Growing small businesses: We learnt on job, learn from us

Prudence Ukkonika, K-Roma; Bella Wine and juice
THE LESSON: In business, you need patience and determination, and to know that sometimes you have to make losses to ensure sustained growth through assured quality.

In 2003, I went to the Catholic mission in Lira, and a man taught me a wine recipe he had learnt from an Italian. That year, I made my first batch of wine using Shs30,000 worth of passion fruits, a small blender, five kilos of sugar and two jerry cans, from the confines of my home in Kampala, but a relative later rented me a house, where I operated.
I needed to present taxi invoices in the supermarkets where I marketed the wine, then packaged in plastic containers, so, I had to register my company and that is how K-Roma was born. I soon started buying sugar in bags, and fruits direct from farmers.

I attended business workshops and also did a diploma and degree course in business administration. My son, who now does the book keeping, was in A-Level then, but he did a course in commerce when he joined university, so my company had more expertise. I started selling organic fruit juice to supplement the wine.

When the business started growing, rent and financial sustenance became my biggest challenge. A grant of Shs200m from Uganda Industrial Research who I presented with my business proposal and challenges was what bailed me out and saw me well on my way. With the grant, I rented bigger premises in Wandegeya and improved packaging. Today, the business makes enough money to meet our costs. The company now makes varying profits, which I inject back into the business so that I do not have to take loans.

You have to be true in business. I have had to loose the times when a batch’s quality was compromised. I also have to wait at least two years to get the best wine. Stay strong and push on even when you are discouraged.

Mariam Brown Babu, from banker to jeweller

THE LESSON: There is no job with too many people doing it, except the president’s.

I worked for a bank for 12 years till early this year. My salary was okay, but with a child on the way, I needed to make some extra money. I borrowed Shs320,000 and started making jewellery that I sold to my workmates. Three years later, I’m in the process of opening up a jewellery boutique.
A friend taught me how to make the jewellery, where to get the beads and other materials, and I caught on. I always loved fashion and jewellery, make-up, clothes, which is why this choice was easy.

When I had just started, I was discouraged by people telling me there were too many people doing the same thing. I was not deterred, there is no job where there are too many people doing it, apart from the president’s. Slowly, my clients base grew as more people saw my jewellery and others told friends about it. I got two people to carry my products to Makerere University and on Kampala road.

To cater to different clients, I specialise my products, making carefree jewellery for the university girl and elegant pieces for the older, more dignified woman. In a month, I make a profit of more than Shs1m. I can pay my rent, bills, and care for my three-year-old daughter, who starts school soon. During a slow month, I make a little over Shs500, 000, which is okay because the good months make up for it.

The challenge is that most of my clients are corporate women, who pay at the end of the month. This means that during the month, I barely have enough to import material from Nairobi. This is where a good relationship with your supplier comes in handy. Because I pay them when I promise I will, whenever I ask for materials on credit, they give them to me. I also do make-up for brides and their entourage at Shs30,000 per person, another source of money to complement my business.

It used to be that women entrepreneurs were so few that you could count them off the tip of your fingers, but there are many more today. Gone are the days, in fact years, when the women only cooked, and kept home and hearth, remaining dependent on the men.

“Indeed, there are more women in business today, and more are joining because of a number of reasons that have come up over the years,” Issa Sekito, the spokesperson of Kampala City Traders Association (Kacita), says. “Since trade is one area which does not require a lot of expertise, that is what most women went into.”

With more women joining the private sector, they are doing several things to find their footing in the market.

Networking for the urban business
Young business women are moving their businesses to a mouse click away from you, on Facebook, twitter, websites and the like.

“Facebook has widened the exposure Cilla’s Oven gets. Even people outside Kampala, and Uganda, People outside Kampala and Uganda, get to see your products and interact with you. They can call us on the numbers we put up on the wall and make their orders,” Priscilla Mugerwa, proprietor of Cilla’s Oven, says.

“I have bought five pairs of shoes, each at Shs65,000 from a boutique in Uganda,” Clem Wanjui, a sales clerk in Nairobi, tells, about the Ugandan boutique she discovered on Facebook.

