THIRTY-one-year-old Sakeus Kateya says his quest to survive and take care of his children and family is his biggest motivation to strive for a better life.
The entrepreneur from northern Namibia says he has had to hustle his way to get where he is today.
Kateya currently lives at Havana in Windhoek and has two children – a seven-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son – whom he takes care of, as well as other family members.
He says his life changed when he entered and won the Nedbank Kapana Cook-Off competition in 2018.
Before that, he used to earn money from small projects to survive.
His matric results were good enough to qualify for a tertiary education, but his parents could not afford to send him to the Namibian College of Open Learning.
Kateya says he came to Windhoek in 2011 after completing his high-school education to seek a better life, and initially lived with an uncle.
He moved to Havana with an aunt in 2012, he says.
Between 2012 and 2016 Kateya was between homes while trying to build his own shack.
“I was struggling, but I saved up money and grabbed land after I found an open space,” he says.
With the money he saved he bought corrugated iron and poles to set up a structure.
He did not have enough funds to complete it though, and moved back with his aunt, he says.
“From there I started doing small jobs to make some money. Some of the jobs involved contract work, while others were small catering jobs,” Kateya says.
He says he was not always guaranteed an income, but worked hard to survive and care for his family. He finally got his own trailer after winning the Nedbank Kapana Cook-Off competition.
“I used to buy products and resell them from my tuck shop as I needed to finish my shack. I had already grabbed land where my shack is. I just needed to complete my home,” he says.
Kateya says his kapana trailer has become his stable income, but his business did not escape the impact of the Covid-19-imposed lockdown earlier this year.
However, things are picking up again, he says.
Kateya says he hopes to get a professional job, while hanging on to the trailer, and letting someone else run it.
He dreams of a qualification from the Namibia University of Science and Technology’s hotel school to become a professional chef.
Kateya’s business partner, Regina Amukoshi, says she encouraged him to enter the Nedbank Kapana Cook-Off contest.
Amukoshi was the winner in the same competition’s professional chef category.
She is a chef at a local hotel and says she has worked with Kateya before he launched his kapana business.
“We have always worked together, and prior to that, he was my friend for a long time. We work well together, and we are still running our business together, and business is doing well,” she says.
