Selling on social media helped me penetrate cosmetics market

It is day-two of the East African Youth Leaders’ Summit and dozens of participants from across the region are gathered in small groups to discuss issues affecting the region.
Taking one group through a session on trade, enterprise and employment is 25-year-old Clare Lubega. She can easily pass off as a member of the audience.
Ms Lubega takes the group through her journey as a young entrepreneur and what it takes to make it in the regional bloc.

Beginning
The graduate of bachelor’s of Science in Business Economics started her first business in her second year while at Uganda Martyrs University, Nkozi, in 2014. She started by making jewellery, shoes and bags using African print cloth.
“I started out with about Shs80,000. I had a budget of Shs100,000. I went downtown near the Old Park [in Kampala] where I got the material to make the jewellery. I would get six yards and divide it accordingly,” she says.
“I would sell jewellery for between Shs6,000 to Shs10,000. Necklaces would go for up to Shs20,000. For something I would spend Shs2,000 making, I would sell at Shs20,000.”

During holidays that year, while her colleagues were looking for internship placements, Lubega enrolled for a tailoring course. Reading the trend at the time, she embarked on making clothes with African print. Again, luck was on her side and she made profits.

And with this background came the idea of starting up a business after her final exams in May 2016.
“At that time when everybody was asking ‘what next’, I looked at the market to find out what was selling. It was makeup and hair. I decided to do some market research.”

She spent some days and nights on the computer looking for suppliers from the US. She wanted to start shipping goods from the US to Uganda.

Lubega then came up with a budget, but her money wasn’t enough. She then walked up to her father, Dr AK Lubega, to ask for a loan of Shs2m. On getting the money, Lubega took advantage of her sister living in the US to get her first cosmetics consignment in September 2016.
“My first shipment was able to cover my father’s money. That was in September 2016, before I graduated [in November]. I started online because I knew I couldn’t start a shop. I had to utilise social media; Facebook and Instagram,” Lubega says, adding that she would use a boda boda man to make deliveries to her clients around Kampala.

In a seemingly overcrowded cosmetics sector in Uganda, Lubega designed a strategy to penetrate the market.
“I was pricing low because I’m not the first person to sell these things. There were already those established stores. And everyone was asking, ‘are you sure you’re legit, aren’t you selling duplicate?’ There was that doubt. I had to convince them. I knew my sources were legit because I was getting direct from suppliers in the US.”

After accumulating some savings, Lubega decided to open a shop in June last year in Kisementi, Kampala.
“I did make money from the social media platforms, but I made more from the shop because you have a physical presence and people can come interact with you. That boosted me a lot. Right now I’m looking for a bigger place,” she says.

Breakthrough
“It took me some good time. Of course I was breaking even, but to make some good money started sometime this year. Previously I would say all the money is business-tired. But now I can pull out some for personal use.”
From June 2017 to October 2018, Lubega says she has made sales worth Shs120 million.
“The online sales weren’t as much as the ones from the shop. In the shop we sell from but Shs8m to Shs10.5m a month. I make sure that every month Shs5m is put aside for stock and the rest can be used for paying some expenses, including advertising,” she says.

Her line of business comes with getting new connections and this is something Lubega treasures. She reveals that some companies in Kenya have contacted her to do business with them, but asks not to name them as negotiations are still going on. She currently supplies beauty products to clients in Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi.

Challenges
It has not been all roses for Lubega. She says to make it one needs to have built a name and a good reputation, which takes time.
“There are those people who no matter how much you convince them that this is original, they’ll still say no. And sometimes make you feel like you should quit and leave it to the top dogs,” she says.
“The fact that I import means it takes time. It might take three weeks to even a month to get a shipment, yet some clients may not have the patience. And the other challenge is the high taxes. The fact that I’m now in a shop and have to be registered means KCCA and URA people will always come knocking.”

The other challenge is competition. She says one has to learn to stand out of the crowd because competition will always be there and there is always someone new coming and trying to push you out.
Nevertheless, looking back at how far she has come, Lubega doesn’t regret making the choice she made.
“I never run out of airtime and always have transport money, be it for boda or – I’m still driving my mother’s car – fuel. I hold a good phone and I can take my friends out. And now I’m looking for a car. I have the money, but haven’t found the right car.”

Plans
In September Lubega and her brother took a business trip to China and Dubai, UAE.
“Right now I’m turning to another business; I want to start a boutique. My brother and I needed to do a market research, so we went to China and Dubai, fully funded by ourselves,” she says.

As for Urban Glow, Lubega hopes to get it bigger premises and also expand it to Rwanda soon.
Other than distributing other people’s products, Lubega will someday want to start her own cosmetics brand. And, most importantly, she sees herself getting married and starting a family in the near future.