Mary Kukua Anderson, a 20-year-old Ghanaian, considers cooking meals from scratch to be second nature.
In Ghana, she picked up cooking at a young age. But she discovered there weren’t many places to acquire authentic African food when she relocated to Pontypridd to start over.
And now, through her home-based culinary business, the single mother is introducing Wales to the flavors of Ghana.
Following the birth of her kid, the Ghanaian mother looked for an entrepreneurial route that would enable her to work at her own pace.
‘Since becoming a mother to my son Ronen, I realised the challenges of returning to a conventional full-time job,’ Mary told the ITV News network. ‘I sought a way to work from home, and I noticed a gap in the market for African restaurants in areas like Pontypridd, Treforest, and Taffs Well.’
She made significant progress in her career when she planned a Valentine’s Day (February 14) event for the University of South Wales Ghana society, showcasing her culinary skills and Ghanaian flavors.
‘Opening my own food service was initially suggested as a joke by friends, but I saw it as a genuine opportunity,’ Mary said.
‘I began by cooking for friends, and soon my passion for sharing my cultural cuisine turned into a burgeoning business,’ she added.
Mary personally delivers her homemade food to guests, making sure they taste the real flavours of Ghana, while primarily travelling on foot. ‘Sometimes it’s raining, and you need to go and deliver. You can’t cancel because you need to keep the people coming. I don’t have a car.
‘But when I get an order, I check the postcode, and if it is a 20-minute walk, then I’ll deliver it,’ she said.
Mary feels optimistic about the future despite balancing her growing business with her parental responsibilities. ‘I hope to open a restaurant right here in Pontypridd. But not just a restaurant but also a bar,’ she shared enthusiastically. ‘All the decorations will be inspired by Africa so when you come in, you will feel like you’re at home.’
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Her major goal is to create a cozy, homey atmosphere that embodies African flavors for her guests. ‘Right now, I’m not making any money, but it’s satisfying that someone’s getting my food and enjoying it,’ she expressed. ‘Hopefully, they come back again to order.’
or Mary, this is not just an entrepreneurial endeavor but also a business venture that satisfies her desire to be part in her son’s upbringing.
‘When I’m cooking, he wants to be picked up, and when I pick him up, he just wants to see what I’m doing.
‘It makes the purpose of why I started this in the first place complete because I wanted to be here with him and not leaving him in a nursery or with a carer,’ she concluded.
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