I will be playing golf on Monday morning at 10. Where will you be?” That touched Hagen deeply, because he also wanted to be FREE on a Monday morning!  From then on, he started searching for something that would make this possible, and change his life and that of his family. 

Their introduction to Mannatech came when their situation was desperate. Living in the Eastern Cape, they always believed that there must be more to life than just having to struggle with trying to make ends meet every month - but what would be the answer?  So, the day when Hagen lost his job and with that the family’s only income, their angel, Jeanetta, whom Edelgard had met only about 2 months before, walked in with a message: “Don’t give up hope. I’ve heard of something that you and Edelgard will love”.  But to find out more they had to travel to Somerset West to meet people who knew more about this. 

After hearing stories about the Technology, Edelgard did intense research for 2 days, before realizing that this must be her answer that she had been asking for, for so many years. A few days later they saw the business opportunity and Hagen was sold on the idea as well.  Since then there was nothing that could hold them back anymore. Everyone needed to know about this product and the opportunity. 

It wasn’t always easy for them doing the business full time from the beginning, but with persistence, learning to focus on the growth of the inner man with reading and applying lots of books and listening to many, many cd’s while continuously sharing the message of hope, they achieved their goals. In their own words: “We know that without the help and the amazing support from our upline - our cheerleaders, Colin & Juanita Rocher (BPDs), our very patient Mentors,  Francois & Mabel van Schalkwyk (SPDs) and our master coaches, Louis & Leoné van der Linde (2*PPDs), none of this would have been possible. A huge thank you to all of you.”

Now 10 years later they just love what they are doing every day and living the life they’ve always dreamed of - having the freedom of choice. Their purpose today is to assist people to achieve optimal wellness and to help empower them to achieve their freedom of choice and having time with their loved ones whenever and wherever they want. 

Be Blessed.

Hagen and Edelgard