FORBES AFRICA is slightly early for the interview and photoshoot at the SA Culinary Club in Bryanston, Johannesburg. The owner tells us the chef is running a bit late and, also, that he didn’t take him seriously when he walked in one day wearing shorts asking to cook for them.
He finally arrives in jeans, a t-shirt and sneakers looking young and far from the fat chef one would expect. He is short and slim and has cooked for everyone, from Jay-Z to the president of Nigeria.
As we begin our conversation, he jokes that every article on him starts in Soweto; a vibrant township south of Johannesburg where he was born and bred. He grew up in different parts of South Africa, going to different schools, but in his early teenage years he knew he loved the kitchen.
Chef Wandile Mabaso, South Africa’s French cuisine ambassador, cooked his first meal for his family at the age of 14. His father didn’t understand, nor approve, of him being a chef because at the time it wasn’t a job for black people. The misnomer faded and Mabaso started traveling; exploring and making money cooking.
“After high school I went to a hotel school; did a hotel degree. I found myself a job on a small private cruise ship in the Mediterranean. So I spent a lot of time in Italy, around Scandinavia, Barcelona, Monaco,” he recalls.
It was Mabaso’s first time outside of South Africa and he didn’t know what to expect, but he was in his early 20s and very excited. On his return, Mabaso furthered his studies and went for a culinary degree where he was offered a job in the United States while studying. He didn’t look back and went straight to Miami, where he spent 18 months and from there headed to New York, where he was trained in classical French cuisine. He has worked for many famous French chefs and was mentored by the world-famous Chef Olivier Reginensi.
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Mabaso was more eager and passionate than the rest of the class when cooking; trying new things was his ideology. He stood out and was handpicked over the other chefs who were more shy, unsure or scared.
“I worked at Daniel, I worked at Le Bernardin, which are all two-star, three-star Michelin restaurants, at least top 20 in the world. I worked in a whole lot of high-end places in Manhattan, probably all these restaurants are at least in the top 50 in the world,” he says.
<div id="attachment_34938" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-34938" class=" wp-image-34938" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Chef-Wandile-Mabaso-1-e1515483290853-300x200.jpg" alt="Chef Wandile Mabaso Beyonce Paris" width="500" height="333" />Chef Wandile Mabaso (Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla)</div>
When he cooks, it’s professional; it’s rare for him to cook the same dish again. His training made him creative.
He has cooked for Jay-Z, Beyoncé, presidents and NBA stars in Paris.
“People are fascinated by cooking for celebrities, for me it means nothing, in a sense we’re all people, whether you a celebrity or a guy helping park cars. Chances are people like Beyoncé just like fried chicken and the average guy has a better palate than Jay-Z. It doesn’t mean cooking for Jay-Z is the ultimate person to cook for. I’m not about showing off,” says Mabaso with a straight face.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2017/08/04/pots-pans-passion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Pots, Pans And Passion</a>
There’s a culture of collecting knives among chefs in New York. Before Mabaso left the Big Apple for Paris, he was gifted with a Misono knife (handcrafted Japanese chef&#8217;s knives), by Chef Reginensi, engraved with his name. The knife is worth $420.52 and he treasures it.
In 2017, Mabaso was in partnership with <a href="https://carrolboyes.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Carrol Boyes</a>; a renowned cutlery and crockery artist and designer. He served all his food on Carrol Boyes plates on a sold-out tour he took across South Africa.
“I would have a class where I would invite junior chefs or students and show cooking techniques. From there I’d choose one, two or three kids to come work with me for the dinner. At the end we put out a bursary where I choose two from the whole tour to go work in Paris at a three-star Michelin restaurant,” he says.
The tour ended in Cape Town and two learners will be undergoing French speaking lessons for three months with the French Institute of South Africa and the French Embassy before leaving, and will be funded by Mabaso and other chefs in France.
Next, Mabaso will be collaborating with a South African artist on a cutlery and crockery range. The artist will work on the plate and Mabaso will serve on it in 2018.
“It’s art and food combined.”
Mabaso was out of the country for nine years and missed traditional South African food. Tripe is one of his favorite childhood memories and he says he prefers street food over haute cuisine. He doesn’t like Johannesburg’s central business district because there is “no sanitation, no cleanliness and you can’t cook like that,” he says.
“The best I have experienced is a falafel in Paris, it’s just this place man. They sell shawarmas for 10 euros but there’s always a line, sometimes about 800 meters long, every day, and it&#8217;s Algerian guys doing it in Paris.”
Mabaso started in Soweto, traveled and cooked for VIPs globally. Now he’s back in South Africa, sharing his skills with younger chefs, and hopes to have long queues outside his restaurant one day.

