“How Will Grannies Buy?”: Joburg Man Uses AI To Build Online Spaza Shop Selling Healthy Food

A Joburg man named Hlubi Kabelo went viral after posting a Facebook video of himself building an online spaza shop using AI. He wants to fix South Africa’s spaza shop crisis by selling healthy food delivered straight to your door.

Kabelo used Grok to code the entire app from scratch in real time. He built an algorithm designed to check whether products are healthy before they go live. The finished app is already live at hlubikabelo.co.za under the name Top Spaza Shop.

One avocado, one big dream

Kabelo asked 10,000 South Africans to each buy a five-rand avocado through the app. He says that money will fund the national rollout of Top Spaza Shop across communities. He sees unhealthy and expired spaza shop food not as a crisis but as a business opportunity.

Mzansi had a lot to say and did not hold back in the comments. Some people were genuinely excited and said they were ready to support the idea. Others were sceptical and questioned how a five-rand avocado with a thirty-rand delivery fee makes sense. Several users pointed out that many township gogos do not own smartphones to place orders online. Some flat-out called it a crowdfunding scheme dressed up as a business.

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Watch the Facebook video below:

More stories involving spaza shops

• A Twitter post showing a CBD spaza shop selling full graduation gowns, complete with hoods and caps, has left South Africans furious and asking serious questions about academic integrity.
• A Limpopo man inspired Mzansi after growing from a cashier to a successful spaza shop owner.
• The City of Johannesburg shut down several spaza shops in Orange Farm after officials discovered expired food, unsafe gas cylinder storage and hygiene concerns.

Source: Briefly News