Nagudi’s vegetable business has boosted the livelihood of her family
Nagudi Ayisat, 43 a resident of Konje village in Bunyafa Sub County in Sironko district is a member of Dubana Self Help Group (SHG) which was formed with support from Share An Opportunity Uganda in partnership with Kindernothilfe (KNH) on 22nd October 2018. The group constitutes of 17 members.
She narrates; “before I joined the SHG, I had no source of income or any business skill, I could not afford to pay school fees for my 6 children. I started saving UGX 500 per week but later increased to UGX 1000 per week because members wanted to take bigger loans.
In the group, we received various trainings in business skills and, how to start up micro businesses in our communities. I gained interest and borrowed a loan of UGX 40,000 to buy vegetables for a start.
I began with cabbages, tomatoes, bananas on a small stall and within a week I made some profits that provoked me to continue running the business however small it was. Interestingly, my first sales earned me a profit of UGX 4,000 that week.
Within one month, I managed to pay back the first loan with its interest amounting to UGX 42,000. With the increasing customers, I took a second loan amounting to UGX 80,000 to add more vegetables and realized sales increasing to UGX 120,000. When I assessed that customers would demand for charcoal whenever they bought items on the stall, I quickly bought the idea and went in for bigger loan worth UGX 250,000 and I stocked 4 bags of charcoal. On every bag I earn at least UGX 15,000 as profit. With that, I am now assured of regular income which has enabled me pay school fees, food, clothing and scholastic materials for my children in time.
My plan is to stock at least 50 -100 bags of charcoal and become a wholesaler/distributer in Konje town board/center. I also want to buy a cross breed cow that will provide milk and other products for the family.