From Not Have a Shoe To Put To Owning Shoe Factory Meet the CEO Drip Sneakers (True life story)

The story of Lekau Sehoana is a very inspiring one, and one that every young person needs to know, and benefit from. It is a story of how a young man was able to turn his poverty around into wealth.








Lekau was raised by a single mother. His parents divorced when he was just two years old, and he was forced to move with his mother. He was born in Limpopo, but because of his parents' break up, he moved with his mother to Alexandra Township, where his mother was seeking a job. Things weren't quite smooth for them there, and his mother moved with them again to Ivory Park, all in South Africa.






His mother had three kids to cater for, and Lekau was the last born. They were very poor that they didn't have a good house to live in, and they lived in a shack. There was no proper feeding, and they had to depend on neighbors and friends and family for food. They had no clothes or shoes to wear, and those were even the last things on their mind.






The only thing they thought about that time was food and a means of survival. As his mother could not provide him clothes and shoes, Lekau had to depend on people for clothes and shoes.






He said that some of these items were too big for him, and he had to think of how he could shape them down to size, and still make them look beautiful.






But in 2003, something happened that changed his story forever. While it Grades Eight, they were asked to come to school dressed well in casuals. But Lekau was from a poor home and knew that he didn't have the shoes for that. So he began to plan immediately on how he would fit into the school demand.






So he was given old ripped Adidas sneakers that were too big for him, and he then thought of what he could do with the shoes. He tore off the top of the sneakers and remained the sole. After that, he used materials from denim jeans and polyurethane to redesign the sneakers. When he wore the shoes to the house, it was admired by everyone, and it became very popular in the school.






Teachers and schoolmates began demanding for the shoes too, and Lekau started designing the shoes with his hands and selling them. And there at Eqinisweni Secondary School in Ivory Park, the small business began. And profits started coming into the business.

He continued making the shoes until 2006. And in 2007 he gained admission to study civil engineering. After school, he worked briefly with a construction company, then began making research on everything that's involved in professional shoemaking.






After gathering enough facts and information on the business, he began his own shoe company called Drip Footwear in July 2019. He launched the company with 600 pairs of shoes, and the products sold out within a few weeks.






Lekau always maintains that he doesn't want his story to begin from a poor boy who didn't have shoes to wear and end in having a shoe brand. But he wants it to end where he will design school shoes and give hundreds of them out to school children who are as poor as he was some years ago.






The slogan of his company is "The Township Dream," and he said that those words are meant to raise hopes and inspire the youth who are from poor backgrounds to dream big and believe in those dreams.






His shoes have been selling fast, especially in his country, South Africa. The story of this young man proves that truly anyone can achieve anything if they set their mind to it. No matter the background of a person, that person can still rise from that poverty to build something great for his life.

Below are photos of some of his shoes:














Just see what he has done for himself. He turned his situation around for good.