THEO BALOYI

Age: 28

WHO I AM

A visionary and a philanthropist who wants to build a shoe brand which Africans can proudly resonate with.

WHAT I DO

I’m a founder of a proudly South African shoe brand called Bathu. We sell uniquely designed shoes and are currently in the process of building our value chain, distribution and warehouse infrastructure, which will enable us to deliver anywhere in the world within 24 hours. Our aim is to tell a proudly South African story through our sneakers.

JOURNEY SO FAR

I was born in Pretoria, I went to Shalom primary school in Soshanguve. We later relocated to Phake Thabeng village a few kilometres outside Hammanskraal where I went to Mapala middle school and then matriculated at Mabothe senior secondary. I moved to Johannesburg to further my studies in 2009. I hold a BCom Accounting degree (Honours). I worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers for five years, two years in South Africa and three years in the middle east (Saudi Arabia & Dubai) before I quit my job to go full time into business. I established Bathu in early 2015. I worked on the proof of concept, research and development for 18 months and I officially launched the brand in late 2016.

FUTURE PLANS

I want to build Africa’s premium sneaker brand which can be benchmarked with the best in the world. I currently employ seven people in my company. I want to employ 70-100 people and build a footprint in South America and Europe in the next 10 years.

WHAT DRIVES ME

I’m driven by the desire to be great and leave an impact on people’s lives. Your legacy is defined by the number of lives you have touched.

WHAT I DRIVE

My first car is a Volkswagen Polo GTI 2014 model which I still drive to this day, I recently upgraded to a Golf 7 R.

ON MY AUDIO SYSTEM

Sinach, KidX, Ice Prince, Kendrick Lamar.

SA ROADS WOULD BE BETTER IF

We added a bit more to our landscapes, if we embraced our heritage more on the side of the road.