Joey Evans

At the age of 32, Joey’s life changed in an instant when an accident during an off-road race left him paralysed from the chest down. The prognosis was he would never walk again. For many people, that would have marked the end of an adventurous life. For Joey, it became the start of an extraordinary new chapter.

Through years of rehabilitation, setbacks and determination, Joey slowly learned to walk again. But he did not stop there. Driven by a desire to push beyond what seemed possible, he returned to riding motorcycles and set himself one of the toughest goals imaginable: to race the Dakar Rally.

Joey’s signature keynote follows his journey from paralysis to the 13-day Dakar Rally in South America, across Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina.

As if that wasn’t enough, on the second last day of the race, Joey’s motorcycle was run over and destroyed by a rally car. Stone last in the field, with a destroyed bike and his Dakar dream slipping away, he managed to keep the badly damaged bike going before finding an abandoned motorcycle in the desert belonging to a rider who had been medically evacuated. Joey stripped the abandoned bike for parts, repaired his own machine and rode through the night to finish the stage at 2:15am. After just one hour of sleep, he raced the final day and completed the Dakar Rally.

Joey’s keynote talks are not built around theory or corporate jargon. They are real, emotional and highly engaging stories about resilience, courage, fear, setbacks and what it takes to keep moving forward when life does not go according to plan.

Audiences connect deeply with Joey because of the honesty of his story, his engaging humour, warmth and stage presence, and the fact that his message is grounded in real-life experience rather than abstract ideas. He is not sharing lessons from a business book or a model. He is sharing lessons earned in hospital beds, deserts and some of the toughest conditions on earth.

Joey has spoken in more than 50 countries across six continents for leading companies, conferences and associations across South Africa, the USA, the UK, the Middle East and beyond.

He is the author of the bestselling book From Para to Dakar, which has sold thousands of copies internationally.

In 2024, Joey earned his CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) designation from the National Speakers Association in the USA, one of the highest honours in the global speaking industry. In the same year, he was inducted into the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa Hall of Fame in recognition of his contribution to the speaking profession.

Joey leaves audiences with a renewed sense of perspective and the belief that even when life goes badly wrong, it is still possible to stay in the race and keep moving forward.