Muhindo found her passion in fashion

After finishing Senior Four and spending a whole year at home due to the financial challenges, Muhindo refused to see this as a setback.

Just to have her doing something meaningful with herself as a young girl, she got the idea of signing up for a course in fashion. Her business journey begins at Tem School of Beauty, where she studied for two years. This would later turn out to be her source of livelihood.
Inspiration
While in school, Muhindo got an opportunity to make curtains. But after working there for a year, she wanted better opportunities.

“When I joined the school of fashion, I always longed to see people wearing the clothes I made. On top of that, I had started forgetting some of the skills and the goals I set when I had just started school were slowly fading away,” she explains. Instead of seating on the sidelines and watch her dream drift away, Muhindo decided to start a business.

“I had a sewing machine at home and whenever I was not busy at work, I would work on my clients’ orders. Over time, I built my clientele before I fully went into self-employment,” she adds.

As she juggled the two, she started getting more customers. Because she was preoccupied with seeing her business come to life, she started saving money. Before she quit her job, she had bought a new industrial sewing machine and also saved up to Shs1m.
She also talked to her employers who gave her a green light.
“It was not easy to quit. I had my fears. I had never run a business so I had doubts whether this would work,” Muhindo says.

Starting out
With the money she had saved, she paid rent for two months for space at Mukisa Arcade, which she was going to sub rent with a friend and started working.
Just like many startups, business was slow in the first months.

“I didn’t even have a dummy to display the clothes I was making, yet people on the street need to see that. What sustained me at the time were the former clients I had, but the walk-ins were very few,” she says.
In a month, for example, Muhindo would make between Shs500,000 -600,000, which she spent on rent and reinvesting into the business.

Marketing
Muhindo opened up business pages on both Facebook and Instagram - and this still remains the major marketing and advertising avenue for her business. She also gets clients from referrals.

Everything she creates or tailors is posted on social media and this is how she has met many of her customers. She also wears her own designs. Muhindo says she made her wedding gown, changing dress and her matron’s dress.
Over time, her business has grown exponentially that in a week, she makes between Shs300,000 -Shs400,000, depending on the season. She has plans of investing more in her business and getting more clients.

Diversifying
Being the ambitious woman that Muhindo is, she decided to buy some beauty products and started offering make-up services for clients.
While others go for training, Muhindo used make-up tutorials on YouTube as well as practicing on friends to master the skill. On top of tailoring, she offers bridal make-up as well as other kinds of make-up.

The prices for normal make-up range from Shs50,000 and above, depending on the occasion. Bridal packages start from Shs200,000.
This way, she has been able to diversify her business in order to earn more.

Challenges
Her biggest challenge as a small business owner operating in the city centre is rent. Additionally, the nature of her business requires creativity, continuous learning in order to remain competitive.

“Sometimes, we receive a bulk of orders and I have to work for longer hours. For example in January, when schools are opening, I normally receive overwhelming uniform orders and I have hired people to help me. Sometimes you want to get that tender to help you market the business, even if it means working for less,” she says.

Her range of products
Wedding gowns, changing dresses, dinner dresses, men’s wear, children’s dresses, African dresses, revamping bags and shoes as well as table runners.

Achievements
Muhindo says she owns two industrial sewing machines and her business is growing steadily. What is more rewarding and worthwhile for Muhindo is the fact that she has an income and pays her own bills.
Lessons learned
She acknowledges that persistence, passion and being prayerful are some of the attributes every business owner ought to possess.

She has learnt that promoting a business is key. “Tell people about what you do, rub your business in their faces - in a good way. If you are into fashion or beauty, look like it, to interest people in what you do. Have good customer care and treat everyone with respect. This will attract people to you. Pride ruins everything,” says Muhindo.

Furthermore, she has learnt to save money and to stick to business goals. She says this helps business owners to remain focused.