The Chef Who Cooked For Beyoncé In Paris

South African designer Gavin Rajah was studying law at the University of Cape Town, with an interest in medical law, when he felt the need to keep busy and earn some extra money. His father owned a clothing store, so he began selling clothes to his friends and classmates. This led to restyling students’ formal dresses and eventually finding someone nearby to manufacture his own designs.
Rajah found law too depressing and chose to ditch it so he could find something more creative. Fashion seemed like the natural step forward, but his father had one piece of advice: ‘Fashion is a very difficult business and you don’t want to get into this business’.
Instead of pursuing his dream, Rajah’s second act, a marketing degree, served him well. With his keen sense of business, he started an events company that did so well it caught the attention of South African-based and listed Naspers, a multinational media company. Naspers bought 60% of the business in 2005 but the relationship went sour, leaving Rajah no choice but to leave the business and take his name with him. His old clients followed.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2752" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/1310_MBFWA_SDR_4381_RAJAH-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />
With fashion in his blood, Rajah soon made his way back, with an arsenal of business and marketing knowledge. He describes his business expansion plan as conservative, owed to the fact that it has all been self-funded. Not coming from a strictly creative background, Rajah sees things from a more objective perspective. He feels that artists often get lost on the creative side, that creativity gives way to commerciality.
Rajah was the first African to receive an invite to participate at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Paris. Other fashion houses were calling him for invites to the show. He had to face the stereotypes that people had about Africa. They were expecting garments made from shweshwe &#8211; a sotho print &#8211; and porcupine quills. Rajah has nothing against the use of African prints, but feels that they can be made contemporary by sending them to a graphic designer and having them reinterpreted.
The designer is also the founder of the Cape Town and Durban fashion weeks, as well as the Cape Town Flower Show.
Taking on a role as a mentor, Rajah raised money and worked with Precious Moloi-Motsepe’s Africa Fashion International (AFI) business to take four designers &#8211; Thula Sindi, Craig Native, Thabani Mavundla and David Tlale &#8211; to showcase overseas, in 2007. Rajah felt that black designers in South Africa were not getting international exposure. Understanding the boundaries involved in breaking into the international scene, he wanted the showcase to give them that exposure. People told him he was throwing the designers to the wolves but he wanted to prove them wrong. Rajah says there is a high level of mutual respect in the international fashion industry. Sindi and Native still call him for business advice.
Rajah believes that AFI and Moloi-Motsepe are great, giving designers an amazing platform. He also believes the designers themselves hold the key to success.
His inspiration comes from books, music, theater and traveling. Each season is different. Rajah’s Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Africa collection in October was inspired by a visit to the Tower of London and books on the legend of King Arthur. Each collection takes around two months to complete, this has improved with time and experience since he no longer doubts himself.
When the ideas come in, he makes quick sketches, refines them and, once he’s done, he involves the rest of the team. A lot of changes happen when they have completed the mock designs, and even more once the collection is complete. Rajah does not ignore the need to pay attention to trends, without necessarily following every single one.
According to him, fashion is about creating a brand and that takes a lot of money. Your brand needs to evolve, meaning you need to make sure it’s marketable, relevant and contemporary. Rajah uses the same approach in his events company that he uses in his designs, designing everything from the lighting and sound to table clothes and food.
He feels that since the events industry, like fashion, is not regulated, you have to work harder to entrench your name in people’s minds and prove yourself. His strategy is to be conceptual, innovative, understand his market and exceed expectations.
Last year was good for Rajah. He was named as one of the 150 designers to watch around the world in the January issue of the Italian edition of Vogue, he was also named South African Tourism designer of the year.
“We chose him for his role as a strong champion of South African design. He’s established himself as an entrepreneur in the world of fashion and has been instrumental in profiling South African designs. His work has helped establish South Africa globally as a fantastic lifestyle, culture and heritage destination,” says the chief executive officer of South African Tourism, Thulani Nzima.
“People don’t understand the work that designers do. An architect might build one house a year, or two. A designer puts six to eight collections out every year and every one has to be commercially successful,” says Rajah.
According to Rajah, South Africa is behind when it comes to recognizing the fashion business, particularly financial institutions.
Rajah’s fashion business is entirely supported by international clients. Celebrities like Naomi Campbell, Beyoncé and Cameron Diaz have worn his creations, while Gavin Rajah Concept (GRC) clients range from brides looking to make their wedding day unforgettable, to corporates like Nike, Jaguar and Sun International.
“You can’t believe your own hype. The minute you start believing it, it’s a problem. The minute you don’t start selling clothes, it’s a problem.”
Last year, GRC won the Event Producer of the Year award at the Event Solutions Spotlight Awards. It was also nominated for the Corporate Event Planner of the Year, Event Company of the Year and Creative Director of the Year awards. The team was also nominated for three more awards this year in Las Vegas, in the United States, and won Event Producer of the Year at the end of March.
Being named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2007 is undoubtedly Rajah’s career highlight, as he is very passionate about championing people who don’t have a voice. He often wakes up at night shocked by all he has created and the number of people dependent on him. He is blessed enough to love what he does. Now that he is older, it’s about running a business and he is at the stage where he can take small risks.
At this year’s Design Indaba, the Gavin Rajah exhibit was a bathroom setting. It was his interpretation of the dirtiness of the fashion industry.
“It’s a dirty business and we’ve got to learn to change it.”
Rajah says things like drugs and sex happen in bathrooms. The mirrored perspex he used in his exhibition was hinting at the narcissism prevalent in the fashion world.
“Fashion has become so obsessive, so decadent, so hyped up and people behave so badly.”
His pebble dress from the Spring/Summer 2013 couture collection was made from foiled leather pieces molded into pebble shapes and won him the Design Indaba’s Most Beautiful Object In South Africa competition.
The king of glamorous couture also partnered with retail chain Legit, under the Edcon Group, to design a ready-to-wear collection for the mainstream market.
Rajah has not looked back since opting to sell beautiful clothes. He creates dreams rather than false hope.

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The Chef Who Cooked For Beyoncé In Paris

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