How I left my day job to start my own business — with the invention of the foldable shoe

“Why has no one done this before?” Janan Leo asked herself back in 2007 when she invented the foldable shoe with the debut of her women’s footwear business, Cocorose London. 

Tired of running around in heels to catch the bus, Leo set out to find a solution to her problem, and luckily, she had a very supportive boss: Richard Branson.

Leo wanted a way to carry another pair of shoes with her, without the hassle of shoving her trainers in an extra clunky handbag – but what followed was more than just a pair of foldable shoes. Now, there’s a new focus on eco-friendly material and charitable partnerships, too. 

When the idea for an innovative footwear brand came to her, Leo was working as a new product development manager with Virgin Trains – a Branson family brand – after studying food science at the University of Leeds. 

Working for an established and entrepreneurial-minded brand like Virgin helped her realise she wanted to have her own brand and business. 

“I’ve always had that entrepreneurial spark,” Leo says, smiling from her central London office location now 17 years later. 

And as I sit and speak with Leo, I must admit her entrepreneurial spirit seems to be just as bright. 

What could go wrong? 

Laughing, Leo admits that telling your boss you want to start a business in your spare time isn’t an easy conversation to have, but luckily, her boss has been there himself. 

“He [Richard Branson] and his wife Joan were so supportive,” she says, telling me how the couple behind Virgin set her up with her first magazine interview and gift bag circulation. 

“It was fantastic because at the end of the day, he is quite an entrepreneurial person and yet he was supporting his own employees [and] his own team to realise their entrepreneurial dreams as well.”

A full three years of working a 9-5 and 5-9 later, Leo jumped at the opportunity for redundancy and made Cocorose her full-time focus. 

What was the worst that could happen? 

I can just go out and try and get another job again. Janan Leo

“I’ve not yet had to get another job,” she laughs. 

The journey that came with taking that risk, however, was arguably beyond her control. 

Powering through the headwinds 

“It’s just been challenge after challenge,” Leo says, reflecting back on how she has bootstrapped her business for 17 years. 

After forming her first 10-year partnership with BAFTA in 2010 and attending Cocorose’s first international trade show in 2011, Leo thought she had everything figured out.

With Brexit, Covid, and a few pregnancies in between, it would be more than understandable for any new entrepreneur to give up on the game. 

Interestingly, Leo’s ambition has yet to see even the slightest of fade. 

“I am a firm believer that if one door closes, another door opens. You just need to look for – without swearing – that door,” she says. 

Indeed, once Leo decided to use the demise of the high street and global trade struggle to her advantage and “build back better digitally”, the compounding results began to show. 

Since then, Leo has launched a rather large handful of new — and sustainable — footwear collections, raised £40,000 for The Honeypot Children’s Charity, and been recognised as one of the UK’s most inspiring businesswomen and female entrepreneurs. 

In hindsight, Branson’s words of encouragement might have just been what Leo needed to prove that, yes, anything can be possible.

Reflecting on the milestones 

I must admit that bootstrapping a business for nearly two decades is an achievement in itself, but it seems as though Leo has had many more milestones to keep her moving forward. 

Now, she’s finally ready to embark on her first and official funding journey. 

Although slightly hesitant with the knowledge that funding is no straightforward task for Britain’s SMEs – or female founders – Leo seems more prepared than ever before. 

“It’s not just a piece of paper here,” she says. 

“This is 17 years of hard graft that has gone into creating this.” 

It is understandably easy for an entrepreneur to overlook the little things, Leo says, and sometimes it can take years to notice even the littlest of progress. 

But as she sits and curates her latest draft of a pitch deck for investors, Leo points at her screen and reassures me that this is now her latest time to shine. 

CV

Name: Janan Leo
Company: Cocorose London
Founded: 2007
Staff: 3.5
Title: Founder & creative director
Age:  An 80’s Girl
Born: Chiang Mai
Lives: Muswell Hill
Studied: Food Science
Talents: Diplomacy, Super Mario
Motto: It always seems impossible until it’s done.
Most known for:  Inventing the foldable shoe
First ambition: Having my own business
Favourite book:  Aesop’s Fables
Best piece of advice: Look further than you can see.