Oile’s quest to heal the sick

Lydia Oile is enthusiastic about providing quality health care for those who cannot afford to go to high end medical centres. Photo by Abubaker Lubowa

What you need to know:

Scaling the heights: She rose from dreams of serving clients in an airplane to owning a hospital. This has enabled Lydia Oile fulfil her life purpose of providing health care to the needy as well as build her portfolio as an entrepreneur.

Walking into Lydia Oile’s office at Le Mémorial Medical Services is a little intimidating. First, the atmosphere around the huge hospital is very quiet; you feel the discomfort of hearing your heels clicking on the tiled floor. The cleanliness is in stark contrast to the terribly dusty Kitiko-Kigo Road outside.
Secondly, Oile will interrogate anyone who steps into her domain. However, after the initial inquiries, her passion about helping people comes to the surface. Two years ago, Oile opened Le Mémorial, offering a wide range of services, including general surgery, maternity and pediatric services.

“I think I have always been a very kind person and I love helping others. When I came to live in this area (Kigo) I saw the need to help some people who were not able to afford hospital bills. So, I gave them support. I even opened an account for them at a private clinic nearby.”

As time went by though, the Good Samaritan realised her approach could not be sustained since she was spending quite a sum. “Since I was not growing any younger, I felt my retirement project should be something I really love. I love to see someone come into a hospital, live in a nice environment of the hospital, and then, walk out feeling better, and my intention of having my own hospital was to have a wing that caters for the community at subsidised fees.”
The businesswoman, whose bald hairstyle has been her identity for many years, drinks enough water, exercises, eats well, and endeavours to get enough sleep, to keep sickness at bay.

She has travelled the world and seen the medical services offered by other countries. These discoveries brought questions to her mind. “I kept on asking myself why people have to go outside the country for medical services. What would it take for them to have those services here? However, at the time, I was just too ambitious. I did not really consider the financial implications, although I felt I should do something a little different from what other hospitals are doing.”
Oile has a medical background, having trained at Mulago Paramedical School as an aesthetic assistant in the early 1980s, and practiced for a year or two.

Oile, the businesswoman
The mother of four, who entered the world of business in 1991, has seen it all. Oile has, for the last 25 years ran Lawsam Chemicals (U) Limited, a company that deals in industrial detergents, targeting the bottling and hotel industry.
“It is a challenging business and I am proud to say, as a woman, that I have taken it to a high level. I have been the sole distributor for Diversey Inc., a multinational company, for many years.”

Oile also has a passion for interior décor which she fans through Tausi Enterprise. “At one time, I was into installing curtains and I had a chance to look into people’s homes. People who really have money drive posh cars but when you enter their homes, what you see is very disappointing.

However, younger people are more interested in décor because of exposure.” When your mind is on the money, juggling family and career is a challenge, however, Oile had to deliberately create time for her children “I used to travel and work a lot, but I set aside Sunday as family time. It is not easy to get me out of my home on a Sunday.”
She was married to a Kenyan man. “It was not love at first sight. I was very young and adventurous. I think this man looked at this very pretty girl and he was quite impressed. Maybe for him, it was love at first sight.”

Her turning points
While Oile moved to Nairobi, her husband remained in Kampala to run the new business, Lawsam Chemicals (U) Limited. “Life in Nairobi was an eye opener for me. Two years later (1991), my husband decided to enter Kenyan politics and he felt I should return to Kampala to run the business. I really did a great job. I was a very young girl and still shy but I managed to move it to a level where everyone was saying it was doing very well.”

Another turning point came when her husband died in 1999. Oile decided to stand on her feet and fend for her family. “Right from my childhood, I have been a very strong person. I never lived with my husband at any one time in our marriage. We were living in two separate cities and it taught me to be an independent person. I did not have to wait for my husband to make decisions for me. What I’m today comes from that period in my life.”

