Paul Jacobson

 

About Paul Jacobson

Paul Jacobson has lived a life that reads more like an adventure novel than a conventional biography. A globetrotter, entrepreneur, academic, chef, paraglider, motivational speaker and former politician, he has experienced extraordinary highs and devastating lows. He firmly believes that the power of the mind, a healthy dose of luck and what he calls his “guardian angel” have played a major role in keeping him alive through some remarkable encounters with danger.

His adventures have taken him from travelling the world for 11 years and living among unique and remote communities to surviving a serious paragliding accident in Franschhoek that left him temporarily paralysed. After lying in a spinal ward unable to move from the waist down, he became one of the fortunate few to regain the ability to walk. He has also survived a hijacking in Khayelitsha, being stranded in the Bolivian Amazon without food, an encounter with an alligator, a poisonous berg adder while awaiting rescue in the mountains, and being hit by a bull during the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona. Add broken bones from skiing in Scotland and Canada, an airlift from the Rocky Mountains and a serious battle with COVID-19, and his belief in his guardian angel becomes understandable.

 

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His entrepreneurial journey has been just as unconventional. Armed with an honours degree in marketing and an instinct for business developed from childhood, he has sold everything from handmade dolls and raffle tickets to crockery, operated beach-trading and vending businesses, and secured opportunities at sports stadia, Table Mountain, Ratanga Junction and international concerts. After becoming a qualified chef overseas, he opened a unique sandwich deli in Long Street before moving into pet nutrition and health and wellness. What began as a new business venture ultimately became a successful enterprise that has continued for more than 20 years, including radio shows dedicated to promoting better health for pets.

Community, family and friends remain at the heart of his story. His passion for people eventually led him into politics, where he served as a City of Cape Town Councillor for five years before stepping away to focus on his next chapter. Today, he draws on his extraordinary life experiences to inspire and motivate others, sharing lessons about resilience, opportunity, courage, survival and the power of a positive mindset. He is also dedicating his time to his first book, “A Lolly to Make You Jolly,” continuing his mission to turn a remarkable life journey into something that can bring insight, inspiration and perhaps a few laughs to others.

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