I came to Cape Town to earn a living. I wouldn’t say I chose the city directly, but after living in various places, I ended up here and thought, ‘why not?’ I stayed for a few reasons, one of them being that I met my wife, a South African. It seemed like a good place to make a life and raise my family. Two of my brothers also joined me here.
I have lived in Ghana and Senegal and Cape Town is a very interesting and impressive city. I enjoy the climate here as Cameroon is tropical and sometimes very uncomfortable, hot, and humid. While it’s tough to start a business anywhere, in Cape Town the market is open and it is easy to understand our competitors.
I have always worked with leather when I was in Cameroon making hand bags and leather hats and Calvin. I was always fortunate to have many people around who encouraged me to have the vision that I am today.
In 2002 I started working in the film industry as a Props and Shoe maker, we did 1000BC, Love in Saigon, Wake of Death, Black Sail, and many more.
When we started we sold mostly at Festivals like KKNK, Graham’s town, Karrip Kunsterfeers and many more.
Now we are selling on Takealot and many more online shops. We also have our showroom on 165 New Market Street Woodstock, Western Cape.
Meticulous craftsmanship and skilled design are synonymous with King Kong’s leather goods, which are becoming highly sought after locally and beyond.
I grew up in an underprivileged community where poverty is leading, so I decided to create Kingkong in 2005 with the aim of training unskilled Africans and promoting education in Africa, which will eradicate poverty in Africa in due time.
The thing I miss most about home is the food – the food in Cameroon is amazing. My favorite dish is ndolé (a vegetable stew mixed with pistachio nuts) and fish; my little girl knows how to make it now. I also miss the people but we are lucky that we have a big community from Cameroon here in Cape Town and we meet up every week.
