Mpho Lebepe worked as a construction worker at the Limpopo high court and now he runs his law firm and has cases sitting in the courthouse.
The 29-year-old attorney opened Lebepe and Associates in Polokwane a year ago and has managed to hire three employees in the past five months and quadruple his client base.
"When I started to work on opening my own law firm I had R5,000 to my name and decided to start transporting people using Bolt in order to raise as much money as possible," he said.
Lebepe, from Tzaneen, Limpopo, worked as a driver in the first half of last year and many of his first law clients were referred to him by his private taxi clients.
"I would give my clients my business card and started getting clients. I even had a pro bono case which I won," he said.
He said before becoming an attorney, he had dropped out of the University of Limpopo because he was not coping.
"I dropped out of university in my final year because I was going through a dark period in my life. My parents were getting divorced and things went south. I had to find something to push us through financially," he said.
Lebepe said working on the construction of the Limpopo high court was a moment of serendipity.
"The reality hit me that this can't be my life so I decided to go back to school. I have always wanted to complete my studies. In construction, I started getting relaxed and gave up on my dreams," he said.
One of his biggest achievements is working as a correspondent for big law firms that are hired by banks.
He said he went from seeing 10 clients a month to being booked for court appearances months in advance.
In future, he hopes that his firm can continue to grow and create more opportunities for disadvantaged graduates.
"The goal is to help the firm grow and to branch out to Pretoria and Johannesburg.
"I really hope to open up opportunities for people who are interested in studying law and giving opportunities for articles. I also want to sponsor students because I know what it is like not to have food and books," said Lebepe.
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