Feeding schools and growing business

The money. She withstood the pangs of hunger initially just to see herself pocket about Shs900,000 monthly from her chapati business today.

It is amazing what a seemingly small saving can do for a relentless and visionary person. Perhaps she needed more money seed capital but Ms Constance Nayiga had only Shs50,000 at the time when she started her Chapati making business way back in 1992.

This meant her five children had to endure some days without lunch given the difficult financial circumstances she had to endure.
“I had to do something. I remember that money was for lunch but I chose not to prepare food and I went to the nearby shop and bought a packet of wheat flour plus cooking oil, and that is how it all started, I have never looked back,” says Ms Nayiga

The start
Apart from the charcoal stove, Ms Nayiga had borrowed a few other tools from a caring neighbour who also offered to train her in the business; introducing her to a few shop owners in the neighbourhood who would then help her in the retailing process. It is from such humble beginnings that a major business has flourished to the extent of feeding some of the prominent Kampala Schools including Makerere College and Mengo Senior Secondary Schools among others.

“The business has grown from 30 chapattis to 3,000 chapattis daily. In addition to an average 350 meat, cowpeas and vegetable samosas” she explains.

The cost
Each chapatti goes for Shs300 while Samosa is priced at Shs200 growing her monthly revenue returns to about Shs900,000 for which she has diligently saved to pay tuition fees for all her five children.
Today, the last of her children is in his second year at Makerere University Business School (MUBS), Nakawa. Besides the house she constructed four years ago. She attributes her success to the strong saving culture adopted.

Financing the business
However, they are not many businesses that can survive without any form of borrowed funds, be it small or huge. She at one time had to take a loan of Shs800,000 from a local microfinance bank. This only helped her improve her financial position.

“Those were tough times, I had new clients on board demanding for more yet at the same time business was slipping out of my hands. I needed more working capital in order to increase the number of employees in addition to my children but I feared to take a loan which I eventually did anyway.”

Financial discipline
She adds: “Managing the loan taught me more financial discipline than before and I guess that is what has helped me streamline my small business by following financial advice as given by the bank.”
For such, business sales tend to drastically drop during school holidays but the grandmother of two plans to start a bakery as she looks to expand her business.

Progress
As if to demystify the saying that claims men build houses for women to make homes, it is through little drops of saving with diligence that she has managed to buy a plot of land in Nansana, construct a house and also pay tuition fees for all her five children at the University the last one being in his second year at MUBS.

bsenoga@ug.nationmedia.com