Naluwugge reaps big from fish

Rubaga division has several busy streets, one of which is the road leading to Kabuusu, a Kampala suburb. Early in the morning, as the traffic starts building up, pedestrians are seen walking hurridely in different directions.

The honking of cars, taxis and motorcycle is deafening. On one of the boda boda stages, I meet a woman, who is a fish monger, clad in a white helmet, black jacket and white boots. She seems to be in a hurry, but cannot ride past the red traffic lights. I decided to have a have a quick chat with her.  

 After minutes of waiting for the lights change to green, she rides off to Kabuusu Road past the roundabout towards Nabuuya Road. It is here that she parks her motorcycle, carries a fish basket to a verandah and immediately reaches out to her pockets to search for keys.

“Wasuze otya Dr Maluma,” a passerby greeted her as she opened the door to her stall. “Bulugi naye leero ndi late,” she said she was late. 

The entrance has a big sign post written on Dr Maluma Fish Supplies. The interior of the shop is partitioned into two with the help of plywood. 

One section serves as her sleeping area and the other has a frying pan, firewood, table and a small bench.  In one of the shops on the road side, is where Jennifer Naluwugge situated her stall.

Starting out 

In her early 20s, Naluwugge started vending second hand clothes around Kampala and its suburbs.  In order for her to meet her clients’ expectations, she needed to to wake up early enough. “I used to reside in Makindye and would be up by 5am. I would walk to Owino Market, where I would move from one clothes stall to another, trying to select the best yet affordable clothes,” she recounts.

From the market, she would be walk or board taxis to different suburbs selling clothes.  Some days, she had to move door to door in order to make sales. The days Naluwugge failed to make sales, meant footing back home. “Sometimes, I would use a bicycle to cut the costs,” she says.

Working tirelessly and saving, Naluwugge thought it wise to invest in a bicycle. She says at that time it was the commonest and cheapest means of transport, especially for those that resided around Kampala suburbs.

“I bought my first bicycle at Shs80, 000 and hired someone to ride it in order to make some money. From town to Makindye, a customer paid Shs300. This meant she would receive Shs2,000 per day,” she explains.

 From one bicycle, she managed to buy five more.  However, the Late Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Uganda in 2007, left her with no option, but to relocate to Nyendo. “In 2007, all vendors were chased out of Kampala and the same applied to bicycle riders. I decided to sell off all the bicycles I owned at goodwill,” she says.   

Rebranding

While in Nyendo, Naluwugge rented a room and started making sacks which she sold to fish mongers at Ssese Island.  She was in business for two years, but the business was not lucrative and she abandoned it. 

In 2010, Naluwugge joined the venture at Ssese Island with Shs25,000 as startup capital and Shs5,000 as transport.

“I bought 20 tilapia fish and smoked them before going back to Nyendo since there was free firewood from the forests. I hawked them around Nyendo Town. Being perishable, the fish would last for two days and on the third day, I would go to the island to shop some more fish,” she says.

Business grew and she expanded to other strategic locations within Masaka Town. One of her clients interested her in transporting fish to Kampala, especially in the different arcades. 

Naluwuge bought the idea and in a few weeks she had started hawking fish in the arcades and in some Kampala suburbs.

A blessing in disguise

In 2020, when the president banned public transport as one of the means to curb the spread of Covid-19, Naluwugge who used to bring her fish to customers in Kampala by taxi, could not just shut down her only source of livelihood.

She had to devise other means of reaching her customers. And since motorcycles were still allowed to operate as long as they were ferrying goods, Naluwugge switched to hiring a motorcycle which she rode all the way from Nyendo to Kampala, a distance of about 129km.

“I learnt how to ride a motorcycle not knowing it would save me at a later stage. When pubic transport was put on a hold, I hired a motorcycle which cost me Shs70,000 every week. I called my regular clients to inquire whether they would buy fish in case I found transport to Kampala and many of them confirmed,” she adds.

The next day Naluwugge was on her way to Kampala and the first group she supplied was at Kabuusu roundabout. She proceeded to Ndeeba, Muyonyo and  Muyenga, among other places .

“During this time, I got a chance to reach places I would not access on foot. One day I rode to Nalumunye, where I met a woman who changed my life.  She took photos of me and posted them on social media. By the time I reached Nyendo, I had more than 30 missed calls. When I called back, people were placing orders for fish,” she says.

Naluwugge’s photos went viral and the  man whose motorcycle she had hired, started charging her Shs100,000 claiming she was now making a lot of money.

Achievements and challenges 

Every month, I have to raise Shs620, 000 and pay Shs250, 000 for the stall in Rubaga.  Her big breakthrough is when a Good Samaritan reached out to her and offered to buy a new motorcycle for her. She also and added her Shs2m to boost her business.

The business appears to be smooth, but Naluwugge has to deal with defaulters. “Some clients take more than a month to pay. The prices of fuel and cooking oil are also high and I am forced to increase fish prices,’’ she adds.

None of these setbacks, however, seem to stand in her way. She is determined to see her business thriving.

TITBITS

When the President banned public transport to curb the spread of Covid-19 in 2020, Naluwugge who used to bring her fish to customers in Kampala by taxi, had to devise means of reaching her customers. And since motorcycles were still allowed to operate as long as they were ferrying goods, Naluwugge switched to riding a motorcycle from Nyendo to Kampala. Her greatest achievement is providing shelter, food and education for her children. She hired five acres of land, where she grows passion fruits for sale.