Joshua Mukwevho was born and bred in the Limpopo province in Thohoyandou Block G. Growing up, he was a decent child who enjoyed being at school and going to church. Currently, he is studying towards his degree at the University of Venda.
The 26-year-old is an entrepreneur and owns three businesses: Josh Shoeshine Bar, Josh Sneaker, which is a sneaker brand, and Spring Cleaning. He also runs a campaign called Back2SCHOOL.
Mukwevho saw an opportunity to start a sneaker-washing business and wanted to inspire the youth to better themselves and venture into entrepreneurship, especially young people who were still in school. He believes that if his business grows, he will create employment in his community and surrounding areas.
The reason why he started washing sneakers is that he noticed a gap in the shoe-cleaning market in his community, and many people in the area loved wearing sneakers but didn’t have time to wash them. He decided to come up with a solution for them, and that’s how Josh Shoe Bar came about.
“My love for shoe cleaning was fueled by the desire to make it easy for people who don’t have the luxury of time to clean their sneakers. Josh Shoeshine Bar grew into a company that not only cleans sneakers but also offers shoe customization, repairs, and restoration,” Mukwevho said.
He mentioned that after 2 years of JSSB being in business, he saw a great opportunity to expand the business from being a service provider to being a product reseller, which led to the birth of the Josh Sneaker brand.
“The idea of JSSB was also to honor my late mother, who would be super proud of the success of this business. It is my great pleasure that this company has opened many doors of opportunity, which led us to be crowned with an award,” Mukwevho said.
He stated that the Back2School campaign aims to give back to the community and promote a sneaker-cleaning service by emphasizing the expertise and skills of the company’s specialists in washing.
Mukwevho wishes for his business to grow to create more sustainable job opportunities.
