Mogaila building a good life after football

Former Platinum Stars defender Lefa Mogaila was looking for an income stream that was different from football after retiring and was helped by a love for transportation that started in his youth.

Mogaila fell out of love with football because of all the stress he endured at one club that he played for and he felt moving to another club would not help him rekindle his love affair with the game.

The former right-back employed a few drivers who help him transport kids to and from school, and to provide transportation for long-distance trips to different destinations.

“At the back of my mind working for myself was always a plan. I knew that I couldn’t cope with working a nine-five job because I was already used to the working hours that came with football – training twice a day, playing on weekends.

“So that is different from having a ninefive and I don’t think I would cope so I looked at owning a business as a source of income that I could handle,” Mogaila (right) explained.

Spending time with his father as a young boy sparked his love for football and cars. Mogaila started fixing and driving cars at an early age and his skill and passion for fixing cars would start bringing in money when he stopped playing.

The 37-year-old was signed by a professional football team while he was a high school student and he believes he lost out on an opportunity to further his studies.

With his father encouraging him to play football he wanted to make his mother proud by furthering his studies.

“I have this rule or belief of mine that I will never have formal employment. I like the freedom of deciding each day what I want to do and not having to do the same thing each day because I have an agreement with a company to work for them. I don’t like the idea and as a result, I knew that I had to be creative to earn my money.

“One of the things that I am good at is repairing cars.

“I know a lot about cars and I started looking at cars as a way to make money. On top of driving kids to school and taking trips I also buy, fix and sell cars as a way of making additional income

Mogaila says he loves the thrill of finding new opportunities to make money for himself and his family. The former defender says a positive mindset is important and is something all dejected retired footballers should have to rebuild their lives.

“As people, we need to stop looking at doing what each and every person is doing. And as former players, we don’t all have to go in the same direction.

“Wherever you are in the township or suburbs life needs to go on and if you are positive you will spot opportunities in places that are seen by many people as hopeless at times like the period in the townships.”