Young Alex entrepreneur needs your help to grow his T-shirt business
ALEXANDRA – Tebogo Mogodi needs a studio space to help curb the unemployment rate in his community.
Many small business owners have been struggling since Covid-19 hit South African shores but for one young businessman from Alexandra, business has been booming.
When Tebogo Mogodi (24) started Tebogo T-shirts in 2012, his vision was to dominate the T-shirt industry. These days his designs are plastered on sneakers and jerseys. His vision still remains clear but with a little twist. “When we started, my vision was more about coming up with ways of adding colours or designs on clothes without using too much electricity, water or even polluting the environment, that’s why I only use paint, no printing or dyeing.
Tebogo explained where his love for painting started, “When I was doing Grade 2 back in 2004, I took my red facecloth and put it in a bathtub along with my white school shirt and white socks. The colour of my school shirt and socks changed from white to red. Needless to say, my parents made sure I was punished. I then started drawing in 2012, but my parents discouraged it and said it was just a hobby.”
Tebogo’s cousin, Petronella Mogodi, who was attending an art school at the time, introduced him to fabric painting in 2012 when he was still in high school. “I did a few projects with my cousin when she needed help. This enabled me the skills in designing that I currently have.”
After high school, Tebogo started to study electrical engineering but dropped out in 2016 due to lack of funds. This was when he decided to focus on painting T-shirts with Petronella. “I started by customising people’s sneakers to raise money.”
His business has faced many challenges, such as people in Alexandra not believing that he was the one who designed and painted the T-shirts he would sometimes sell door to door. “Some even thought they were printed or bought somewhere and then sold to them.”
Tebogo said convincing people was difficult, “I even started painting half T-shirts, deliberately making mistakes, taking pictures of before and after.”
Currently, Tebogo T-shirts employs three people. Tebogo said that they need a studio in order to employ more people as currently everything is done from home and the space has proven to be too small for the number of orders they receive.
“With the talent and skills I have, I could’ve worked for a big show brand but I chose to start something not only for me but also for creative people like myself,” said Mogodi.
A completed T-shirt. Photo: Supplied
Tebogo T-shirts can be found at 74 15th Avenue, Alexandra next to the taxi rank and Alexandra Police Station. For more information, follow Tebogo T-shirts on Facebook.
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