UWC Student’s Campus Sneaker Cleaning Venture Earns National Acclaim, Ignites Entrepreneurial Journey

• In just a few months, what began as a simple idea among four financially-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, offering comprehensive sneaker services from collection to cleaning and delivery, has rapidly expanded its footprint from serving local clients to reaching areas like Belhar, the University of Cape Town, the city center, and even as far as Pretoria.

The brainchild behind the club is final-year law student Sakhile Ngobe who later brought on board his current business partners and classmates, Bafana Kane, Bayden Pedro and Sibusiso Quse.

At the time of establishing the business, Ngobe had also just been informed 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 decided to tap into their emergency savings and use funds which they received from their partial international scholarship (Canon Collins Trust) to source premium sneaker cleaning chemicals from Gauteng to scale up the business.

“We started with a guy who was initially doing marketing and he invested R250 into the businesses 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,” Ngobe recalled.

He said a few days after launching the business in June, news spread like wildfire on campus and surrounds which forced Ngobe and friends to hit the ground running. “The discussion to officially launch started around 4 June but I remember on 8 June we were already washing sneakers. We already had about 10 pairs .”

And business just continued to stream in.

“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 we are well over 40 pairs that have been washed since inception.”

The business has since mushroomed to other universities, stretching as far as Pretoria as a result of further investment by a friend studying at the University of Cape Town.

The 23-year-old Ngobe believes this is only the beginning of his business ventures. He had started  a food delivery business during COVID-19 in 2020.

He used R3 500 intended to travel home to buy equity shares at a very low price with his older brother, Muzi Ngobe, and used the returns to buy a motorbike.

“My first year at UWC, I intentionally befriended a lot of senior students who would venture into corporate. When I needed funding they would assist and to this day when I am in need of capital I call them.”

Ngobe was always business-minded.

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

However, after a few good months, like many businesses Ngobe ran into problems with the driver who wasn’t paying his share for the use of the motor bike. He then sold his motorbike and started consulting and helping students from other universities to become acquainted with the food delivery business.

To date, he has assisted a few students to acquire bikes, and said his biggest achievement was to see his close friend buy over 3 bikes within a year. He has recently been recognised by the Student Development and Support unit at UWC and has received an award for innovation.

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.

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

Ngobe is planning to release a book on student entrepreneurship, based on  stories of over 14 student entrepreneurs across South Africa.