Site B’s vetkoek hub

Monica Tshoko runs her busy vetkoek hub from her brother’s plot in Site B Khayelitsha with her two assistants. The 39 year old started her business last year April after she got tired from the travelling involved in her previous business of selling clothes.

Tshoko has a small bed inside her shack for naps in between her long hours. This mother of two wakes up at 1 a.m during the week to prepare her dough. She opens her doors at 5am, in time for the morning rush when people catch their transport to work. She sells her vetkoeks with egg or with a Russian sausage and coffee for her morning customers.

Tshoko uses about 100kg of baking flower a day to produce about 700 vat cakes and sells them from two to four rands depending on what you’re having inside.

“I am able to pay my child’s school and transport fees as well as my employees a weekly salary of R300 per person with the money I make from the shop,” said Tshoko

“I use about R1200 a day to buy all the things I need for my business, like cooking oil, milk , eggs and Russians sausages and cash in at the end of the day about R1500,” she explained.

Hailing from the Eastern Cape, she told us that almost the whole of Site B comes to buy her vat cakes and business has been doing so well that she is now going to expand her vetkoek hub to the Khayelitsha train station at the end of this month.

“I followed the footsteps of my family. They are business minded people. Business is in our blood,” explained a clearly proud Tshoko. She said that not everyone has the ability to do business and it has a lot to do with passion and loving what you do. “Others love carrying their bags to work everyday and reporting to a boss. I like to employ myself and not be accountable to anyone but myself,” she said.

One thing this mother of two wishes for is that her two children learn from her hard work and become their own bosses too one day and create work for others.