ENTREPRENEUR TRAINING IMPACTING THE LIVES OF HUNDREDS OF POOR PEOPLE IN RURAL KABAROLE AND KAMWENGE

The program focuses on providing resources that empowers youth and women to gain information and skills to start, manage, expand and sustain an enterprise. It’s been heart-warming witnessing teenage mothers, the once unemployed youth, widows and elderly take a firm step in their lives to begin a business. The program enables both newcomers and existing business people to reflect, understand and appreciate the importance of being an entrepreneur and to actually become one. The program allows the oldtimers to learn additional skills and knowledge that will prosper their businesses to the next desired level.

The students were taken through a series of sessions through weekly trainings in carefully selected topics. These topics include, an introduction to entrepreneurship, strategy development, innovation, business culture, marketing, communication skills, sales process, selling skills, customer service, profit model, financial tracking, reinvesting profits, funding sources, building a team, motivation, setting, measuring and managing goals, process optimization, project management, decision making, managing change and character.

Through the past quarter (January – March 2019) 240 students have benefited from these trainings with the help of 8 instructors and 2 project managers. These classes are on-going until the end of the march. From the on-set, at least 1,724 students have so far graduated through Entrepreneur Training Program in partnership with Work for Life.

My story!

My name is Birungi, I hail from Nyansozi village in Karambi Sub County in Kabarole District. I am a member of Nyansozi Twesigengane Group. We are a group of 30 women determined to work hard and succeed. I save in our group on a weekly basis which gives me the opportunity to borrow a loan whenever needed to expand my business.

I run and operate a hair dressing women salon in our trading Centre. After receiving numerous trainings in entrepreneurship, my heart got convinced that I can do it if I started. My passion was to begin a salon, I was encouraged by the trainings and success stories from other people who had made it. I got to realize that I can run a business and do farming at the same time.

I began by moving house to house looking for customers but after several trainings, I made a decision to rent a room at the trading center near my home, where my customers can find me and I work on there hair. I am happy I have an address for my business now. I’m able to make a profit which I use to buy more materials to enable my business grow. I also managed to hire 2 more employees to help attend to the increasing number of customers. My savings have increased, I can now manage to save more money in our saving group and provide for my children.

My business has changed my life and my family, it’s my everything because in a good season, I can make a profit of UGX 450,000 ($123) per month. I’m happy that I can pay school fees and provide school supplies for my daughter who is in a boarding school. I also use part of the profit to invest in farming which helps my family to have constant supply of food and surplus for selling to get more money to support my family.

My name is Kabazire Oliver, this is my story.

I dwell in Karambi community in Kabarole District. I want to thank ITI and Work for Life for training me in enterprise development. At first, I wasn’t sure that I could manage to start my own business and flourish, I was encouraged and given the knowledge on how to make it possible. I later realized that, the early I began the better for me and my family. Life was tough for me, it was difficult to pay tuition for the children, we didn’t have enough to eat.

I was motivated by my trainer who had a business too, and also my colleagues in the group who had embraced the trainings and started their own businesses, some of whom were older than me and I got determination to begin. I didn’t want to be left out and I took a loan from the group and used my personal savings to rise the initial capital I needed. I started a retail shop in our village. I sell groceries and household merchandise because it was the much needed desire of the community to bring services closer to them.

I’m glad that my life has been transformed and my business is flourishing. I know how to communicate with my customers and keep them happy, I know how to write my business records because I take note of every sales and purchases. I have a business plan which I developed with help of my son who is in high school. My children appreciate and participate in the operations of the business, they know that’s where their school fees come from. Our standards of living are getting better because we can now afford medical insurance, provide for the needs of my family especially providing food, clothing and education. I have 3 children and 10 dependents. My remaining challenge is that of lack of access to safe and clean water, it’s a big problem in our village and poor housing. My house is in bad shape and I hope to renovate it soon.

Breaking the odds, to succeed. My name is David, this is my story.

My name is David, I live in Busokwa Village. I am a member Busokwa Tweyimukye Group in Kabarole in Uganda. I want to thank God for protecting me and providing for my needs. I grew up without a stable family, no education, no job and no parental love. I had felt lost at some point in my life because no one care about me until I was advised to join our village savings and loans association (VSLA) which was being trained by Violet Adyeri under ITI and SOS. It was an opportunity for me to acquire knowledge on savings. It was my first time to save my own money and see it grow. I began by working so hard to rise money to save in the association on a weekly basis. I remember working in other peoples banana plantations, fetching water for money in order to increase my savings. Last year, I was lucky to receive training in entrepreneurship with help from Work for life and ITI. I felt this was my chance to put this knowledge and skills to practice. I collected all my savings and began a chapatti vending business. As if that wasn’t enough, I became innovative to begin a Rolex (fried eggs rolled in chappati) and recently, I got more innovative and began Kikomando making (chappati served with cooked beans for a meal). My income has up surged from 36,000 ($10) to 230,000 ($63) in profit per month.

I thank God for the entrepreneur training program and the organizations that have helped me to give me skills and information to become the person I am now. I no longer beg for money, food but now am inspiring other youth in my village to start small businesses and grow with time. Patience and discipline are very important and have been my secret to success. I now have a wife and child, I can provide for my household needs. I’m now saving for land and house.

MBABAZI VIOLET

My name is Mbabazi Violet, am an instructor with ITI and Work for Life Programme, I am so happy to be involved with the entreprenuer training program. Besides training the youth and women in saving, credit and enterprise development, I have personally gained a lot from the programme. I had started a hair dressing salon business, over the years, growth was very slow and I had very few customers. I was on the verge of closing it until I received my first TOT. I was convinced that the problem was not with the customers but with me and my workers.

I immediately, made changes in my business. Since then, my customer base has increased due to improved salon hygiene. I trained my employees in customer care, communication skills and bought new equipment for the salon. I talk to my customers while I work on their hair, we get to learn and know each other and become friends which helps me to understand my customers’ needs

My profit increased to due good record keeping and accounting skills, I know how to manage my finances well and I no longer mix personal funds with business funds. I no longer tolerate visitors who come and I work on their hair for free. After the training, I told them that business is business, they have to pay. This led to increased profits

I'm now able to pay school fees for my children some of whom are in a boarding school. This has been one of the best things ever happened to me because the business is making profits. My savings to our association drastically increased, I can now afford to buy good clothes for my children, pay my employees on times and provide medical care for my children and seven dependants. I no longer have to rely on my husband to provide everything to the family. I help him and we work as a team unlike before.