How Nalunga’s toy business is thriving

Milly Nalunga helps children to learn listening and speech skills through selling toys. . photoS by JOAN SALMON.

What you need to know:

Earning from toys. Do you remember the toys you used to play with as a child? Well, many may not consider selling toys as a serious business. Joan Salmon shares a story of Milly Nalunga, who is earning by selling toys.

“My son, Jeremiah, could not talk at the age of three. I got frustrated and started looking for ways to improve his speech. I was advised to buy different toys and engage him, particularly, in sound toys,” says Milly Nalunga.
“Months later, he begun to imitate sounds. While he was incoherent at the start, his speech improved and at the age of four, he was speaking with no difficulty,” she narrates.
This was the genesis of Nalunga’s toy business. In 2014, owing to her son’s attachment to toys, she bought as many toys as she could possibly land on. The more toys she bought, the more toys he kept yearning for more.

How she started
With many toys filling her house, she conceived an idea of starting up a toy shop, in 2014. Her business idea was catalysed by her love for children. “I used to look after many children at home. So opening a toy business was a way of putting a smile on children’s faces, including Jeremiah, who loved playing with toys.”
After doing research on child care products and understanding the ideal toys for each age bracket, Nalunga established Jeramil Kids Collection. “Jeremiah’s toys were my first stock. I boosted the availabe toys with capital worth Shs1.5m, a sum I got after doing consultancy work,” she say.

Clients
Today, Nalunga sells her toys to individuals, as well as hospitals such as CORSU, daycare centres and play groups, and American Refuge Committee.
Nalunga sells coloured toys for therapy, soft balls for playing and other toys that strengthen muscles.
“Many people simply walk to shops or supermarkets to buy toys but they hardly know what the toys are used for and which age bracket they are meant for. I select toys and educate clients on how they are used, ” she says.
Besides artificial play toys, Nalunga also sells traditional toys such as abacus, dolls, teady bears, which are usually taken by hospitals. She also sells children’s books to improve listening and reading skills among children.

Achievements
Although she started as an ordinary toy seller, Nalunga prides in being a consultant who gives advice to teachers, doctors, parents and proprietors of day care centres on the ideal toys, why and how to make the most of them.
“I have also managed to expand my business from one that only had my son’s toys to one that has more stock, as well as books for various age groups.”
Through research, Nalunga has also been able to discover cheaper places to get quality stock from, a thing that makes her maximise profits. Her toys go for between Shs3,000 and Shs250,000, while the books range from Shs3,000 to Shs25,000.

Benefits of toys
Building blocks act as powerful learning tools that help children to develop motor skills and hand-eye coordination, spatial reasoning, flexibility, language skills, imaginative and mathematical skills.

Challenges
“Most parents do not see the need to buy toys for their children. Others prefer artificial toys to traditional toys. We are in a digital era and mobile games and applications are becoming more popular, seemingly replacing ordinary toys. Today, parents look for phone toys, tablets laptops for their children.
TV shows based toys such as Transformers are more appealing to children than the traditional tangible toys. These are some of the challenges I face.”

Marketing
To boost her clientele, Nalunga uses social media, especially Whatsup and Facebook to market her toys. “I also keep in touch with all my clients. I visit schools on days such as book week, sports days to showcase my toys and books, attend workshops, and seminars where I share about my products.”

Registration
In order to attract more customers and organisations, Nalunga registered her company and got it certified. She says: “An unregistered business today is not considered credible. I registered my toy business and got a certificate of registration from Uganda Registration Services Bureau.”
She adds: “I also got a trading license from Kampala Capital City Authority as well as income tax assessment from Uganda Revenue Authority .”
Nalunga also exhibits at the Women in Business (WiB) expos, a platform she considers ideal for business networking information sharing.

Future plans
With her experience, Nalunga is planning to start a day care centre to cater for the needs of child development.
“I also look forward to signing up for a course in early childhood education to be an authority in this field.
Advice
Nalunga says: “There is never enough money to start any business. Start with any amount that you have. Be persistent and patient enough to see your dream business grow from scratch. Thriving in business requires one to understand clients’ needs and carrying out research in order to compete in the market. Good customer care will attract and retain customers, as well as get you more referrals.”

