At MTN Bushfire, food is never just fuel. It is culture, creativity and conscious impact served on a plate. The festival’s culinary experience celebrates traders who honour local ingredients, ethical sourcing and bold innovation, transforming taste into a powerful expression of identity and sustainability.

At the 2025 edition, Scoops n Giggles embodied this ethos with every scoop. From handcrafted, clean-label ice creams to authentic Italian gelato infused with unmistakable Eswatini soul, the brand delivered more than a sweet treat. It offered a joyful, sustainable and culturally rooted culinary experience. Their standout presence, commitment to environmental responsibility and celebration of indigenous flavours has earned them the MTN Bushfire Sustainable Food Innovator Award, affirming their place at the forefront of Eswatini’s evolving food landscape.

MTN Bushfire is pleased to award this deserving small business which models strong alignment with the selection criteria that encompasses Creativity and Stall Experience, Investment in Sustainable Growth, Health & Hygiene Standards, and Woman-Led & Youth-Owned Enterprise.

In this Q&A, we sit down with the founders of Scoops n Giggles to explore the inspiration behind the brand, their journey at MTN Bushfire 2025, and how they continue to bring their fire by blending Italian know-how, local agriculture and purpose-driven innovation into their evolving product range.

Beyond the irresistibly joyous mood that your ice creams activate, what else makes Scoops n Giggles stand out?
What makes us unique is our uncompromising fusion of global expertise and local pride spanning Italian precision, Eswatini soul and clean-label commitment.

We are now applying authentic Gelato techniques which we had the privilege of learning during my intensive mentorship in Pisa, Italy. This experience has enhanced our capacity to deliver a product that boasts superior density and texture.

Our Eswatini Soul concept is a celebration of local agriculture as expressed through pioneering flavours like our indigenous Maganu ice cream. This is an innovative offering which asserts our product range as a genuine reflection of Eswatini’s culture and natural richness.

All of this is achieved through the strict clean-label philosophy that we adhere to by creating desserts from scratch with whole ingredients and zero corn syrups, artificial fillers or preservatives.

How would you describe your experience trading at MTN Bushfire 2025?
Trading at MTN Bushfire 2025 was monumental and transformative. It was the ultimate stress test for our capacity and a profound affirmation of our brand’s connection with the market. The energy was electric and we were thrilled to serve thousands of diverse, global festivalgoers. The experience validated our ability to scale our handcrafted production methods to meet high-volume demand while maintaining our stringent quality controls. Most importantly, it provided an unparalleled platform to showcase authentic Eswatini flavours, such as Maganu, to the world.

What does being crowned MTN Bushfire’s Sustainable Innovator Award winner mean for you and your business?
This recognition is the ultimate validation of our mission. It tells us that our dedication to quality, our investment in professional development (like the Italian mentorship) and our decision to embed social impact and sustainability into our business are not just good practices. These are qualities that define what it means to be a leading Eswatini business. This award is a powerful endorsement that will elevate our credibility as we pursue new B2B partnerships (such as hotels and large retailers) and continue our growth trajectory into a certified cottage factory. It confirms that Handcrafted Happiness, Italian Know-How, and Eswatini Soul are recipes for success.

MTN Bushfire’s sustainability mandate also inspires how trader set up their stalls. How did you honour this vision this year?
We believe our stall stood out for the sophisticated synergy between our artisanal product quality, cohesive brand presentation and alignment with the festival theme for the year.

We opted for a clean, premium aesthetic using our signature earth tones (nudes, sage green and browns) to avoid clutter and allow the vibrant colours of our ice cream to speak for themselves. The staff uniforms also matched the aesthetic for a professional, polished look.

Where product quality is concerned, our gourmet ice cream and clean-label promise differentiated us immediately. Customers could taste the difference that high-quality, whole ingredients make, and they had the chance to embrace the diversity in flavours.

Our core philosophy, “We scoop, you giggle,” guided our staff interactions. We ensured every customer encounter was fast, friendly and focused on generating that moment of happiness that defines our brand. We make our customers eager to be part of our community by asking them to capture their “giggle moments”, and then sharing these memories on our social media platforms and tagging them.

MTN Bushfire values trader professionalism and excellent service. How do you ensure a memorable customer experience for the festival’s diverse attendees at your stall?
We ensure a memorable experience through preparedness and personalised service.

We trained our staff extensively on high-volume scooping and order-handling procedures to minimise wait times, which is crucial during peak festival hours. We also had a staff member issue out reusable tickets to the customers in the queue when taking their order which they return to the scooper when they get their ice cream. This is very efficient for both us and our customers as it ensures order in the queue, that no customer is billed twice for the same order and every order that goes out is paid for.

Product knowledge was another key aspect of our service experience. Our team was educated on the origin stories of our unique flavours, particularly Maganu, allowing them to engage international and local festivalgoers on the cultural significance of the ingredients.

We also maintained our high standard of hygienic presentation. From impeccable cleanliness to upholding a professional appearance throughout the long festival hours, our operation reflected the high standards we keep in our factory. We have staff members dedicated to housekeeping, changing scoop cleaning water and wiping down counters with color-coded kitchen towels.

 

The festival celebrates creativity and originality. How did you express your creative identity through your products or stall design?
Our creative identity was expressed through our Maganu flavour and artisanal display.

The Maganu flavour was our most significant creative contribution. By taking the indigenous Maganu fruit and elevating it to a world-class frozen dessert, we celebrated Eswatini’s cultural bounty and offered a true taste of home to local attendees, as well as a novel experience to international guests.

Our artisanal display deliberately showcased the texture and rich, natural colours of our ice cream, using simple, reusable see-through tubs and minimal packaging. This was a great way of allowing the product’s quality and our signature earth-tone branding to shine.

