Kigozi quit her job to become a farmer

“I retired on October 7, 2016 aged 40. I had been working as convenience retailing manager at Vivo energy Uganda. I had worked there for 17 years and I was tired,” Diana Kigozi relates.
Looking at her colleagues who had left Vivo at the 55-year mark, Kigozi had noticed that most looked worn out shortly after retirement.

“Though I did not have chance to ask any of them about how it is out there, I concluded that the world out of formal employment was tough,” she explains.
She posits that many were retiring to farm and running around at that age was stressful. More to that, medical insurance, fuel allowance, and other incentives were no more.
She had also learned a couple of things through training at work, so she thought, ‘why not apply them to my life?’

Planning to retire
“I did not plan for retirement,” she says. It started as a conversation with her children because of her bond with them. Two years before she left, Kigozi told them, “I am going to retire in two years.”
She had been thinking about it but thought it would be great to share with her children.
“I told them that I was tired,” she says as she sips on her tea.
However, when the two years came, Kigozi felt she was not ready. “I thought that I could wait for one more year,” she explains.

She started to feel pressure and thus said to herself, ‘It is indeed time to leave.’ However, she also had the fear of the unknown. Unsure of her decision, she procrastinated the matter until the end of the year.
This was fuelled by the fact that she loves a fresh page start, which translates into Monday, or January, for her.
“I prayed about it because there was one morning when the battle of decisions was raging within,” she says, adding, “Asking God if retiring was the right thing to do, I felt peace within and there was no looking back.” She resigned her job. “It was a mixture of feelings. I would not say it was easy or hard. For some, it was hard for others, they would not have cared less.”

Transition
For the first six months it felt like she was on leave.
“I thank my husband because he supported me before starting out,” Kigozi says.
In March 2017, Kigozi started thinking about the direction to take.
“I had more time to go to our farm, in Kangulumira. I went two to three times a week,” she says. “We grow matooke and pineapples, and rear poultry.”
However, she also had some savings to take her for some time along the way. Six months ago, another passion was turned into business.

“I needed to eat bread that I had tasted in Morocco but I did not know its name,” she laughs.
She searched the internet in vain, she once again prayed. “The next day, I attempted and randomely baked.” She loved the taste and she could not help sharing with her inner circle.
“Fine tune it to make it your own,” her husband and other family members said. With those words, Kigozi knew what he was implying. “I baked some more and shared with Jackie, my friend who is a farmer,” Kigozi recalls. She was instrumental in helping her perfect the bread coupled with another friend who continually urged her to add value to her eggs. “These propelled me to start baking for commercial purposes,” she says, “Today, I am glad that I have back-to-back orders of cakes and bread,” she shares.

Mistakes before retirement
Despite having had the farm since 2013 with her husband they did a lot of ‘telefarming’ and it was based on trusting the farm hands.
“I trusted the boys at the farm so much that I sent money for things I had not verified were needed,” Kigozi regrets, “I should have made more time for the farm. Unfortunately, the only time I had there was at the weekend, but sometimes I was swamped that I forfeited going.”

What it means
“Though the money I am earning in retirement is small, I’m happy,” Kigozi says. Peace of mind is now more important than the money.
“It is more about the choices that I make every day and being one that is passionate to see my projects grow, I know that I will survive and the future is bright,” she explains. Kigozi also says having overcome the fear of the unknown, it is well.

Free time
Retirement has given me time to exercise every morning, read about life, farming, baking, cooking, and do value addition. I have also made a stronger bond with my children because I am now available physically and emotionally for them.

Lessons learnt
You need to make time for your business if it is to thrive and give you returns that will not drive you back to formal employment. What we do not realise as employees is that we are making time to help our employers make money. However, our side businesses also need to grow yet we are give them little time. We need to give our jobs and side businesses equal time. Sometimes that is not easy or feasible.

Advice
• Follow your passion- if there is anything that when you think about it, then do it immediately.
• Do not go with the crowd- because your peers are doing something does not mean you have to follow. You might end up in a trap and they will not help you out.
• Do not be a jack of all trades because you will prosper at none.
• Do not give up when the returns are not promising. Just look for ways to get better at it because when you drop one venture for another that is money that you flashing down the drain.