How Nalunga’s toy business is thriving

Earning from toys. Do you remember the toys you used to play with as a child? Well, many may not consider selling toys as a serious business. Joan Salmon shares a story of Milly Nalunga, who is earning by selling toys.
“My son, Jeremiah, could not talk at the age of three. I got frustrated and started looking for ways to improve his speech. I was advised to buy different toys and engage him, particularly, in sound toys,” says Milly Nalunga.
“Months later, he begun to imitate sounds. While he was incoherent at the start, his speech improved and at the age of four, he was speaking with no difficulty,” she narrates.
This was the genesis of Nalunga’s toy business. In 2014, owing to her son’s attachment to toys, she bought as many toys as she could possibly land on. The more toys she bought, the more toys he kept yearning for more.

How she started
With many toys filling her house, she conceived an idea of starting up a toy shop, in 2014. Her business idea was catalysed by her love for children. “I used to look after many children at home. So opening a toy business was a way of putting a smile on children’s faces, including Jeremiah, who loved playing with toys.”
After doing research on child care products and understanding the ideal toys for each age bracket, Nalunga established Jeramil Kids Collection. “Jeremiah’s toys were my first stock. I boosted the availabe toys with capital worth Shs1.5m, a sum I got after doing consultancy work,” she say.

Clients
Today, Nalunga sells her toys to individuals, as well as hospitals such as CORSU, daycare centres and play groups, and American Refuge Committee.
Nalunga sells coloured toys for therapy, soft balls for playing and other toys that strengthen muscles.
“Many people simply walk to shops or supermarkets to buy toys but they hardly know what the toys are used for and which age bracket they are meant for. I select toys and educate clients on how they are used, ” she says.
Besides artificial play toys, Nalunga also sells traditional toys such as abacus, dolls, teady bears, which are usually taken by hospitals. She also sells children’s books to improve listening and reading skills among children.

Achievements
Although she started as an ordinary toy seller, Nalunga prides in being a consultant who gives advice to teachers, doctors, parents and proprietors of day care centres on the ideal toys, why and how to make the most of them.
“I have also managed to expand my business from one that only had my son’s toys to one that has more stock, as well as books for various age groups.”
Through research, Nalunga has also been able to discover cheaper places to get quality stock from, a thing that makes her maximise profits. Her toys go for between Shs3,000 and Shs250,000, while the books range from Shs3,000 to Shs25,000.

Benefits of toys
Building blocks act as powerful learning tools that help children to develop motor skills and hand-eye coordination, spatial reasoning, flexibility, language skills, imaginative and mathematical skills.

Challenges
“Most parents do not see the need to buy toys for their children. Others prefer artificial toys to traditional toys. We are in a digital era and mobile games and applications are becoming more popular, seemingly replacing ordinary toys. Today, parents look for phone toys, tablets laptops for their children.
TV shows based toys such as Transformers are more appealing to children than the traditional tangible toys. These are some of the challenges I face.”

Marketing
To boost her clientele, Nalunga uses social media, especially Whatsup and Facebook to market her toys. “I also keep in touch with all my clients. I visit schools on days such as book week, sports days to showcase my toys and books, attend workshops, and seminars where I share about my products.”

Registration
In order to attract more customers and organisations, Nalunga registered her company and got it certified. She says: “An unregistered business today is not considered credible. I registered my toy business and got a certificate of registration from Uganda Registration Services Bureau.”
She adds: “I also got a trading license from Kampala Capital City Authority as well as income tax assessment from Uganda Revenue Authority .”
Nalunga also exhibits at the Women in Business (WiB) expos, a platform she considers ideal for business networking information sharing.

Future plans
With her experience, Nalunga is planning to start a day care centre to cater for the needs of child development.
“I also look forward to signing up for a course in early childhood education to be an authority in this field.
Advice
Nalunga says: “There is never enough money to start any business. Start with any amount that you have. Be persistent and patient enough to see your dream business grow from scratch. Thriving in business requires one to understand clients’ needs and carrying out research in order to compete in the market. Good customer care will attract and retain customers, as well as get you more referrals.”