Okello farms his way through retirement

After working at Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) for 22 years as a tax officer, Mr Patrick Jeremy Okello retired at 55 years and relocated to Lira District in 2016.
In the early years of working at URA, he had dipped his toes in business waters but failed at it.

“I was trying to be an agent for Pepsi Cola but that business failed and I burnt my fingers. That time, I invested Shs3m to buy 550 crates of soda. I had got a loan from Commercial Bank and it was swindled. This fellow who got me the loan told me he would help me sell in Masindi and asked me to send him the money,” Mr Okello recalls.
Like a burnt child who dreads fire, he decided to stay away from risky businesses. In the early 1990s, Mr Okello bought a piece of land in Namuwongo, Kampala valued at Shs1.5m.

He started constructing apartments on the said land but by retirement, he still had unfinished business. Once he was out of formal job market, his first priority was to invest money in an enterprise that could earn him profit. He instantly made plans to withdraw his National Social Security Fund (NSSF) benefits.
Whereas he retired in July 2016, he applied for his NSSF benefits in late 2016.
“I waited for some interest which was around November 2016, and that is when I took my money, which was Shs122m. I used this money for estate development,” he says.
Mr Okello went on to invest Shs80m to complete his apartments in Namuwongo.

“Currently, this unit has three rental apartments, which will be able to earn me about Shs1.8m per month,” he says.
At the same time, with the expectation that he would earn more Shs500,000 per month, he took out Shs12m and renovated two housing units in Lira Town.
To broaden his family’s path to success, he also spent Shs8m on his daughters’ postgraduate diploma in monitoring and evaluation, and his son’s Association of Chartered Certified Accountants course (ACCA).

Getting into farming
For years, Mr Okello’s father had taken the cattle rearing path. His family opted out of the business after their cows were stolen and he figured they needed to start afresh with new ideas. He invested Shs12m in agroforestry.

With 45 hectares of land inherited from his father, he planted 2,000 pine trees between 2005 and 2011. In 2014, he planted 1,000 eucalyptus trees, and almost three years later, he planted 2,000 eucalyptus trees.
More than a decade after venturing into the tree farming business, Mr Okello has diversified into bee keeping and growing orange trees.
“I have 80 Kenyan top beehives,” he says.
His labour is already paying off. His first batch of pine trees will be ready for harvest in two years. He earns about Shs1.2m per season from his 300 orange trees.

Since October last year, each apartment in Namuwongo has been earning him Shs600,000 per month. He says he intends to re-invest proceeds from the rent to develop the 45 hectare farm further.
Despite the success he has attained so far, he suffers at the hands of unpredictable rain patterns, market and labour inadequacy like many farmers.

“We used to have a better market with those people coming from Kenya but of course they would reach us after finishing the oranges in Tororo, Soroti. Now I have to deal with the local market where everyone is growing oranges and the market is limited,” he says.
Five to 10 years from now, he hopes to have about 20,000 eucalyptus and 20,000 pine trees. He is now involved in plans to partner with Uganda Industrial Research Institute and anticipates expansion of his small scale groundnut garden to produce and package quality peanut butter.

Impact
Today, Mr Okello looks at his investments as a security for his five children.
“When they see the estate I have put up for them, they know that after 20-30 years, I will go and it will be theirs so with the family the impact is even bigger,” he says.
Mr Okello also says he has been earmarked as a lead farmer by Nyata zonal agricultural research centre and Lira district local government. His farm will now act a demonstration ground for farmers within the community.