Master’s students and twin brothers in the College of Humanities, Luthando and Thando Adam, have opened the Xhamela Kitchen restaurant on the Howard College campus.

The twins serve up tasty and affordable African traditional cuisine such as ujeqe (steamed bread) and beans, inhloko (cow’s head) and uphutu (mealie-meal), usu (tripe) and chicken feet.

‘As self-sufficient people and lovers of isintu (African tradition), we took advantage of the opportunity presented by UKZN’s once off start up allowance of R5000 which helped us realise our dream,’ said Thando.

Speaking about their daily routine, Luthando explained, ‘Our typical day starts at 4am when we start preparing food to be ready for opening at 9am.  We close at 9pm.’

To balance campus and business life, the twins rely heavily on a strict schedule. They design a weekly plan; jotting down goals for the week while working hard to achieve and complete their set plans.

Said Thando, ‘We plan to franchise our business by taking it to all of the UKZN campuses and beyond. We will do this through marketing, getting a website and running social media campaigns in order to expand our reach and make our brand known. We have been successful so far through the loyal support of our customers.’

The brothers also plan to kick-start a social responsibility programme to provide needy students with food parcels. ‘We want to serve happiness. As community development practitioners, we have taken it upon ourselves to respond to poverty not only in our community but in the University community as well,’ said Luthando.

Offering advice to budding young entrepreneurs, Thando said, ‘Self-sufficiency is key, especially for our generation. We encourage our fellow students to use their acquired skills and professions to be job creators. Don’t wait on the government to do things for you but meet them half way as leaders of tomorrow.’

The restaurant is located at the Student YMCA, 201 Princess Alice Avenue next to the EJ residence.