How Koojo’s passion for cycling bore him a business 

Justus Koojo (right) built his cycling business from passion. PhotOs/Edgar R Batte

What you need to know:

  • When you think about how to start a bike shop, you must play to your strengths as much as possible. Try to understand all aspects of your business, especially the financial side of things, and take note of the skills you excel in and the ones in which you might need help. Hire the right people to help you succeed.

“If you have a vision. If you know exactly where you want to go, it doesn’t matter what the journey looks like. Your eyes must be fixed on the vision. In other words, if you have an end in mind to start then everything else can come later,” says Justus Koojo, founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ultimate Cycling Uganda, an enterprise that fosters fitness and social cohesion.

The enterprise is partly anchored on selling bicycles and the operation of a fully-fledged fitness centre on the fifth street in the industrial area. He shared part of his story at the launch of an online application that’s marrying sports and tourism adventure by connecting tourism vendors and travellers. 
“We have gone from wanting to be physical to being online. Just like Uber owns no car, we are making sure that if you pay to go and see the gorillas, you see them.”
Koojo adds, “We are left with no choice but to appreciate technology. It is going to take you and me to sensitise fellow countrymen and women about appreciating technology and this platform tailored with adventure and fitness. Support us, transact.”

Starting 
Koojo launched a new business venture at a time when the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic disruption continues to ravage the business world with evidence of many closing shop or painfully re-strategising in order to remain afloat. 
“To be frank, as a business, we have been struggling with cash flows. Covid-19 hit all of us. Our next big opportunity was to stay relevant, attract the right partners and when we needed hope, we went for it. It is no shame. I don’t mind coming to you and telling you that I am struggling with finances, focus, and inspiration,” he explained.

Covid-19 lessons 
Nonetheless, he argues that Covid-19 has, undeniable been a teacher, one that allowed him, as an entrepreneur, to take a moment to think through business decisions as well as the future of his business.
He chose not to give up and in soldiering on, he decided to steer forward with the zeal to deliver something very good to the community as he made business sense out of it as a way of keeping his enterprise relevant. 
Koojo’s company has organised a number of group cycling excursions for adventure, fitness for social change, the recent one for mental health awareness in conjunction with Butabika Hospital.

A cyclist displays a bicycle he bought from Koojo.

Love for cycling 
Besides being a business, cycling is a cosy sport to him. As a boy, he caused worry to the neighbours about his safety when he freely rode his bicycle down steep roads. They would report his daring exploits to his mother. 
“I was the kind who was not limited to being the only son to my parents. That wasn’t enough to get me a new bike when I needed it but there were tiers; go be part of the top five pupils in class and we give you a new bicycle,” he recollects.  

After school, his journey towards making business sense out of his hobby and passion started getting direction. He got a mentor who worked in the US Embassy who gave him an opportunity to cycle with his group. 
Out of that high performance, he got more intentional about it. He started participating in international races, for example, the Cape Town for the ‘Cape Town Cycle Tour’, one of the most beautiful races that get the South African town on a shutdown. 

Draws inspiration 
Coming back to build ‘Ultimate Cycling Uganda’, was purely to continue the experience. “I said to myself, ‘why can’t this happen in Uganda?’. Why can’t we appreciate cycling for all its unending benefits? For me, it was a journey to inspire a nation, a people to appreciate a sport in a very elite manner. It was really part of the fuel but also having mentors such as Rev Patrick Ssemambo who is a great asset to cycling in Uganda, drove me on,” he explained. 
Started in 2016, Ultimate Cycling Uganda has built a community over time. The founder is happy that through cycling he has widened his network and been able to meet among others, top local delegates.
He is grateful that his parents encouraged him from a young age and as such,  urged parents to encourage their children too, to do sport and develop a knack for adventure because they can earn from them just like he is.

Motivation 
His motivation comes from the observation that Ugandans have a low appetite for adventure. “We are not adventure-driven people, unfortunately. For those who know me well, I will go camping by the lake in my tent and spend several days or a week. While there, I will fish. I can tell you that it is peaceful, very good for the state of mind,” Koojo says.
Uganda is an adventure destination with a number of activities to rush a traveller’s adrenaline, namely white water rafting, bungee jumping, kayaking, cycling and mountain hiking, zip-lining, hot balloon safaris, river boarding, and more.

