Resilience is a magic bullet for Walimbwa’s business

Starting out in 2008, Irene Walimbwa, the proprietor of AW Bamboo Enterprises Ltd, had to prove that her idea and product were worth the market presence she desired.

In 1997, she sent her friend who lived overseas some processed kamalewa or dried bamboo shoots as gifts. Whenever her friends visited, she gave them kamalewa. At this point, she was advised to take this on as a business.

 In 2008, Walimbwa started treating kamalewa as a serious business.  kamalewa is a delicacy among the Bagisu people that has been in existence since time immemorial, but not much value has been added to this delicacy to sell it beyond the border in Mbale.

“The start was an exciting idea because I was finally making money out of these shoots. People were amazed by the product made in different forms, which made me a pioneer of bamboo processing in Uganda,” she says.

Walimbwa buys fresh and smoked bamboo shoots from the markets, processes them by boiling, drying and packaging them in different quantities in clean polyethene bags and bottle jars.

“When Ambassador Wilson Wamimbi and his wife Petwa Wamimbi returned from Canada in 2002, the business took off. We decided to embark on a joint venture of value addition in bamboo shoots under P & I cottage industry. At that time, each one of us would buy kamalewa in small quantities, process and pack in polyethene bags. However, save for a few people and friends who knew us, there were no sales at the start,” Walimbwa says.

But even when the business was not making profits, Walimbwa was determined to make it work. She often looked out for opportunities to market her products. At that time, she visited Uganda Small Scale Industries Association (USSIA) showroom, Mbale branch, where members would take their products to showcase at the showroom at a small fee.

Since she was a member, this was an avenue for her to benefit, especially from the trade shows to boost sales. But before long, she learnt that the showroom had been closed and the shops were not displaying any items. More to that, even the Indian supermarkets where she hoped to sell her products  then were not willing to display her kamalewa on shelves because they did not know it.

This was a setback for Walimbwa. Upon seeing her struggles, her children decided to utilise online platforms to market her products. But business was still slow. It was not until she started going to trade shows, the first one being in 2012, in Mbale, that people started to know her products. She was later invited by USSIA to attend the UMA trade show the following year.

At that time,  Petwa Wamimbi, her co-business proprietor, decided to go back to Canada, which prompted Walimbwa to register her own company of AW Bamboo Enterprises.

Her first customer was Ms Wakiro (deceased), whose sister was a vegetarian, who preferred kamalewa to meat. Capitalising on feedback from clients to better her products, she learnt that there was need to improve on packaging, branding and marketing.

“Pricing was not an easy task because while I would get enough raw materials, I only got a handful of products after processing, due to elimination of internodes,” she says.

Walimbwa, who operates in Mbale District, started by selling sachets of 50g at Shs1,000. She has since expanded to sell even bigger quantities and also revised the prices to cater for reduced quantities.

She packages 100gms and 250gms and prices range from Shs3,500 and Shs10,000 depending on quantity and location. Non-smoked bamboo goes for Shs15,000 in Mbale while its powder equivalent is sold at Shs25,000 in Kampala.

When her business was starting to break even, Walimbwa was faced with another hurdle- certification. “I had supplied my products in supermarkets but because they were not certified, Uganda National Bureau of Standards ordered supermarkets to remove all those products from their shelves.

“Today, only those who know us procure the products by making orders through phone calls. We have applied for certification and we are optimistic our products will soon be back in supermarkets,” she says.

For one that got her capital from selling cassava chips, Walimbwa has continued to reinvest in order to grow her business. Amidst challenges, her regular customers have kept her business afloat and she continues to get new clients through referrals.

WiB training

As luck would have it, she was one of the women that competed for the Rising Woman Star project season II. From this platform, she networked with several businesswomen and this boosted the visibility of her products. 

She was also among the top 10 winners, which gave her an opportunity to attend business workshops in Nairobi, Kenya. “This was a milestone in my life and my business. I acquired invaluable business knowledge from facilitators. Going to Kenya exposed me to funding and partnership opportunities to facilitate business continuity.”

She currently makes a variety of products such as bamboo vegetable crunches, bamboo powder and non-smoked bamboo. She is also an initiator of bamboo shoot value addition in the country.

Victories

Getting into a partnership with Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) is one of the major highlights in Walimbwa’s business journey.  From this collaboration, she acquired 12 acres of land in Bududa District to pilot bamboo growing along the boundary of Mt Elgon National Park.

In 2018, during the trade show in Mbale, she visited a stall for Uganda Development Cooperation (UDC), which had established a juice factory in Soroti District. “I explained to them that I am processing bamboo and one of the officials there told me to write proposal requesting for land.”

Walimbwa successfully defended the proposal and after a meeting, she was given a green light to grow bamboo. Through a partnership, Uganda Wild life Authority also gave her land to grow bamboo.

The International Network of Bamboo and Ratan also boosted Walimbwa’s business with a grant of Shs3m, which she used to purchase dryers for bamboo.

I wish I knew that partnerships are vital in business much earlier and that bamboo can be grown in Masaba land.

Walimbwa urges Rising Woman proprietors to follow up on women startups and monitor their performances. She also longs to see a continous recognition of more grassroots businesswomen who are struggling with various challenges in their enterprises.

Highlights

Counting her blessings

 Getting into a partnership with Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) is one of the major highlights in Walimbwa’s life. From this collaboration, she acquired 12 acres in Bududa District to pilot bamboo growing along the boundary of Mt. Elgon National Park.

In 2018, Walimbwa submitted a proposal and and she was given a green light to grow bamboo. Through a partnership, Uganda Wild Life Authority also gave her land to grow bamboo.