{"id":44945,"date":"2023-02-25T11:01:02","date_gmt":"2023-02-25T11:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/north-west-teen-puts-best-foot-forward-with-own-shoe-brand"},"modified":"2023-02-25T11:35:41","modified_gmt":"2023-02-25T11:35:41","slug":"north-west-teen-puts-best-foot-forward-with-own-shoe-brand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/north-west-teen-puts-best-foot-forward-with-own-shoe-brand","title":{"rendered":"North West teen puts best foot forward with own shoe brand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Three years ago, North West teenager Utlwanang Mmeti started his sneaker business in his parent’s garage in Luka, Rustenburg.<\/p>\n

Today, the 17-year-old has a fully-fledged store in Midrand and hopes his shoe business will grow so he can create jobs for young people.<\/p>\n

The young up-and-coming entrepreneur is determined to make a change and inspire and bring change to the lives of young South Africans.<\/p>\n

Mmeti was born and raised in Luka, Rustenburg, and matriculated at Thethe High school in 2022 with a Bachelor’s pass.<\/p>\n

However, as he had already started his shoe business, he chose to take a gap year.<\/p>\n

“I decided to take a gap year to focus on growing the brand,” Mmeti said.<\/p>\n

He has always had a love for fashion and shoes and recalled moments when he would visit the mall with his brother and see all the cool shoes with different designs on display.<\/p>\n

“My brother and I would see many people at the shoe stores in the mall.<\/p>\n

“Many people would always try different shoes and styles, discussing what’s in and trending. Seeing that inspired me to start my shoe company,” said Mmeti.<\/p>\n

Dapper Shooz came about at the beginning of 2020 as his idea of exploring his passion.<\/p>\n

“Starting a business is a lot of work, and it requires hard work and dedication,” said Mmeti.<\/p>\n

He noted some things were often out of reach growing up in a small village, and by starting this business, he hopes to inspire those with dreams to pursue them.<\/p>\n

Mmeti said:<\/p>\n

“Seeing my seriousness, my whole family was also on board and offered to help me with the capital. I started the company with my little savings and the money my family, friends, and relatives helped me with.”<\/p>\n

Mmeti said his family became more supportive when they saw he had saved up to start the business.<\/p>\n

As a result, they were even more interested in helping because they saw he was serious about turning this dream into a reality.<\/p>\n

The name of the brand – Dapper Shooz- according to Mmeti, “is catchy and easy to remember”.<\/p>\n

He said the name arose from a brainstorming session with his family where he initially sought a Setswana or African name.<\/p>\n

“After brainstorming, the word ‘dapper’ stuck with me.<\/p>\n

“It was easy to remember and could easily be understood.”<\/p>\n

Dapper means being smart and neatly dressed.<\/p>\n

“From there, I started designing the logo and showed it to my family, who loved it,” Mmeti added.<\/p>\n

He then began looking for manufacturers to help bring the shoe to life, saying he outsourced the shoes internationally and the packaging locally.<\/p>\n

The young entrepreneur sold his first pair of Dapper Shooz in his mother’s garage in August 2020.<\/p>\n

Mmeti has moved from Luka and now lives in Centurion, Gauteng, with his brother.<\/p>\n

He said he opened the shop in Midrand because it was closer to his brother’s place.<\/p>\n

While Mmeti considers his parents his first role models, businessman and entrepreneur Theo Baloyi, the founder of the Bathu shoe brand, also falls in that category.<\/p>\n

“My parents are my immediate role models.<\/p>\n

“They inspire me to be a better version of myself every day,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The owner of [the] Bathu shoe company is also my role model. I may not personally know him [Baloyi], but social media has enabled me to understand his work.<\/p>\n

Mmeti said:<\/p>\n

When he is not busy with his business, he likes playing video games and reading novels, especially fiction.<\/p>\n

“I’m not a very sporty person.<\/p>\n

“Clothing and textiles are something I like. And I like computers.”<\/p>\n

Mmeti said his short-term goal was to generate enough revenue to hire a store assistant and include more designs and colours in his existing range of shoes.<\/p>\n

He added he was focusing on his business for the year and will hopefully register to study next year.<\/p>\n

While he is not sure what he wants to study, he knows it would be along the lines of textiles, clothing, and design.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Three years ago, North West teenager Utlwanang Mmeti started his sneaker business in his parent’s garage in Luka, Rustenburg. Today, the 17-year-old has a fully-fledged store in Midrand and hopes his shoe business will grow so he can create jobs for young people. The young up-and-coming entrepreneur is determined to make a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":44944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[274,315,1021,4682,4681,736,714,275],"class_list":["post-44945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-business","tag-dapper-shooz","tag-entrenpreneurship","tag-mahikeng","tag-north-west","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nNorth West teen puts best foot forward with own shoe brand - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Three years ago, North West teenager Utlwanang Mmeti started his sneaker business in his parent's garage in Luka, Rusten ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/north-west-teen-puts-best-foot-forward-with-own-shoe-brand\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"North West teen puts best foot forward with own shoe brand\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Three years ago, North West teenager Utlwanang Mmeti started his sneaker business in his parent's garage in Luka, Rusten ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/north-west-teen-puts-best-foot-forward-with-own-shoe-brand\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-25T11:01:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-25T11:35:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1677310271.32.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"691\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/north-west-teen-puts-best-foot-forward-with-own-shoe-brand#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/north-west-teen-puts-best-foot-forward-with-own-shoe-brand\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"North West teen puts best foot forward with own shoe brand\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-25T11:01:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-25T11:35:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/north-west-teen-puts-best-foot-forward-with-own-shoe-brand\"},\"wordCount\":691,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/north-west-teen-puts-best-foot-forward-with-own-shoe-brand#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1677310271.32.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"business\",\"dapper shooz\",\"entrenpreneurship\",\"mahikeng\",\"north west\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/north-west-teen-puts-best-foot-forward-with-own-shoe-brand#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/north-west-teen-puts-best-foot-forward-with-own-shoe-brand\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/north-west-teen-puts-best-foot-forward-with-own-shoe-brand\",\"name\":\"North West teen puts best foot forward with own shoe brand - 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