An innovative Curro pupil is being commended on social media for his brazen and shrew business acumen by bringing South Africa’s humble street cuisine, known as ‘amagwinya’, to a new target market: private school children.
A short video clip shows the budding entrepreneur lugging around a bucket of freshly fried amagwinya, selling the delicious street snack to his eager peers.
Amagwinya retails in street food stalls from R1, but on private school grounds filled with ravenous and growing children, one ball of the delicious deep-fried dough goes for R8 a pop.
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WATCH: Curro’s R8 amagwinya
May this be the beginning of his billionaire story.
Many of the great businessmen celebrated in world will say how they started off selling lemonade, or delivering papers.
He started selling amagwinya at Curro for R8. He knows his market and pricing! pic.twitter.com/rnmxxxg1Y3— Africa Research Desk (@MightiJamie) June 1, 2023
Twitter account, Africa Research Desk, commented in a not-so-veiled reference to disgraced political analyst, “Prince Mashele is already writing the unauthorized biography”.
Some users appeared shocked but impressed with the pupil’s brazen price structure, but user @Sixolis79248810 came to the teen’s defence saying, “Guys, kids from Curro can afford those magwinyaz, those kids are the target market, and you guys aren’t, niyathanda uku complainer (you like complaining), go and buy your R1 magwinya”.
Another user reflected that private school amagwinya is keeping up with inflation.
“Well done, the price of cooking oil has gone up, and flour has gone up. Why the fuss? Please support the black young entrepreneur,” tweeted another user Gcina Mtshali.
Amagwinya by any other name…
The deep-fried bread dough can be enjoyed as a sweet or savoury snack. Some South Africans know amagwinya by its Afrikaans name, ‘vetkoek’, or as ‘gulgula’ in Indian circles.
Vetkoek/amagwinya can be enjoyed with various fillings, the most popular street fillings being a slice of cheese and polony or curried mince.
In Hindu culture, plain gulgula’s are offered with other sweetmeats, fruit and milk during prayer dedicated to the divine female. It is also enjoyed as a snack during fasting periods in which devotees abstain from consuming meat and salt.