The entrepreneur asked the audience at the launch of his sports and adventure application how many of them have slept in a tent or gone camping.
The response showed only a few had tried the outdoor adventure. There are a number of places one can camp in the country, namely, Kaazi Scout National Camping Ground, Life Camp in Bwerenga, Nile River Camp, and The Haven both found in Jinja, Genesis Campsite, Uganda Rover Scout Village, Explorers River Camp, Scripture Union Campsite in Kawuku and more.
“You have to try something new, fail at it, or excel. Nobody said it was going to be a win for you. As parents, stakeholders such as schools interest groups- Mountain slayers, Tubayo, TravelNeza,  can we tailor something for our children to appreciate adventure?” he appeals.

Advice 
He challenges parents to let their children, and themselves discover their audacious side. He adds, “How would your children survive if they were thrown in a jungle? The opportunity is that there is supervision? How do you start a fire out of nothing? How do you go out fishing?”

Koojo’s knack for adventure was born at a tender age. While in primary school, he joined scouting and recounts going to Kaazi Camping Grounds for adventure and to learn life skills in the forest situated by the lakeside. 
David Okwii, a software developer and director of Oduka Stores attestes to letting his son be. “He is two years and eight months old. He is a naturally outdoors person. He wakes up in the morning and gets out there. I don’t think I need to do anything on my part except to encourage that and let the boy be,” he explains.

He advises, “We have to nurture children to get out there. If you get out of the city, children are seen outdoor to experiment; playing with mud/dirt, going into forests and gardens.”
The software developer grew up in Jinja and feels lucky to have grown up in that environment, at the banks of River Nile where he got a kick out of swimming in the river.
Underlining the need to promote adventure travel, Koojo further shares his personal escapades. “I have gone out camping and challenged myself to eat from nature; pick some greens, start a fire, get water from the lake, boil it, pick firewood and make a meal and it is another day. We must ignite that in our programmes. We need to build the culture to appreciate the outdoors,” he narrated. 
 
To foster that, Amos Wekesa, CEO of Great Lakes Safaris and a mentor  Koojo’s mentor called on Ugandans to appreciate their country. “God gave us one of the most beautiful countries by far. We have more inland water bodies than any country in the world. Even the birds know that Uganda is the best place to be,” he says.
Uganda, the size of Oregon, has 1, 084 bird species. It has 11 percent of the world’s species of birds, 52 per cent of Africa’s bird species, and 73 per cent of East Africa’s bird population. 

Cyclists share a light moment after receiving a bicycle from Koojo (right).

According to Wekesa, Ugandans don’t know the beauty their country possesses because they are forced to study the prairies, vinelands, historians such as Bismarck, hardly giving academic emphasis on studying Uganda. 
Wekesa observes, “Americans are very wealthy because the first thing they study is their own country so having an application like this, is going to give Ugandans a chance to know their country.”
“I would like to encourage us to continue supporting our children and ourselves to find a new sport and new activity that we actually take on as a new hobby, all other opportunities come eventually,” he added.
Wekesa says the world is changing and it pays to raise children who are able to face it no matter how it changes. “Sports teach you how to win, lose and fight back,” he adds. 

Bright future 
Koojo wakes up at 4am daily, grateful for another day. He then asks himself, what more can he learn, what can he tap into next. 
“I listen to resourceful influencers, and that basically already builds not just my motivation or inspiration but gives me a reason to go through the day,” he reveals. 
As a leader, his honest opinion in a general perspective is about being in your best place to be a servant, so if you are willing to do what so many people are not willing to do, that is your best opportunity to be a leader. 
He says part of the reason he went into doing business was to better and grow himself using the one thing he loved and did- cycling. “I grew at cycling and I meant to do anything that it takes to be fit, stay focussed, sleep and train when I had to and to make the right connections. Everyone that wants to achieve on another level, must have self-drive and the thing that transcends all, is basically discipline. We could have started riding and ended up anywhere else but to me focus and discipline were key,” he narrates. 

Asked where one could start on a journey of entrepreneurship, he advises that one has to understand what they can or cannot take because, in all honesty, not everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur or has a stomach for it. “Can you carry a pail that heavy? Can you succumb to debt and show up looking all excited? If you can’t, then it is also good to be employed, to know that you have your net earnings and you can budget with that,” he observes.
He adds, “If you want to start a business, surely go for it but you must do a check. Some of us will say, ‘whatever comes, I am ready. Some of you will want to be sure before they make a move. So if you want to do business, be ready for the highs and lows.” 

Even at his level, he does not consider himself a business guru. “I appreciate that I am a work-in-progress. I think my best opportunity has been a vulnerability and for those that know, I don’t have a problem asking for help. If I think that Eddie is a business mentor, it is no shame, regardless of age or many other factors, to reach out to him and seek advice for growth. Personal growth is a daily routine,” the businessman somewhat concludes.