Kyalema: 30-year-old adding value to pumpkins

A group of women peel pumpkins before they are dried and processed into different products. Pumpkin seeds improve bowl movement. (R) Kyalema gestures during the interview. PHOTOs BY Abubaker Lubowa.

What you need to know:

Watching a boy vending and clearing his stock of pumpkin seeds in a short while inspired Joyce Kyalema to start adding value to pumpkins. After securing a Shs31 million grant from International Labour Organisation, Joyce Kyalema started processing pumpkins into various products such as powder, ginger tea spice, peanut butter, and roasted pumpkin seeds, among others.

Did you know that you can earn good money from pumpkins? That huge round yellowish fruit that you have probably seen at a market stall somewhere or at some grocery store could actually bring you some good money for survival.

One woman who saw this business opportunity and decided to venture into it is Joyce Kyalema.
It all started after she saw an advertisement in 2013 in one of the dailies from International Labour Organisation (ILO) urging members of the public to apply for grants amounting to $11,000 (about Shs31 million).

“I remember ILO executives asking me which project I wanted to venture into and I replied pumpkin value addition,” she says. Kyalema eventually emerged winner out of more than 4,000 people who had applied, walking away with the prize money.

In the same year (2013), she thought of injecting the cash into a lucrative business venture.
“One time as I was in town, I saw a little boy selling roasted pumpkin seeds in a small transparent bag. I stared at him for a couple of minutes and noticed that he sold a number of them in little time,” she says. “Just like that, an idea popped up that venturing into pumpkin business might after all be a great idea.”

Challenges
Her biggest challenges include the unpredictable climate.
“The weather sometimes does not favour the pumpkins especially during the rainy season, causing them to rot,” she says.

Also, the cost of transportation is high at times. Sometimes she spends about Shs50,000 transporting products from Mubende to Kampala.

The high demand for the roasted pumpkin seeds by the male clients sometimes overwhelms her and when they run out, she painfully has to tell them to wait for a particular period of time. “It hurts very much when a client calls asking for a particular product and all you can tell them is that it is finished and they have to wait probably for weeks,” she says.

Kyalema believes that most of the obstacles she is facing can be sorted if she sets up a processing plant within the city centre that can enable her do all her work in one place.

Profits
In a good month, Kyalema says she can make an average profit of about Shs800,000. The lowest she can get in a month can be about Shs300,000, not less.

Clients
Most of her clients, she reveals, are men from all kinds of social classes. “They mostly love buying the roasted pumpkin seeds. There are even those who call and request me to make personal deliveries. They tell me that helps improve their prostate health.” She wishes women could demand for the product more like the men after reading that it has some nutritional value to them as well.

Opportunities from the business
Kyalema beams up when I ask what opportunities the business has availed her.
“Well, I have had the chance to travel to different countries including Singapore to participate in business workshops and seminars. It is during these visits that I have had an opportunity to network with all sorts of people who in return have offered me some very helpful advice on how to improve my business,” she says.

Even in the short time she has done business, she has been recognised in various ways for her work.
Just last year in November, during a business achievers awards dinner organised at Imperial Royale hotel, she was given an award for Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association Limited (UWEAL) rising star.

In 2013, Kyalema was awarded $5,000 (about Shs14 million) after emerging as one of Africa’s winners of SEED Initiative, a global partnership for action on sustainable development and the green economy.

Her success tips

The most important thing is having passion for the business, she says. “It is very important to love what you do. It is that urge that will enable you withstand even the biggest difficulties you might encounter in the business,” she says.

Minus this passion, there are always tendencies of the business collapsing. “For instance, it is the reason why you may find someone opening up a business such as a salon and closing it after only five months of operating because he was not getting clients. Someone who is passionate about salon business would have instead researched on how to attract clients,” she says.

It is also very vital for one to have mentors who will keep on advising you on what to do at the different stages of your business. “I personally have these kinds of advisers who keep on encouraging me from time to time and even during moments when I feel like quitting. They advise against it and motivate me to work harder and remain hopeful that the situation will get better,” she says. Lastly, Kyalema advises entrepreneurs to constantly solicit ideas from other business comrades.

Nutritional benefits of pumpkin seeds
Mpiima Jamiru, a nutritionist dietician from the Centre for Nutrition Education and Technology highlights them as the following:
* Pumpkin seeds contain a lot of nutrients including fibre which improves bowl movement, hence preventing constipation.
* Zinc, another nutrient from the pumpkin seeds, helps to boost body immunity, improves sleep and male sexual function, mood, insulin regulation, eye and skin health as well as prevention of diabetic complications.
* The seeds are a good source of plant proteins which help in building and repairing worn out body tissues.
* Phytonutrients such as phytosterols are antioxidants which prevent inflammation of tissues, hence preventing aging.
* Nutrients such as proteins, magnesium also improve the immunity of the body thus preventing some diseases like common colds and cough.
* They are also a healthy snack since they are low in calories which could help with weight management. However, this depends on whether they are eaten alone or in a mixture with other items. Some foods such as peanut make them energy dense.
* However, most nuts and seeds have anti-nutrients such as phytic acid that can prevent some nutrients from being absorbed. Therefore, it is good to soak them before cooking and also try to eat them cooked to get the best out of them.
* A word of caution though, no food can do miracles, pumpkin seeds should also be taken together with the general diet in order to get all the nutrients the body needs.

How she started off
Kyalema visited different websites on the Internet carrying out research on which products she could make from pumpkins. “I came across very interesting information. That one can actually make things such as wine, peanut butter as well as food spices,” she says.

Back in Mubende, her home village, she knew of a group of women, about 50 in number who majored in pumpkin growing for home consumption. She approached and urged them to supply her with pumpkins at a price of Shs3,000 each which they agreed to do from time to time. In return, she offered them free training on how to process the pumpkins after harvesting.

“Processing mostly involves peeling, washing and drying. Once that is done, the seeds are transported from Mubende to Kampala while the pulp part is transported to Mityana for making pumpkin wine,” she says.
She pays Shs5,000 per day to each woman who does the processing. Once the pumpkin seeds are in her possession, she adds value to them by making powder, ginger tea spice, peanut butter, and roasted pumpkin seeds, among other products. She then packs them in small plastic containers and sells the different products at Shs5,000 each.

Unlike these other products, Kyalema does not sell the wine too often because it takes about 10 months to get ready and when it does, it is transported from Mityana to Kampala. She sells a bottle at Shs10,000 each.
“Since I have spent roughly two years in this business, it is still small and manageable. For this reason, I do all the grinding, roasting of the seeds and packaging under my company name, Josmak International Uganda Limited. I will probably hire workers in the near future after the business has expanded,” she says.

BACKGROUND
The 30-year old mother of one finished Primary 7 at St. Immaculate Villa Maria in Masaka. She completed S.4 at Katikamu SDA and S.6 from St. Stephen SSS, Bweyogerere.

Later on, she joined Makerere University to study secretarial studies where she finished in 2007. Kyalema has previously worked as a secretary at her father’s car garage and as an electrical appliance sales girl.