Foodies using cooking skills to overcome adversity and succeed

Floyd Dhliwayo, owner of Afro Lunchbox, displaying his wares. Makers Landing at the V&A Waterfront celebrated eight new food businesses that they educated this year. – Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/African News Agency (ANA)

Floyd Dhliwayo, owner of Afro Lunchbox, displaying his wares. Makers Landing at the V&A Waterfront celebrated eight new food businesses that they educated this year. – Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/African News Agency (ANA)

Published Jul 1, 2022

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This article first appeared in the 27 June 2022 edition of the Cape Argus newspaper.

Cape Town - Adversity is inevitable, but inspirational Cape Town businesswoman Aneeqah Sadan believes difficulties should not be a barrier to achieving goals in life – or business for that matter.

Sadan overcame great hurdles with regard to her health before seizing the moment and following her passion for baking to launch a business making cookies.

“I was diagnosed with developmental hip dysplasia at the age of three months. I had a series of operations until the age of nine and (had) my two hip replacements by the time I was 30. So I know about challenges.”

Sadan, who now runs her own company, Cookie Jar Co, told her life story at a graduation last Friday of like-minded young business people from the food industry who have all been on a 5-month mentorship programme at the Makers Landing Food Lab Incubator programme.

Asked what she learnt from the mentorship, Sadan said: “I learnt that my business is more than just the cookies I sell. I learnt how to manage the finances of my business and how to use my business as a platform to help my community, which I am very passionate about.”

In 2020 the V&A Waterfront, in partnership with the national Treasury’s jobs fund, announced the development of Makers Landing as a purpose-driven space to support job creation and skills development in the local food industry.

Aneeqah Sadan of Cookie Jar Co. Makers Landing at the V&A Waterfront celebrated eight new food businesses that they educated this year. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/African News Agency (ANA)

Also graduating last Friday was Floyd Dhliwayo, who said that during a career as a waiter and occasional manager at a series of fancy restaurants in Johannesburg and now Cape Town, he always felt something was amiss with regard to the food he and his colleagues could afford to eat during their lunch break.

Bulawayo born Dhliwayo said: “I felt the need to provide healthy and tasty food at an accessible rate to the workforce. I also wanted to prove to my daughter that I was not a loser.”

Using his skills as a cook, he set about preparing simple home-cooked meals such as pap and morogo (also known as African spinach) and built a clientele among the workers at Cape Town’s V&A and the docks.

During the 5-month programme, Dhilwayo also developed a new logo for his Afro Lunchbox and is looking to grow his business.

Interested candidates can visit the Makers Landing website at www.makerslanding.co.za for information about the Incubator Food Lab programme.

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Cape Argus