A Name Rooted in Africa, a Faith That Multiplies, and Three Generations of Women Who Fed Their Communities

    OUR STORY  ·  NYAMI NYAMI SEAFOOD 

By Naidene Knife  ·  Founder, Nyami Nyami Seafood

This is the story behind Nyami Nyami Seafood — four threads woven into one brand: a grandmother who counted coins at a taxi rank, a mother who built four restaurants from nothing, a name that reclaims African identity, and a faith that believes in multiplication.

Nyami Nyami Seafood did not begin with me.

It began at a taxi rank in Zimbabwe, where my grandmother Elizabeth — Masande, as we called her — spread out her maize and taught two little girls that business is not complicated.

Elizabeth “Masande” Thomas — The Original Entrepreneur

Masande was a widow with five children to educate and feed. She had no safety net, no capital, no one to depend on. So she did what strong women do — she started with what she had.

She started with maize at the taxi rank. Then came chicken offcuts — sold in her community, sold at church, wherever someone needed to eat and she could provide.

And every evening, when the selling was done, she would sit with us and count her coins.

That was how my sister and I learned mathematics. Before we were in a classroom — at cash-up time, counting coins in the lamplight, learning our 2, 4, 5 and 10 times tables through the rhythm of a woman who refused to let her family go without.

When my sister and I were orphaned at twelve and thirteen, Masande became our mother again — in her old age, she picked up the weight of two more children without flinching. She fed us. She educated us. She showed us, every single day, what a woman is capable of when she decides her family will not go without.

She did not just sell food. She used food to build a future.

Christina “Tina” Thomas — The Builder

My mother Tina was another kind of extraordinary.

She started with a single superette in the community where she grew up. And then she kept going. By the time she was done building, she owned four takeaway restaurants across the city of Bulawayo and the industrial area, operated two Tuck shops in a private school along with Masande and operated two shops inside ZITF — one of Zimbabwe’s biggest and most prestigious trade fairs.

She put us behind the cash register at ten years old. She had us answering shop phones at nine. She taught us food safety, stock management, customer service and work ethic — not in a classroom, but on the floor, in the moment, in real life.

Everything I know about food, about business, about serving people well — I learned from watching Tina. She was relentless, dignified and completely self-made.

So when people ask me where Nyami Nyami Seafood comes from — this is where it comes from.

From Masande counting coins under a street light so her grandchildren could learn their times tables.

From Tina who looked at one superette and saw four restaurants.

From two women who used food — the most human, most universal thing — to build dignity, education and opportunity for everyone around them.

I am not the first. I am the third.

I chose the name Nyami Nyami deliberately. Not just because of my Zimbabwean roots — but because of what it represents and what it stands for in a world that has too often taken African folklore, African names, and African stories and turned them into something dark.

Nyami Nyami is a river spirit from the Zambezi River — believed to the people along the Zambezi to have been a god of sustenance, of life, of the water that has fed African people for generations. The original stories were never about fear. They were about lessons. About teaching. About a people’s deep, sacred connection to the land and the water.

Nyami Nyami Seafood is a small act of reclamation. A reminder that African identity, African names, African stories — they are not something to be hidden. They are something to be celebrated, built upon, and carried forward with pride.

Every time you order from us, you are supporting a brand that is proudly, unapologetically, beautifully African.

I am a Christian, and my faith shapes everything about how I run this business.

The story of Jesus feeding five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two small fish has stayed with me my entire life. A young boy steps forward with what he has — humble, ordinary, seemingly not nearly enough.

And then the miracle: it multiplies. Five thousand people are fed.

That story is the foundation of how Nyami Nyami sources its products.

We work with small producers, fishing communities , independent farmers and local suppliers — people who grow and catch with genuine care, who don’t always have access to the big retail platforms or large distribution networks. People who are humble in their operation but exceptional in what they produce.

We give them a platform. We multiply their reach. And in return, our customers receive something no supermarket can offer:

Every order you place supports not just Nyami Nyami Seafood. It supports the small farmer who got up before sunrise. The independent fisherman who respects the ocean. The local herb grower who tends every plant by hand.

That is the miracle we are trying to multiply — one delivery at a time.

I grew up in Zimbabwe. Life was not always easy — but it taught me things no classroom ever could. Resilience. Resourcefulness. The ability to figure things out when there is no one coming to save you.

I spent over a decade building a career in B2B sales — eventually finding myself deep in the seafood industry, learning how supply chains work, how relationships are built, how food moves from source to plate. I understood this world from the inside.

I was even headhunted by one of the biggest seafood companies in Africa.

I didn’t get it.

At the time, that stung. But God had other plans. Because that rejection pushed me to stop waiting to be chosen — and to start building something of my own.

When Necessity Became a Calling

Life got real. As a single mom, I had a child to take care of and responsibilities that didn’t wait. I didn’t have capital. I didn’t have everything figured out.

But I had something more valuable than capital.

I had Masande’s work ethic.

I had Tina’s business instinct.

I had ten years of industry experience and a faith that told me: you already have what you need.

So I stopped waiting for the perfect time.

I just started.

When you order from Nyami Nyami, you are not just buying seafood or fresh produce.

•       You are honouring a legacy — two generations of women who built something from nothing and taught a little girl that food is power

•       You are supporting African pride — a brand that wears its identity without apology

•       You are supporting small producers — farmers and fishermen who put their hearts into what they grow and catch

•       You are supporting a mother’s vision — building something real, step by step, for her son and her community

I want every customer who orders from Nyami Nyami to feel three things:

“That was easy.”

“This is genuinely good quality.”

“I trust these people.”

Because that is what you deserve. And that is what Masande, Tina and I are here to deliver.

Nyami Nyami Seafood is still young. We are growing, learning and building every single day.

But the foundation is unshakeable — rooted in the legacy of two extraordinary women, guided by faith, driven by African pride, and built by a woman who had every reason to give up and chose not to.

In three years, I want Nyami Nyami to be a recognised name across South Africa and beyond — a platform that connects small producers to markets, creates jobs, and proves that African brands can lead.

We are just getting started. And I am grateful you are here for it.

With love and purpose,

Naidene Knife

Founder, Nyami Nyami Seafood

Standing on the shoulders of Masande & Tina

  Nyami Nyami Seafood  ·  Fresh. Premium. Proudly African. 

Order online at online.nyami-nyami.co.za  ·  WhatsApp: +27 76 424 5677 

Email: sales@nyami-nyami.co.za       ·    Website: www.nyami-nyami.co.za