Meet Lere Mgayiya- The Brains Behind The Airport Shoe Shine Business

Meet Lere Mgayiya-The brains behind the airport shoe shine business. The gentleman who has since risen to fame following the growth of his Airport Shoe Shine business, started off from more than just humble beginnings. Lere had to lose everything he owned before his entrepreneurial spirit would bear fruits.

The hardworking entrepreneur went from earning over R20k working for SAA to earning a little above R2.5k working for his uncle as he laid the foundation to his business. Lere would later be fired by his uncle leading him to start his first business, which was selling eggs.

“I wasn’t necessarily depressed when i made the decision but i was feeling a little lost“.. At the age of 27 Mgayiya had to sell his car to save his house as he continued to sell eggs in his community and government offices. When things seemed to fail, Mgayiya stayed optimistic and entered the Sandlam Money Game — a TV competition for entrepreneurs. Marketing execs at Red Bull liked his advertising idea, R35,000 in two days.

The money from the competition was invested in a tree planting company but that also went south for him. With all the cards in his pocket failing him, Mgayiya knew he had to think fast and think smart. That’s when he decided to start his shoe shine business.

Before he could start shining shoes, Mgayiya pawned his fridge to buy business equipment. But on his first day Mgayiya and his sole employee arrived to bad news as the supplier he had paid to provide pedestals failed to deliver and so he was forced to polish shoes in his lap.

But customer numbers soon got a boost after a client suggested that the business name should highlight Mgayiya’s chatty personality. ‘Airport Shoeshine’ became ‘Lere’s Shoe Shine’, and people liked it — after just four months. Where he was expecting R5000.00 he actually made R12000.000.

Success in Cape Town did not deter Mgyaiya from pushing further, and after a year he got a chance to pitch to the person in charge of all South African airports. She liked his idea, and expansion kicked off soon after. At its height, the company had 60 employees in five airports across the country. Today, Mgayiya has scaled back to the three major ones: Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg

“When starting a business in South Africa, you need self-belief,”. All the conditions will never all be favorable at the same time. If you don’t start, you won’t go anywhere — you have to start.” 15 Years later, Mgayiya has his eyes on Angola, Kenya and Nigeria for expansion, as well as partnerships in U.K. and America. He has also tried setting up showers in townships and a share of the business in the taxi rank but those weren’t as successful as anticipated. However he continues to rise above the obstacles.