Informal groups in rural areas
Where banking services and business necessities like loans are not yet readily accessible, women are starting their informal groups, like the Monpeyot project in Lira. Members of this project contribute weekly between Shs1,000 to Shs5,000, from which members can borrow at Shs1,000 interest per month. Shanti Agworo, the group’s chairperson, says some women in the group have started small businesses like making and selling paper necklaces.”

Similar to these are money circles, locally known as “nigina”. “In my circle, we are six and each contributes Shs150,000 every month, which means that every six months, I’m assured of Shs900,000. I used this to slowly start a salon,” Goretti, one circle member, shares. She is not employed, but her husband gives her a household allowance every week, from which she gets the money.

There are also packages by banks and financial institutions specifically tailored for women in business, offering business loans and other incentives.

Priscilla Mugerwa, Cilla’s Oven, a bakery in Natete

THE LESSON:As long as you do what you do impressively, more people will notice and bring you business.

I started baking in Senior Six vacation, helping out a teacher who baked cakes for weddings. I got money from my mother to buy ingredients, from which I made and sold her cakes that she sold at her work place. Her friends loved them and ordered for more.

With time, she asked her mother for a little money for ingredients and baked cakes at home. Soon, she was buying the ingredients on her own and her mother paid her for the cakes, which she sold at her workplace.

In 2008, after completing university, I registered Cilla’s Oven as a business. I cannot recall how much, in particular I started with, but I remember buying a baking tin at Shs10, 000. I bought the other things I use step by step. An uncle from abroad would give say $50 and I would buy something, or I would use any profits I had and along the way, I had a bakery running.

The amount of money I make depends on the time of year. During busy days, I can make more than 10 in a day, while there are times I make only forty the whole week. The slowest time is during lent, since there are few people having weddings so we depend mostly on birthdays. The second half of the year is the busiest.

At this year’s Cake Festival, in May, I worn first runner-up. My biggest challenge is electricity; it has for instance been off for a week, and considering that this time of the year is one of her busiest, it was no small problem. When there is no power, we do everything by hand, which takes more time. I’m looking into getting a generator.

Tip: My business is a lesson in using your skill to build a business instead of waiting for someone to employ you. You don’t have to start big. Start where you can, and build on from there.

Jesca Matwire, proprietor Shiney Cleaning services

THE LESSON: I wanted a side income, which I got. But I had no passion for it and so I did not give it my all.

In 2006, I started a cleaning and fumigation company using personal savings. After about a year, after getting consistent clients, business was okay. I had eight employees, and could afford vacuum cleaners and rotor machines after about two years. But it was not fulfilling. It was not something I was passionate about.

Then, the job came with a few stipulations that did not sit well with me. The bidding process is for instance not straightforward. People expect you to oil a few hands, something that went against my values. I closed the business, after five years, determined to get into something I liked better. I’m a human resource professional and so I earn an income but my passion has always been interior designing, right from childhood.

In the next five months, I’m starting an interior design company and this time I’m excited about it. This time, I have a better grip of business since I have attended several workshops that cater to women in business.

My Tip: If you do not love what you are doing, it will show in the quality of the work you are doing.

The terrain and future for women in business

As more women go into once male dominated businesses like real estate, tour companies, food and beverage companies, there are some areas, which, according to Issa Sekito, Kacita, men will still reign supreme. “Businesses like butcheries, taxies, loading vehicles, construction, because of the very nature of women.

But when it comes to businesses that require transparency and service provision, women are making their mark because they are more trustworthy and tend to honour their responsibility more effectively than the men.” Most women in Uganda run micro, small or medium enterprises, most dying with their owners who remain soul operators of their businesses.

The existing success stories remain an inspiration for new businesses. Many women still prefer to work for others, especially educated women, per an EEMP study.

Business is not gender sensitive, people care more about service or product delivery, and less about the gender of the deliverer. Women still have to be more transparent than their male counterparts in business because there is still the stereotype that they make it dishonestly or with their husband’s or relatives’ backing.