Malaki Conteh outside Malaki's Food & Drinks.

Meet the 13-year-old London takeaway owner

19 Jan 2026

Journalist

Malaki Conteh has been an entrepreneur since the age of six and pays for his school fees with the profits of a Caribbean food business. Now he’s going viral

When he was six, Malaki Conteh saw choristers singing on YouTube and realised he wanted to be just like them. His father, Abdul Conteh, said if he wanted singing lessons, he’d have to pay for them himself.

So he did, by selling plants outside his father’s office in Camberwell, South London.

Now the young entrepreneur, aged 13, pays his £4000 a term school fees as a boarder at The Prebendal School in Chichester with the profits of a Caribbean food business, Malaki’s Food and Drinks in Crystal Palace.

The story is going viral, with Malaki's face splashed across national newspapers, and interviews on BBC radio. London’s biggest food influencers have also been swinging by Malaki’s Food & Drinks for a taste of the food and the opportunity to create a shouty video. Yet more are currently lingering in Abdul’s inbox.

He’s also just become the first Black chief chorister in the history of Chichester Cathedral. So where does he get his drive from?

“[From] my dad. That is where I learnt the work ethic and acquired my business spirit,” says Malaki, over email.

Abdul, a legal adviser, runs Malaki’s day-to-day. He’s jovial and welcoming when I visit on a Friday lunchtime (I’m local) and has a small stack of printouts of Malaki’s recent press coverage, ready to share with nosey journalists like me.

It’s a small shop, with a couple of tables, offering set menus of Caribbean food, like curry goat, jerk chicken, and patties, as well as bread and cakes. Malaki’s mother Simone Stephenson and grandmother, Elaine Stephenson, do most of the cooking, though Malaki helps out when he’s home.

Cheesy beef patties, Conteh’s favourite, are some of the most popular items, but the soft and warming curry goat is delicious – I take some home along with brown stew chicken, some very good rice and peas, a dumpling and a beef patty. The counter is lined with cakes, with red velvet being a particular hit.

Abdul describes Malaki as “my son and my employer.' None of the family is paid for helping out, nor do they take any share of the profits, he says.

Those profits aren’t solely used to pay Malaki’s school fees: he also uses the money to fund charitable causes, like free equine therapy courses for people suffering poor mental health set up by his ex-violin teacher and free musical instruments for those who can’t afford them (he has paid for his own instruments by selling plants).

Eventually, he’d like to work in music or finance, “maybe a composer,” he says. His immediate plans include a clothing line, as well as working hard to obtain a scholarship to The King’s School Canterbury.

“My advice to anyone is follow your dreams and don’t be discouraged, especially when people laugh at you, mock you and try to hinder or disrupt your plans. Lastly, as my dad [taught] me: always give and don’t give up,” says Malaki.

19 Jan 2026