MTN Bushfire champions socially responsible business practices. How does your business contribute to positive change?
Our business is built on a foundation of social responsibility, particularly around actively creating employment opportunities. At present, we have 3 full-time staff and up to 5 part-time youth staff from the local community who are capacitated with valuable skills and income opportunities.

We also prioritise sourcing our fruits and key ingredients from local farmers and suppliers which, in turn, strengthens the local agricultural economy and reduces the carbon footprint associated with long-distance shipping.

Environmental sustainability is central to the MTN Bushfire ethos. What steps did you take to reduce waste, minimise plastics, use eco-friendly packaging, or adopt greener operations during the festival?
We are committed to minimising our environmental footprint, even in a high-volume festival setting.

Our retail tubs are made from food-grade Kraft paperboard and are designed to be low-waste. For consumption at the stall, we utilised eco-friendly disposable options such as wooden spoons, to limit the use of single-use plastics.

We actively managed our service waste, training staff to separate recyclables (cardboard, paper) from general waste at the point of sale to support the festival’s centralized recycling initiatives.

By only using natural, whole ingredients (no artificial fillers or preservatives), we contribute to a cleaner food ecosystem and reduce the demand for complex chemical manufacturing processes.

Reflecting on your trader journey, what opportunities do you see for further improving your environmental practices in the future?
As we transition into our certified cottage factory, our environmental focus will sharpen certified compostable packaging. We aim to continue using bio-degradable Kraft tubs and explore other fully certified compostable packaging options for all retail units, ensuring our packaging breaks down completely without leaving microplastics.

We’ll continue pursuing facility waste optimisation through our new cottage factory which provides the opportunity to implement the systematic composting of organic fruit waste and optimise our water usage during the cleaning and production processes.

MTN Bushfire encourages ethical sourcing and support for local entrepreneurs. How do you incorporate local craftsmanship, materials, or community partnerships into your business model?
Local sourcing is the heart of Scoops n Giggles.

Our entire business model is predicated on collaborating with local Eswatini farmers like Emagodomane Farm and Inhlanhla Yakho Nursery in sourcing the freshest fruits for our innovative flavours. This relationship is ethical, ensuring fair pricing and consistent demand for their produce.

Our unique flavour development process is a cultural partnership. We work with local knowledge to identify and integrate traditional ingredients into a modern, commercial product.

Lastly, by employing and training local youth, we invest in the human capital of Eswatini. We view our team members as the next generation of food entrepreneurs.

This festival aims to uplift traders through skills development and market access. What have been your biggest learnings from participating in MTN Bushfire?
Our biggest learnings centred on logistical resilience and market readiness. We learned how to efficiently manage high-volume sales, which is a crucial skill for our B2B expansion goals. We now have proven data on production capacity, freezer logistics and staffing needs for a major event.

We also gained real-time insights into the market demand for premium products versus standard treats, confirming that customers are willing to pay for our clean, high-quality offerings.

In what ways has trading at MTN Bushfire helped you grow professionally, creatively, or personally?
Professionally, it provided a public, large-scale test environment for commercial processing which translates high-end ice cream into functional, high-volume festival sales practice.

From a creative standpoint, the overwhelming success of the Maganu ice cream gives us the creative confidence to continue developing uniquely Eswatini flavours (such as the guava ice cream). We embrace this as proof that local ingredients can succeed on a global stage.

Personally, the experience instilled a deep sense of pride in representing Eswatini entrepreneurship and achieving the Sustainable Food Innovator Award for 2025 recognition. This validates the dedication required to run an artisanal business.

If you were to advise a new trader entering their first MTN Bushfire, what guidance or lessons would you share?
My advice would be, Professionalise Your Prep and Celebrate Your Uniqueness.

• Invest in Your Presentation: Your stall is your shop window. Ensure your branding (design, uniforms) is clean, cohesive and reflects the quality of your product.
• Logistics are Everything: You must master your back-end operations. Have sufficient staff, pre-portion as much as possible and never underestimate the need for cold storage and a fast service flow.
• Tell Your Story: Don’t just sell a product, tell the story behind it. If you are local, celebrate it! If you are handcrafted, emphasise it! That connection is what your audience craves.

What’s next for your business? Tell us about any exciting plans, innovations, or goals for the coming year.
The coming year is all about leveraging our new Italian expertise and scaling for commercial impact.

We will officially launch our new lines, Authentic Italian Gelato and Clean-Label Frozen Yogurt which will serve as a dynamic expansion to greater variety under our “clean scoop” promise.

We are also currently finalising strategic partnerships to supply premium retail 350ml tubs to major hospitality partners and expanding our bulk 5L service to high-end restaurants.

Another exciting venture is the completion of our dedicated cottage factory to meet HACCP standards as a means to afford us the scalable infrastructure to support our growth and maintain food safety excellence.

How do you hope you will continue to ‘Bring Your Fire’ through your business?
We will continue to ‘Bring Our Fire’ by growing our youth employment programme and expanding our network of local agricultural suppliers across Eswatini.

Our creative stance on upholding classic flavours, but continuously innovating new, culturally significant Eswatini desserts that appeal to a global palate will continue to inspire our product innovations.

Equally as important, us leading by example in the local food manufacturing space by moving towards certified eco-friendly packaging and efficient, low-waste production methods in our new facility.

Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience or your journey as a 2025 MTN Bushfire trader?
We want to express our deepest gratitude to the MTN Bushfire Festival for providing a platform that doesn’t just host trade, but actively invests in the growth and professional development of local entrepreneurs.

The experience, the validating experience and the award have fundamentally transformed our business trajectory. We are incredibly proud to be recognized as a Sustainable Food Innovator and look forward to continuously contributing towards the festival’s spirit of #BringYourFire in the years to come.