That independence strengthened her to face life as a widow. “Although I was young, I knew what I wanted in life. Widowhood is hard – in a way. When your husband is alive people respect you.
But when he dies, they tend to trash you. Even the lowest of the low will try to date a widow. Everyone you approach thinks you are desperate and need help. However, my pride taught me not to belittle myself to that level.”
She encourages widows to keep above the water because they have to prove a point to those waiting for them to fail.

Business lessons learned
On March 17, 2017, the businesswoman won the Excellence in Financial Services Award at the 5th annual MTN Women in Business Award Ceremony. However, starting a business always has challenges. “I was already a businesswoman by the time I started this hospital, so looking at my profits, I thought I would be able to make it (start the hospital) within my own means. I think that is the problem many of us have. We start projects without doing feasibility studies to know what lies ahead. I soon realised I might not be able to handle this business within my means alone.”

Oile is still looking for funders to partner with her in the hospital. She is especially looking to government to offer a helping hand, seeing the magnitude of the project she has set up.
“We want to offer cancer treatments in the future but setting up a cancer centre needs funds and equipment for diagnostics and treatment. We are positive, though, that one day we will make it.

I am looking for support from hospital chains around the world that can join us to give quality services to the country.”
Even with her challenges, the funds she took from loans are very minimal. “One or two years ago, I decided to get a loan but I have realised it is not something easy to manage because of the high interest rates on commercial loans. You need to research about the business you are going to set up and understand the loan very well because paying back is difficult.”

She believes if one starts small, and is really dedicated to the business and focused, they can make it. “I have learnt that business needs a lot of calculation. You need to understand where you have put your money, how much you are getting out, and what you can spend. It needs discipline. Of late, I am beginning to realise that the bigger a business grows, the more one needs consultants. Sometimes, we take decisions that we have no knowledge about, and then, find that they were wrong decisions.”
However, she only takes business advice from consultants. “Nobody has you at heart to give you the right advice about your business.

I do not share my business secrets with anyone and neither do I seek business advice from anybody. They might tell me their own way of doing things which might not be my way.” Oile believes God put her where she is today and He cannot leave her. “Many people ask how I got the money to put up this hospital. Honestly, I do not know. Yes, I used my savings but I believe this is God’s project, not mine. He will make a way for me.” Her advice to young businesswomen is that they should first believe in themselves, and then, find the means to drive their passion.

Life as a young girl
Born in Nyabiteete village, Buyanja, Rukungiri District, the daughter of Reverend Yosiya Kabugombe she is the ninth of 10 children. As a young girl, she knew what she wanted to be – an air hostess. “There was this feeling that I was very pretty and I knew air hostesses had to be pretty. I wanted to travel the world, but as time went on, I realised that was not me. I found a part of myself I had not known existed – I had the lowest person at heart and I wanted to help them.”

Oile attended Nyabiteete Primary School and Bweranyangi Girls’ Senior Secondary School, where looks were part of the criteria of joining the school. “You had to be either very pretty or very bright to go into Bweranyangi and I was both,” she says adding, “The whites heading the school would visit the primary schools of girls who had put their choices there. It was some kind of interview.”
In keeping with the adage that a woman never reveals her age, Oile laughs off my question about what year she was born.

What others say about Oile

“Lydia is extremely hardworking and she is a great timekeeper. She does not treat us as workers, but family. When you have a problem, she always comes in to help and she does not expect you to repay her. For a long time, she paid my school fees. A few months back, when I decided to study a beauty course she offered to pay my school fees.”
Sharon Siime
Front Office Manager
Le Mémorial Medical Services

“I have known Lydia for many years. She is an inspiration to me and I really admire her. She encourages me to think beyond the ordinary; to think that everything is possible. Once, when I was job hunting, I was discouraged because there were no appealing opportunities. She encouraged me that I have to start from somewhere and when I am in that place, the doors will open. I began working with her this year.”
Charity Manasseh,
Administration and Operations Manager,
Le Mémorial Medical Services