SISTER ABA'S KENKEY BUSINESS FLOURISHES (Page 12)

Story: Emmanuel Modey, Hohoe

THE name “Maame Fante” is synonymous with a popular kenkey spot in Hohoe in the Volta Region.
The spot, which is located at Gboxome, near the A.M.E. Zion Church on the Fodome road is a vibrant area where one can get kenkey at any time of the day.
For the past 38 years, the ‘Aba Kenkey’ base has been in operation, providing hot and appetising kenkey for the numerous customers who throng the base daily for food.
The business was started in Hohoe by the late Madam Sarah Donkor who initially settled in the town as a trader in the late 1970s.
She switched to the preparation of kenkey when she found that business lucrative and that earned her the name “Maame Fante”. Consequently, people looking for kenkey to buy were directed to her base.
The business gradually prospered with more relatives from Winneba, in the Central Region, joining to offer the needed support.
Maame Fante controlled the business until she became old and passed away but that did not result in its collapse and it was taken over by her sister, Aba.
According to her, she has six permanent female members of staff, while casual hands are engaged when necessary.
Business starts at 5.00am. She says they cook about 5,000 balls of kenkey a day, which are bought by schoolchildren, workers and the general public.
She says further that they have set up a base at a spot between the Hohoe Post Office and the Fodome Junction, where special stew with fried chicken and tilapia is served in addition to ground pepper.
Sister Aba says since Hohoe is surrounded by food growing communities, getting maize for the production of kenkey is not a problem.
She said the income from the business had been used to cater for the educational needs of some members of the family who were at various levels of education.
Sister Aba, who is a mother of four, said although kenkey was very popular among the Gas, it was not restricted to any class of people or any ethnic community.
She said she would continue to maintain good customer relations to keep her customers for her business to thrive, since it was her only source of livelihood.