How Batenga turned around a 40-year old family business

On graduating from university, Miriam Batenga went out searching for a job in corporate Uganda. When the search of a job proved futile, she asked her parents for an opportunity to work in the family owned car spare parts company. The company had been running for more than three decades. Her parents Sam Kisirikko who was a mechanical engineer in Uganda Police and Ann Kisirikko, a secretary at Makerere University opened Batenga Enterprises and named it after her in 1980.
In 2012, Batenga started working at a company that had been named after her, overseeing processes of filling, store management and communication on email, phone calls, and answering customer questions and concerns which anchored her into the intricacies of the business’ operations.

Meanwhile, she kept applying for jobs while working for the family business and she finally got one at International Hospital Kampala (IHK).
“I still felt I needed to be employed because it was understood among my peers that if one did not get a corporate job, then they have failed. I threw myself at my new job with all I had but soon my health could not sustain the level at which I was working mainly because I was pregnant with my first child. Eventually I went back to the family business as an administrator. The return came with even more responsibility in 2017,” Batenga reveals.

The turn around
Batenga was new to the auto world and needed to familiarise herself with the stock in terms of content, application and price. Therefore, she counted item by item, created an excel document categorised by vehicle make, item, cost price and selling price. The company relies on the document to this day; it grows as the stock grows.
She also created a catalogue with pictures of vehicles the spare parts company deals in indicating their engine numbers, year of manufacture and all the unique features differentiating it from other models.

“The catalogue became popular with clients who found it very helpful since most of them did not have that kind of information about their own cars. Along the way, I realised we needed an on-sight accounting system to keep us appraised of daily sales, stock changes, client information so I suggested Quick Books, which we acquired and has enabled us to track our clients’ purchases by name, date, item, number plates, chassis numbers, a click away. We have become more efficient and clients are truly impressed,” Batenga shares.
She is overseeing the creation of online presence through Google maps, yellow pages, Facebook and currently developing an official website in order to reach more audiences and potential clients, even across borders.

Personal changes
Batenga said her attitude change is what motivated her to focus on growing the family business instead of looking for employment. “In the beginning I still felt I was going to find the job of my dreams and keep up with my peers and their expectations. But after my stint in the corporate world I learned some facts that changed my attitude. I made up my mind to make a success of what I already had,” says Batenga.
These new additions started turning the company’s profit around and soon she needed to expand. She opened another branch, in 2017 at Nalubwama Arcade. The growth also required setting up systems to ensure the two branches were in sync in as far as stock management, client acquisition, retailers, social media and online marketing were concerned.

In effect, her bigger plan was to serve clients beyond the confines of auto spare retail. She also learnt lessons along the way, for example she realised the need of succession; to carry on a legacy of her parent’s hard work. And also not being afraid to innovate new things such as transitioning the business from analogue to digital. She notes that, “My parents relied on good old pen and paper to keep records. There were so many files and so much paper flying about, we could not find anything. In addition, all the parts and the stock were only known to my parents.”

Lessons
“It required patience to start from the bottom to make it to the top. I had to show that I could be trusted with the small things before being trusted with important decisions,” she adds. Dedication to work is another good lesson. The entrepreneur explains, “When I fully focused on this business, my mind started firing on all cylinders. I started to think of ways to take the business to the next level. I got a whole new perspective; from thinking it is my parent’s business to it is our business.”

Hence the online marketing efforts and the birth of ‘Deliver Me’ which connects clients with the right mechanic and keeps track of their cars mechanical health so they do not have to.
“My parents rely on me to be the custodian of their legacy and I cannot afford to fail,” she shares.