SAKHILE CLEANS UP WITH SNEAKER BUSINESS

BY CARMEL ROBERTS

In just a few months, what began as a simple idea for a sneaker cleaning business among four fi nancially-strapped University of the Western Cape (UWC) students, backed by a modest R250 investment, has blossomed into a thriving business that stretches beyond the campus boundaries.

The Sneaker Cleaning Rehab Club has expanded its footprint to areas such as Belhar, the University of Cape Town (UCT), the city centre, and even as far as Pretoria.

The man behind the club is finalyear law student Sakhile Ngobe, who brought in classmates Bafana Kane, Bayden Pedro and Sibusiso Quse as business partners. When he started the business, Ngobe had just learnt that he had been defunded by the institution which paid for his tuition.

Quse injected the initial R250, which covered basic necessities. As the business grew, Ngobe and Kane tapped into their emergency savings and funds from their partial international scholarship (Canon Collins Trust) to source premium sneaker-cleaning chemicals from Gauteng.

“We started with a guy who was initially doing marketing and he invested R250 into the business because we were broke at the time. That covered the

brushes and the basic supplies. From there we got a logo for free because my best friend, Zayn Matsombe, is a graphic designer,” said Ngobe.

A few days after launching the business in June, news spread like wild fire on campus and surrounds, forcing Ngobe and friends to hit the ground running.

“The discussion to of fi cially launch started around June 4 but on June 8 we were already washing sneakers. We already had about 10 pairs.

What began as a simple idea has blossomed into a thriving business that stretches beyond the campus boundaries.

“The business is doing well and the support that we are receiving from students is overwhelming. We anticipated only three pairs of sneakers a week but well over 40 pairs have been washed since inception.”

The business has since expanded to other universities, stretching as far as Pretoria as a result of further investment by a friend studying at UCT. Ngobe, 23, recently received an award for innovation from UWC’s Centre for Student Support Services and believes this is only the beginning of his business ventures. Ngobe was always

business-minded. “A few years ago I was on Facebook, browsing through content, and an entrepreneur (Thabang Moloto) provided advice on the food delivery business. I then bought a motorbike with the help of my brother and found a driver after placing an advertisement on Gumtree.”

After a few good months, however, Ngobe ran into problems with the driver, who wasn’t paying his share for the use of the motorbike. He decided to sell the vehicle and started consulting and helping students from other universities to become acquainted with the fooddelivery business. He has assisted several students to acquire bikes and says his biggest achievement was seeing a friend buy three bikes within a year.

Ngobe credits his entrepreneurial success to his mentor and friend Tokelo Hlagala, of Afro Centric Media House in Pretoria, who introduced him to the right people, and now he plans to release a book telling the stories of 14 student entrepreneurs across South Africa.

“What drives my hunger for business is being defunded from that institution. I believe students who find themselves in similar positions need to be cognisant that as much as we are entrepreneurs, we are students first.”