Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa March 2015 | Page 65

In California she launched a successful designer
business in 1985 making men’s shirts branded, ‘What’s
happening?’ with her father Barry. She created crosscultural Hawaiian print shirts with exotic African
influences, which became a hit. Some of her celebrity
customers included Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bruce
Springsteen and Carlos Santana. Desré built up her
business, costing over a $1 million a month and carrying
huge overheads. As a young entrepreneur she had huge
responsibilities relating to finance and control. She
closed the business and found new opportunities in
South Africa because she was longing to come home.

2010

“She wants to make a
difference in the world
in whatever she does.”
Desré was lured back home in 1991 while on holiday.
She decided to pack up in the US after a decade of
living there and returned to South Africa the following
year. Once in South Arica, she opened a shirt and gift
retail shop in the V & A Waterfront called ‘Bali Blue’.
She always had a dream to meet Mandela but was
not sure she will ever get that opportunity. The turning
point for Desré was when Mandela visited the Marais
Road Synagogue in Sea Point in 1994 to address the
Jewish community. This provided Desré with her
opportunity, so she gift wrapped a shirt with a note
to Madiba and handed it to one of his bodyguards.
The following week he appeared on the front page of a
regional newspaper wearing the shirt while preparing
for Parliament.
What followed was an inspirational note from
Madiba that read, “For our country to succeed in the
challenge for the birth of a New Nation we need many
more Desré’s.” This is where her life began as the shirt
maker for Nelson Mandela. Desré was then invited to
meet Mandela face-to-face for the first time at a private
breakfast in May 1995. She has also been invited to
meet Madiba on a number of social occasions and at
many of his presidential banquets thereafter. Over
the years Desré was asked to produce over 150-hand
painted silk shirts for Mandela personally. She has also
supplied multiple shirts for a number of celebrities and
dignitaries over the years.
Today Desré wants to continue to uphold the
spirit and legacy of Madiba here in South Africa and
worldwide. In 2009, she wrote the book, ‘Mandela
www.reimag.co.za

1998
Shirts and Me’ to record her life story and put
together a photographic library of all of the historic
events and her experiences with Madiba. Today Desré
gives inspirational talks on the subject of spreading
the Madiba legacy of goodwill, wealth, health and
nutrition.

Desré‘s 12 principles for success are:
1.
2.

3.
4.

Your health is your most valuable asset.
There is a potential of unseen power that we have
not harnessed.
Everything is energy including our thoughts.
The bigger the dream the bigger the manifestation
of the dream.
5. Visualise your dreams.
6. Goals are the plans you make to achieve your dreams.
7. Act on your vision though accomplishing your goals.
8. Persevere.
9. Pay attention to detail.
10. Inspire and encourage others.
11. Lead by example.
12. Live by the principle of Ubuntu and the principles
of humanity.

RESOURCES
Presidential by Desré Buirski
March 2015 SA Real Estate Investor

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