Amumpaire has brought hardware to your phone

Conventionally you will walk into a hardware shop, make a choice of an item or more and probably make a bargain on the price.
With online easing communication, Vaolah Amumpaire has seen an opportunity to earn a source of livelihood.
She brings a hardware shop right on to your phone or computer screen.

Dream starts
In November last year, she sought out a friend to build a website on which she would bring together hardware store owners, showcase their items and attract customers who would make purchases from which she earned a commission. This is how she continues to earn.

She needed to make an investment to kick start her plan so she paid the website developer Shs1.5m, Shs200,000 for the domain and Shs250,000 to host the site.

For the plugins, she parted with £88 (about Shs400,000). She needed photographs to showcase the items on sale so she forked out Shs200,000 per shoot.
She did three photography shoots which amounted to a total of Shs600,000. With that she set up www.wenahardware.com.

How she earns
“Once a customer visits the website store and makes an order through the normal online shopping procedure, my Wena site team gets an order in form of an email. The nearest vendor is then identified to supply all the ordered for goods,” she explains how the business operates.
She adds that she works with 80 vendors. “In other instances, we look for vendors once we get an order from a new place or location. Our aim is to have vendors from all over the country. For now, we have vendors in every region.”

Marketing
One qualifies to become a vendor if they have a physical hardware store. Amumpaire also has a sales force network, called the Wena Pros who are spread out to enable the business initiative reach areas her team cannot. Wena Pros identifies hardware shops in such local, far to each places.

When contact is made with a hardware shop, she discusses terms of payment and time of delivering goods once the order is forwarded. For each account signed up, Wena Pros initially earned two per cent on the cash value of the first order.

Commission
“We started by earning two per cent but currently earn five per cent from each sale,” she says.
Her first earning was Shs7,000, from a tape measure sold. From that sale, she had to wait for a fortnight. The second sale earned her commission of Shs30,000.
“Since then, we have had many orders. I make between Shs450,000 and Shs500,000 per week. Today, someone from Swaziland needed iron sheets and I am going to conclude that transaction,” Amumpaire says.

Online business
Wena, a Zulu word that means ‘you’, is registered under Yutes Africa. The fortunes are a motivation for her to grow the business. Amumpaire lives off the enterprise.
“Online business does well with a communication mix involving traditional media. I had online public relations stories which did not engage, create as much traffic to the web store as traditional media,” she explains.

Sadly, she has also learnt that majority of people still do not know how to shop online. People take screenshots and ask her team prices of products that are on the web store. If one buys products online, Wena delivers them to a construction site.
The prices listed on the website include the fare. Her wish list is for manufacturers to trust her online platform as a sales channel.
Mid-term her wish is to expand to new markets. Kenya is her immediate venture market. Long-term is dreams of being operational in 15 African countries. Wena is her second business.

Other business
Amumpaire’s first and other business venture is a welding workshop, Vaolah Holdings in Kiira Municipality, Wakiso District.
With that, she started out as a broker who would help people get welded products to their homes.
That was in 2013. She learnt how the business is run. Clients walk in and order for what they want. They pay deposits and welders start working on the items. Simple.
She sunk in some of her savings, got some of the welders she dealt with as a broker. Her workshop deals in furniture, flower pots doors, windows and gates.

Capital
The business has an operational capital of approximately Shs5m.
She employs three permanent staff; the rest are called on if there are big order to work on.
Welding is male dominated, but she is always there to see how her investment is turning around to make a profit.
“My profession has challenged me to try out some things. Since I started as a broker, I didn’t have much to lose, but when I set up shop, I had bills to pay. I worked hard, looked for clients and lately, clients walk in. But as a small business, there are orders we do not have capacity to work on so we need to expand,” the youthful entrepreneur observes.

She adds, “It also has many and high expenses, such as electricity and prices of materials are pricy compared to the returns.” Nonetheless, it is a fairly rewarding business that can return 30 per cent on investment.

Taxes
She remits Shs500,000 in council fees and Uganda Revenue Authority (URA). Whereas she is keen on paying dues, she is not happy.
“I am very technical in tax advisory but in my opinion, the materials are already taxed, electricity is already taxed. The business pays taxes on revenue, I wonder why, for example, there are local area taxes imposed,” she argues.

Challenges
For someone who is digitally savvy, the geographical set up is the biggest challenge.
Some places are too remote and hard to find on Google maps, to allocate the nearest vendor, for her Wena hardware online channel. The welding business is mainly faced with high electricity fees so she tries as much as possible to minimise wastage during welding.
“We try to weld many items at once. Taking breaks in between causes high voltage spikes that increase the meter reading.”

Profit
Her biggest earning from welding has been Shs800,000, after subtracting all expenses which she earned from a client in Kiira.
She did not incur transport costs because his home was close to the workshop.

The entrepreneurial journey has taken in some losses. “Sometimes you cost for a client and before long, prices change, it is weird to change prices so I end up taking on the order but the loss is incurred with the hope to recover on the next order.”

She is currently fortifying her skills set. She has enrolled for the a Chartered Institute of Marketing course.
From her experience, she has learnt that business requires one to learn how to take calculated risks.
“Networking is key to run a successful business. Marketing is the heart of business. With marketing, customer satisfaction is achieved and so is product innovation. You can’t do everything by yourself. Identify smarter people to do what you cannot do. Loyalty is also key in business especially with partners. Loyalty gives birth to trust,” she advises.