Building modern kiosks

To establish himself as a businessman, Farouk Mujumba recounts experiences of 2000 but his journey started years ago.
He was the boy that knocked on neighbours’ doors, in Kyanjale, Masaka, to fetch water for as low as Shs150.
Mujumba dropped out of school in Primary School because his guardians could not support him to have a meaningful education.

He was orphaned at an early age and he had not many opportunities as he grew up.
Therefore, apart from fetching water, he went out of his way to search for opportunities including digging for pay.
“At the end of the day, I would earn between Shs4,000 and Shs6,000. I made sure that I would save at least Shs3,000. My dream was to buy a bicycle which would ease my work,” he says. Certainly, after a few months of saving, Mujumba bought the bicycle at shs37,000.

With it, other ideas came to mind including buying sugarcanes and jack fruit from farmers, which he would sell in Kyanjale Trading Centre at a profit.
This was 1999 and Mujumba was only 13 years old.

For about eight months, he continued with this routines, saving about Shs800,000, which he used to boost his sugar cane business. The business would however, become his turning point.
“It was hard business but I managed to get some good returns with about Shs3m in savings,” he says, adding that this was the time when he started trading in maize flour, an idea he had harboured for some good years.

“Along the way, there was shortage of flour and I entrusted my friend to bring some flour from Tanzania. Unfortunately, he bought fake cigarettes and was arrested. I lost my savings of Shs2.9m in the business,” he says. With nothing left to bank on, Mujumba decided to hang around Masaka Town before moving into offering manual labour.

“I would carry sacks of sugar and posho. I did this for more than one year and accumulated Shs1.2m. That is when I made my first journey to Kampala and started trading in knickers from Chinese wholesalers,” he says.

Apart from knickers he also traded in utensils and other commodities which gave him some good money. He at least saved Shs4m in hard cash.
In 2006, Mujumba relocated to Kampala, where he secured space for his business and continued to trade in knickers, handkerchiefs and bras.

Between there, Mujumba experienced a number of setbacks including a fire that burnt down his entire business.
However, he would get up again and as luck would have it he met Epimark Kagolo, a wealthy businessman in down town Kampala who would change his life for the better.

“I had heard about an Indian who was selling a house. I told Kagolo about it. He got interested and bought it. This gave me $5,000 in commission,” he says. Mujumba used part of the money to buy a plot of land in Masajja where he would open his first company - Mujumba Group of Companies.

However, he continued with his clothing business before moving into real estate, where he would buy and sell land at a profit.
Along his real estate business he moved into making metallic doors and welding in Katwe, Kampala.
This was one of his biggest breaks that has given him a massive lift including working with Asians who train his employees and other youth how to make quality metallic construction materials.

Looking back, Mujumba says, challenges are part of life but persistence is what has kept him going. Currently, he is a proud businessman with a desire to make a contribution to the growth of Kampala and Uganda at large.

Part of his desire is to build standard kiosks to save Kampala people from housing their businesses in substandard structures. “When I travelled to China in 2014, I saw kiosks that I decided to make here. I have engaged KCCA and they like the idea,” he says.
“We are trying to come up with a booth [kiosk] that has a security camera, security lights and space that can accommodate four people. Farmers can also sell their produce in these booths,” he says. With this, Mujumba hopes to make a better Kampala and it will certainly be a mega business for his ever growing empire.