Viral ‘Mtu Wa Mayai’ Shocks Kenyans Online After Attempting To Raise Ksh. 1M To Attend Cooking School

A ‘mayai smokie’ vendor who shot to online fame last month after Kenyans on X (formerly Twitter) rallied to help boost his business by lining up, every evening, to clear his stock, is now at loggerheads with the same crowd which propelled his business in the first place.

A few days ago, X user @Gesonso1, who runs a ‘mayai smokie’ stand around the Kenya National Archives, along Tom Mboya street, started a campaign aimed at helping him attain college education in order to polish up on his culinary skills and, eventually, land a better-paying job as a chef.

At first, the idea seemed noble until, days later, the entire proposition seemed a little preposterous, with many saying that it was foolhardy to raise Ksh. 1 million to attend cooking classes when the internet was awash with self-taught chefs making millions from their food-related content creation.

The ‘mayai’ vendor’s detractors called him out, saying that he had gotten his priorities all the way wrong and that, with a million shillings, he could easily set up his own mini restaurant and basically hire a few qualified chefs as he himself learned the craft either online or by patronising one willing private tutor.

Many also mentioned that, for instance, Dennis Ombachi, one of Africa’s highest-earning food content creators and Chef Maliha Mohammed, who just broke the Guinness World Record for the longest home kitchen cooking marathon, were both self-taught chefs who didn’t have to spend millions to learn how to fry an egg or steam cabbage.

Despite a stream of sound advice from people who were perplexed by Gesonso’s seemingly idiotic idea, the ‘mayai’ vendor ignored them all, at some point, even answering back rudely to some of his followers, insisting that he was going all the way to school and that he had formulated a watertight plan.

Kenyans on X were particularly vexed that he had not only taken their kindness for weakness and was now intent on gratuitously milking them even further but that he also decided to pick an international school, further aggravating matters.

Gesonso has settled for Boma International Hospitality College which describes itself as a ‘Premier Pan African Hospitality College’ with roots in Sweden, Europe.

When someone asked him, “Why did you Choose Boma, of all the available Hospitality colleges?”

He haughtily answered, “First Boma is an International college  chances za kumaliza na kupata kazi outside the country are high unlike kuenda Local training college (laugh emoji)!”

To which popular X personality @MwendeFrey replied, “Unaona mzazi wako hapa? KOX will support your hustle but we ain’t your parents…Fanya kazi and grow pole pole!”