Black Culinary Excellence

I have realized that I am very lucky to be living in a city such as Cape Town. The reason is that the city is bursting with a variety of talent. I recently stumbled upon the profile of acclaimed chef, Ayabonga Gope. This young man has made his mark in the local culinary industry through his hard work and ambition. The journey of reaching success is a very inspiring story.

Ayabonga hails from Khayelitsha here in Cape Town. The matter of his childhood can be described as a matter of being fueled by ambition to make something of his life, this led to him making the right decisions. It can be said that if his ambition was the fuel, then his mother must have lit the match, to blaze his trail to become the success that he currently is in the culinary industry. The most important woman in his life being his mother still plays a very important role in his life. This is a statement that is supported by the fact that he still refers to his mother as being the 'anchor' in his life. This he then corrobarates by stating about his mother that "her influence and presence will always play a key role in my development". This adds to the popular notion that behind every powerful man is a strong woman.

In the troubled times that we are currently living in where we unable to physically unable to interact with our peers, Ayabonga has found a solution to this problem. This he has done through his weekly Instagram live feeds where he would partner with a corporate brand, being recently Capitec. This is done through showing his social media followers how to prepare the most delicious dishes. The public have definitely fallen in love with his culinary abilities since being introduced to him when he came out as the runner-up on Top Chef South Africa.

The impact of his brand is visible through his large social media followers where he proudly boasts having 5,246 followers on Instagram where he mostly interacts with his legion of followers and appreciative clients. The star power of Ayabonga has drawn him the opportunity to collaborate with a number of established brands such as LuckyStar Pilchard. The future holds a lot of possibilities for the young man from Khayelitsha, he has stated that he is working on establishing relationships with more brand. We will be watching with bated breath as to what his next move will be.
You can follow him on the following social media handles:
IG: @aya_thecookdude
Twitter: @aya_thecookdude

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