How Kampala street kids are making money during Covid-19 lockdown

This youth explains how he makes a dough for cakes. PHOTOS | DENIS BBOSA

What you need to know:

  • As majority of Kampala City dwellers are tucked in their various homesteads braving the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, spare a thought for the hundreds of street children with nowhere to run. Youthful businessman Farouk Mujumba, an ex-street kid, chose to step out of his comfort zone by birthing and experiment a novel door-to-door product vending venture amidst the uncertain lockdown with his erstwhile colleagues writes Denis Bbosa.

One needs to be at their utmost creativity best to come up with a profitable and sustainable business that can thrive in this Covid-19 lockdown era.

The travel restrictions, low purchase power and uncertainty aside, the new dawn has seen many business entities close short and many people becoming jobless. 

Farouk Mujumba, through his Njumba Group of Companies, resorted to his past street life to solve the problem at hand many, government inclusive, tend to ignore - the plight of vulnerable street children.

For a while now, Mujumba’s name has been synonymous with starting up uplifting projects for slum dwellers through starting livelihood projects in Kampala and its suburbs. 

It is through such projects that he turned - Kisekka market area - notable for chaotic rioters - into a focused working group of more than 400 mechanics at the moment working closely with city authorities. 

Working in tandem with then KCCA Executive Director Jennifer Musisi, then Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda and retired Makerere Chancellor Prof Mondo Kagonyera, the enterprising Mujumba founded fabrication, concrete and welding centres for unemployed urban dwellers in Katwe, Kafumbe Mukasa, Kisenyi and Makindye slums areas.

Rethinking the Covid-19 new normal

Mujumba’s story of a Kyanjale-Masaka born resolute orphan that arrived on Kampala dusty streets aged 16 is awe-inspiring. The Primary Six dropout had broken his business teeth early on the streets of Masaka town vending grasshoppers and pan cakes when he stormed the capital city. An amalgamation of luck, craftiness, robustness and go-getting spirit saw him rise from the streets through vending clothes and several merchandise, acting as a property middle-man to establishing a thread of self-made businesses.

These include the newly established trendy kiosks visible all over the central business district, a logistics factory in Kikajjo-Namasuba and rentals.

Like it has occurred to most landlords, property owners and traders country-wide, the second lockdown hastened the speed at which various businesses have nosedived and some folding eventually.

Equally affected was Mujumba’s daily revenue from the 14 modern kiosks he has strategically erected at city hotspots since the 42-day lockdown, with potential of being entrenched, barred potential buyers from accessing the city centre. 

Simply put, the start of the art kiosks, Mujumba has heftily invested in from China with security cameras, security lights and spaces to accommodate two vendors are now more of white elephants.

“I used to reap big but there is no business now and all the cakes, juice, biscuits, yogurt, cheese and other confectionery I stocked just goes to the bin, I needed a quick remedy to start in business even when the lockdown is lifted,” Mujumba revealed.

Just when his proposed multi-million kiosk business was getting out of its nappies to start yielding dividends, it fell on hard rocks of the Covid-19 pandemic yet he had started a confectionary factory mainly thrived on serving the 14 outlets.

Uncomfortably true, Mujumba has to moot another avenue that could consume the products and make ends meet.

Olive branch 

“Through my friends in downtown, I recruited more than 180 downtrodden youths, mainly boys, who were stranded with the city no longer having briskly business that provided them food. I oriented them and briefed them about the idea of becoming foot soldiers for our products across Kampala. I sieved those that could manage to work at the factory and those that could peddle the distance,” Mujumba says.

Once selected, Mujumba hired an Italian, a Turkish and trained chef from one of the top hotels in town to teach the boys and girls confectionary basics of baking bread, biscuits, cookies, yogurt, juice, chapattis, cheese and cakes. 

They all excelled and are now equipped with life-long skills they never dreamed about on the streets. 

Testimony 

Having run away from the miserable life in Mbale to the trenches of Kampala, Samson Rwomu goes about his duties at Kikajjo factory like a man on a mission. “I have learned to make juice, pizza, sausage and about to learn how delicious cakes are made. I dream of making my own business in the future,” Rwomu proudly says behind a surgical mask.

Similarly, life had thrown lemon towards Geoffrey Kiyimba when he arrived in Kampala from Masaka, but he now seems to have made lemonade out of it. “I’m no longer the hopeless boy that roamed the streets of Kampala, I am now preoccupied by the losses and gains of our factory business,” he stresses before rushing back to join colleagues squeezing passion fruit juice. 

Some like Abdallatif Ssembusi had acquired some catering skills but lacked jobs. “I have spent a year here and I thank Mujumba for the generosity. I thought life would be hard when I joined but I have learned a lot, I’m now excellent at baking,” he said. There about 20 live-in workers at the expansive factory premises - all working in shifts to satisfy the market demand.

Trusting street kid with capital

To some, it is completely unfathomable to deal with street-wise dwellers who focus mainly on grabbing pedestrians’ possessions or shoplifting downtown - Mujumba begs to differ. “A street kid just needs care and true love. If he understands you and your goal, he will be utterly loyal and honest,” he says. Mujumba says he has not received any fraudulent cases as each is assigned his commission according to how much he or she has sold on a given day.

Farouk Mujumba and the youth observe SOPs before they start going about their businesses.

“The lockdown hit us hard yet people in their homes want to eat and live. Most don’t have internet to order via Jumia so the quickest alternative is door to door. We are still recruiting more depressed youth to expand our reach,” Mujumba promises. He feels overjoyed that some of his former employees have graduated into starting up their small scale business.

Smiling to the bank

In a country where most of the citizens earn less than one dollar a day, Mujumba’s employees pass for a privileged lot to be earning at least four percent of their daily sales. On average, a youth who vends goodies worth Shs100,000 a day, stands to earn about Shs15,000 a day. Mujumba devised a policy that saw 160 former street kids registered with Stanbic Bank and each of the day’s earning kept at their accounts.

“The four percent commission encourages the boys and girls to move to a large area, get customer contacts and earn big. On their best day, one can rake in about Shs25,000 that few in low earning jobs can manage elsewhere,” Mujumba told Sunday Monitor. Yet he has permanent staff he pays monthly salary ranging from Shs200,000 to Shs250,000 on top of providing them lunch.

Young girls making juice. They take home about Shs25,000 as commission per day. 

He believes teaching these youth money management mannerism, is a strategic way of preparing them to prosper with their little earnings. He intends to help them wisely invest once their income has reached a reasonable amount.

“See, if you can from an underprivileged background like me, you need to stay humble even if you have earned money. From sleeping on the streets, I got lucky to earn about Shs10m after negotiating a house selling deal with a businessman called Epimac Kagolo. I would have wasted the money with my colleagues since we were still tender youths but managed to buy a plot of land in Kikajjo-Namasuba (Wakiso district) that now premises my factory,” Mujumba reminisces.

He shares many of his rags-to-riches thrilling tales but one business move stands out - turning a palatial home into factory. Few youths in Kampala would swap a swanky two storeyed apartment for a rented ‘Muzigo’ just to make it a factory - Mujumba did.

“I contemplated borrowing about Shs300m to Shs500m to buy land and construct a factory and sleep like a king here but chose to sacrifice that and make this our base. I have since saved enough money to start a poultry farm in Mpigi which is also going to give more street kids jobs,” Mujumba intimated.