Young businessman from Khayelitsha a winner with gaming café

Cape Town – A budding young businessman from Harare is making waves in his community after successfully launching an interactive gaming café from his family home using his National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) stipend and equipment he already had.

The 24-year-old Lolwetu Maliwa says he is excited about the future and looking forward to expanding his gaming café, Hakumo, into neighbouring communities, after successfully launching the business, using a bit of his NSFAS stipend he had saved up over time while learning from home.

Maliwa, who’s not new to business having launched his first business, a shisanyama in partnership with his brother last year, makes nearly R130 a day from the steady stream of curious children who visit his café to play games, charging them R1.50 a day.

Speaking to the Cape Argus about how the idea to start a gaming café came about, Maliwa said he initially wanted to start an internet café, however, after noticing how congested the market was in his community, he went with the more creative version of an internet café that would still ensure foot traffic into Hakumo.

“I noticed how interested the children in the community were in games and saw the gap when I couldn’t spot a gaming café nearby. For me, this was an opportunity to keep these children off the streets and indoors learning creatively, while also learning about running a business and earning some money.

“I think it’s important that as young people we become entrepreneurs and also actively participate in driving the economy in our communities. I started with what I had, a few consols, and I built on that. However, to grow as an entrepreneur I still need support, there’s a lot I’d like to do so I need investors and sponsors to help me,” said Maliwa.

Malia’s business mentor, Sinesipho Klaas who is an enterprise development facilitator for non-profit organisation Violence Prevention Through Urban Upgrading (VPUU), said that when she met Maliwa in 2020 he had just started a shisanyama with his brother and requested funding from VPUU.

She said: “Unfortunately due to Covid-19 the shisanyama business the brothers built has been struggling. So when Lolwetu came up with the idea to start this gaming business it felt natural to continue supporting him.

“He mentioned to me during one of our mentoring sessions that the gaming café meant more than that to him, that he wanted to grow the business into a centre that will teach children about innovation and technology in efforts to upskill them.

“As a mentor, I want to see Lolwetu succeed, that is why I began trying to source support and donors for him. I know he’s also appealing to organisations and companies that would like to assist and uplift young local entrepreneurs to come on board and help him grow his business. There are few things he still needs, such as chairs, desks and to put in place security measure, support would go a long way,” said Klaas.

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