SOLE PASSION

Jo Farah found his feet in the sneaker cleaning business. His eco-friendly products are made in a lab.

- Motlabana Monnakgotla

AT FORBES AFRICA, WE HAVE written about people selling sneakers and those passionately collecting them, but never about an entrepreneur who based his business creating an eco-friendly cleaning product for the snazzy footwear.

The 44-year-old, Johannesburg-born Jo Farah, saw a gap in the ‘sneaker cleaning’ market and stepped in the right direction.

After high school, he moved to Cape Town to undertake various jobs, selling everything from property to photocopiers to fax machines. Thereafter, he studied software technology in the port city. In 2004, he moved back to Johannesburg and continued working in IT.

“My background is largely sales and computers. My role changed from selling and consulting to business development [in the company I worked in],” says Farah.

He applied for the same role in San Diego, in California, in the United States, where he headed the marketing team of the company.

Thereafter, Farah returned to Cape Town for a holiday to meet up with old friends, and a business idea was born.

“We started talking about creating an African streetwear brand that I could take back to America,” says Farah.

Two of his friends had connections with international brands such as Nike, Adidas and Puma, and he started talking to them about taking the idea to market. He saw a gap for a marketing agency that would support these brands.