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ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Kwacha Fish and Chips

(Living in the Legacy)

“If you are going to live, leave a legacy. Make a mark on the decided to have his meal there. His food came wrapped in
world that can’t be erased.” Maya Angelou. white paper and he was fascinated by the packaging of the
fish fillet and chips. After that first visit, he made a mental
ambridge Dictionary defines legacy as, ‘money note to open a Fish and Chips fast food takeaway back in his
or property that you receive from someone after native Zambia.
they die.’
How was Kwacha Fish and Chips established?
CThere’s a lot of criticism today on how people’s “After obtaining his degree, he returned to Zambia and started
lack of civic responsibility affects their lifestyle in the long working for the Ministry of Education as a Commissioner.
run. We see people who want to make a difference, looking From the money he was saving through his employment, he
to leave a positive imprint on the world and a legacy of went ahead and registered his Fish and Chips Restaurant
goodness to remember them by, passed on from generation on 25th December, 1969. The business served fish fillet and
to generation. chips and was situated in town centre along Freedom Way.

We have different working industries, and one of them is the This was one of the busiest locations for a restaurant and an
food industry. It is not easy to run a restaurant – let alone added advantage was its location opposite a UBZ bus station
two, because there is a fast food joint every two blocks in where Lamasat now sits. This made it easy for the restaurant
either direction. It takes one to dig deep and get behind the to have walk- in clients from the buses.
scenes of where it all started.
At the time Kwacha Fish and Chips was being established, Mr.
I interviewed the grandson of one of our late legends, Nkowani already had a job, hence handed the reigns over to
Reverend Sinoa Kwangu Nkowane, founder of the famous his wife, the late Mrs. Janet Nkowani, who did well with the
Kwacha Fish and Chips fast food takeaway. Located in the business. The only time the reverend went to the restaurant
busy streets of Lusaka, the restaurant is now clocking 51 was to look at the book records and allocate money to the
years in business. Mr. Lukas Nkowane ran me through a brief various purchases of goods.”
history of his late grandfather’s life and how the business
came to be.” Struggle and Redemption
“Sometime in 1976, a country-wide fishing ban was imposed
A Brief History during the breeding season to ensure the replenishing of
Reverend Sinoa Kwangu Nkowane was born in 1918, the fast depleting natural resources. Most of the fisheries
completed his secondary school in Malawi and later went to experienced shortage of fish which affected Kwacha Fish and
pursue his degree in Theology in Scotland in the late 60s. Chips. We couldn’t store up a lot of fish to take us for a few
“My grandfather used to tell us stories of how he was months because we didn’t have enough cold storage and we
fascinated with restaurants in Scotland, and how he dreamt feared it would quickly go bad. We slowly started losing our
of having one in Zambia. One time, he told us about how customers and this led us to a quick solution which would
he came across a Fish and Chips fast food takeaway and boost our business.’’

11 The Africa We Want