Fort Portal youth find gold in scrap

KABAROLE. Fort Portal is one of the fastest developing municipalities in western Uganda and the growth is pushing people, particularly youth, into urban settings in search of better employment opportunities.

Some youth have discovered a goldmine in scrap metals.
They make a living out of visiting construction sites, factories and people’s homes where they buy scrap metals for recycling.

Mr Peter Abigaba, 36, told Daily Monitor in a recent interview that he enrolled for a course in metal fabrication in Kabarole District where he acquired skills in making saucepans between 1992 and 1994.

In 1997, he opened a recycling centre in Fort Portal Town under a tree. The tree has since then served as his workshop where he makes saucepans and other items.
He later trained 10 more young people. Working with the youth from Fort Portal Town, they have now established a workshop that trains other people.

Currently, more than six youths are undergoing training where each pays Shs300,000 until they attain the required skills. More than 20 people have been trained at a workshop that operates near Fort Portal-Kamwenge road.

Their raw materials include motor vehicle parts, mainly made out of aluminium.
“Our raw materials are basically scrap, which we buy from garages or scrap collection centres. At times we compete with other companies that want to use them,” Mr Abigaba said.

Mr Francis Kyomuhendo, 26, a youth and school dropout, who is under training, said since he enrolled at the workshop in 2016, his life has been transformed and he makes seven saucepans in a day.

The training was overwhelming because of the new technology applied, according to Mr Kyomuhendo.

“But because the nature of work is hands-on, everything becomes easier to grasp,” he said.
A kilogramme of scrap materials goes for Shs10,000 and the saucepans are sold between Shs20,000 and Shs700,000 depending on the size.

“We make different sizes of saucepans depending on the order of the customer like for people with hotels and restaurants, they always want big sizes of saucepans. We charge them high prices because we use a lot of materials,” Mr Abigaba said.

Products
Apart from making saucepans, he said they make other products that include water troughs for cows, milking can, flying pans, and cooking stoves among others made from aluminium scrap metals depending on customer choice.

“The kilogrammes of aluminium scrap metals determine the number of saucepans one can make in a day. For example if you have 40kgs of aluminium, you can get 10 saucepans,” Mr Abigaba explained.

Mr Abigaba and his partners are, however, challenged on how to market their products outside Fort Portal Tow.

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