The Global Entrepreneurship Week 2012

Mupuya says he started his business two years ago after gaining experience from the JA company program that was in their school at that time. In the JA company called Quapack where they were taught how to make envelopes and paper bags at school, he was a finance manager. So after high school, he used some of the dividends he got from the JA and added on some more money and with a capital of 30,000, he started his own paper bag business.

Mupuya says that one thing that makes his business to stand out is his level of creativity, and his proudest achievement is this acquisition of business skill which he utilizes to earn a living. Although his major challenge is limited time, he says he has learned to multi-task like any other business man and he has learned to start his day early in the morning in order to accomplish his days’ routine. His vision is to contribute to employing Ugandans and trading beyond Ugandan boarders.

Winnie manages her small scale firm that produces simsim and g- nut paste (peanut Butter). Her firm is located in her mother’s home.

She says,” My mother taught me how to grind simsim(sesame)and ground nuts using a grinding stone for our home consumption and sometimes for our relatives and friends. Then I thought she was overworking me, however after joining Junior Achievement company program where I was inspired to establish my own income generating activity, with little start-up capital I immediately decided on making oddi because it is something I knew very well.

I started my business with 15,000/- ($ 7), the peanut butter costs 3500/--($ 2) a tin of 500 grams.”I can now buy breakfast and lunch at school and i can afford other necessities. My business is now worth 50,000/- ($ 21). Winnie urges other students to think about income generation instead of waiting for parents to provide for them, all they need to learn is to save a little money like coins on a daily basis.