Renowned for their benevolence, Kenyans on Twitter have, overnight, changed the fortunes of one of their members, going by the handle @Gesonso1 after he consistently tweeted about his ‘mayai smokie’ hustle and, finally, tugged at the heartstrings of the charitable Twitter constituency.
@Gesonso1 started parroting his ‘mayai smokie’ business around 22nd July when he requested a Twitter benefactor to grant him Ksh. 8k to boost his business, promising to use the funds to add more stock and boost his hustle.
While responding to the benefactor, who had offered to give out ‘8k to anyone in dire need’, @Gesonso1 wrote, “Si unipee hiyo 8K mzee niongeze stock najua siwezi pata RTs na engagements mingi but utapitia hapa Nairobi City Centre uone progress!”
After that request, hundreds of tweeps jammed his comment section asking to know where his stand was located and promising to visit and down an egg or two.
Again, on 8th August, he posted, ‘Tuko on mfike base’ while attaching a photo of himself looking a little haggard, holding on to his ‘mayai smokie’ trolley.
The tweet did wild numbers, has already been seen over 700k times and has amassed a decent 6,000+ ‘likes’.
As usual, Kenyans on Twitter rallied together to either drop a supportive comment or actually visit @Gesonso1’s work station – Kenya Archives, Tom Mboya street.
Quickly, everyone came together, some offered to buy the entire day’s stock with others offering to help him entirely stock the business the coming week.
One of the most viral tweets was from Engineer Alata Owino who wrote, “Manze nikirudi nataka tushikane majamaa kama kumi na 500 bob each tuende tupromote huyu Boyz apo archives. I respect this mans hustle sana!”
But even before Owino rolled into town, tens of Kenyans on Twitter ganged up and, late Wednesday evening, pulled up at @Gesonso1’s stand, each armed with enough cash to gobble up as much eggs, smokies, potatoes and chapatis as possible.
After a busy evening, Twitter user @kerubo_hillary wrote, “Ni kama tumesafisha stock ya smokies… I thought I’d stick to two but they tasted so good!”
“@Gesonso1 is doing some good job, mkiwa town stop by and promote him. He’s also a very jovial person btw…”
While some Kenyans showed up to eat, others sent @Gesonso1 money to replenish his stock, with others even offering to help him move into an actual shop and pay the rent for months.
“Bro, when it’s your time, you best believe it is. Mans anaenda kuomoka na biz ya kuuza mayai na smocha. Things we love to see!” Twitter user @AntoLibra posted.