From the dusty streets of HaMutsha village, outside Thohoyandou in Limpopo, shoe entrepreneur Rihangwele Magoro has gone from a life of being unemployed to a flourishing business person where she doesn’t make less than R20,000 a month.
Magoro, 24, now a resident of Sunnyside in Pretoria, is the founder and director of Ree-The-Shoeaholic, a local shoe brand she started in 2018.
Magoro, who runs the brand on her own, said her love for shoes came from her days when she was attending the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC) branch in Thohoyandou where she grew up.
“I used to go the IPHC Church. I am still a member even now. So, when I was young going to the IPHC, I would see young women at church wearing heels and my interest started from there. My mother bought me my first pair of heels when I was in grade 5. It was a 10cm high heel. So, when I would attend church, I loved changing pairs for every service. I wouldn’t wear a pair for too long,” Magoro said.
Magoro, who holds a diploma in human resources from the Denver Technical College, in Arcadia, Pretoria, sells a variety of shoes. She sells studs loafers, patches loafers, pearl bridal shoes, nude stiletto, spiked sneakers, boots and open-back heels, among others.
She said during the first three months of 2017 she did not have a job and this led her to start thinking about how she can get an income.
“After completing my N6 certificate in human resources at the Denver college, I had to do practical work so that I could earn my diploma. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a job for those few months. That’s when I started thinking of how I can turn my love for shoes into a business,” said Magoro.
Fortunately, she managed to get an internship that year, which allowed her to obtain her diploma at the end of 2018. While doing her internship, Magoro was selling heels as a side hustle. She said in 2018 she sold more than 30 pairs of shoes a month.
The young entrepreneur said she took money she saved during her internship to finance the start of her shoe business.
She said she buys her shoes from China and has sold more than 200 heels in a month this year. The male studs loafer is her best-selling item.
Most of her orders come from KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the North West.
“Looking at my finances, I have achieved a lot through this business. Sometimes I would make more profit than what I would have expected. Last year, I bought a Renault Clio in cash. This year I bought a Toyota Etios in cash as well. These cars help me to do deliveries,” she said.
“The business is really growing and sometimes I ask myself why I am getting too much money because I am still young,” she said.
“When it comes to income, I don’t make anything less than R20,000 a month. The business is growing.”
Magoro, who is inspired by Bathu sneaker brand owner Theo Baloyi and her mother who also sold shoes, said she dreams of creating employment for other people though her business.
“I want to have physical stores in well-known malls like Menlyn and Sandton. I also want to have a lot of employees such as cashiers and security guards. I want to have branches of my physical stores in all provinces,” said Magoro.
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