A SELF-TRAINED chef from Tameside has showcased how she transformed her passion for vegan West African cuisine into a booming business at a festival in Manchester.
Ngwafu Tansie is the founder of Gwafuvegan – which specialises in cooking and delivering affordable vegan West African food using only high-quality, sustainable produce that is locally sourced.
“I saw a gap in the market for vegan West African food, specifically Cameroonian food in Manchester, I wanted to showcase how fantastic Cameroonian food is,” said Ngwafu, who was born in Cameroon but has lived in the UK most of her life.
She was part of a delegation of entrepreneurs and small business owners celebrating Greater Manchester’s self-employed community at the second Festival of Enterprise in Manchester city centre recently.
Over 250 people attended the event, which was hosted by EnterprisingYou – GM Business Growth Hub’s support programme for the self-employed and start-up businesses.
“Self-employed people make up 10 per cent of the UK workforce but it can feel very lonely,” said Yvonne Sampson, Head of Enterprise at GM Business Growth Hub.
“This was an excellent way to bring people together, connect and celebrate. I’ve been a small business owner myself and it fills me with hope and ambition to see so many amazing people and businesses coming out to show what they can do.
“It was brilliant to meet and engage with them and to hear all about why they set up their businesses and how passionate they are.”
Ngwafu exhibited at the event alongside other local businesses in a marketplace at New Century.
She applied for EnterprisingYou as she felt it was great for people who need some additional skills to help their business.
“I was extremely interested because there’s nothing with that much detail available for start-ups that were also very flexible around my work schedule.”
GM Business Growth Hub and EnterprisingYou offer fully-funded support to businesses across Greater Manchester. More information can be found at https://www.businessgrowthhub.com/support/self-employment/.