Mrs. Masawi’s Clothing Company
Mrs Masawi is a mother of 5 with 4 dependants, who has successfully built a business by being a member of a MAPLE savings group. She is married to a man who did not believe in women working because he believes that when women start making money they become irresponsible and disrespectful to their husbands. It frustrated her very much to see her husband have to carry the entire financial burden for the family. From the money the husband left for taking care of the home, she begun putting aside some money which is categorized as a “akasente ke kyikyala” literally translated as money for a woman.
She decided to join one of the savings group which MAPLE formed, where she received training on business skills. In the second month of saving she acquired a loan of Ugx 200,000 to follow her passion to start a business that sells new born baby clothes. She met with the suppliers and bought a few items but she did not have a place/space to operate. She opted for hawking; she went to maternity wards with permission from the hospital heads and could sell her products there, but this limited her sales and she started door to door marketing her products. Her business kept growing and later she opened a shop in town with baby clothes. Later on her clients stated demanding for teen clothes, in addition to women and men’s wear, increasing her clientele. She acquired another loan from the group amounting to Ugx 3 million with the retained earnings of 4 million. These where the two methods she used to finance her business.
However, it has not been smooth all the way, says Masawi, “Operating a business has lots of challenges. Convincing my husband to let me work was a job of its own. It took a lot of convincing and abiding by his rules as a married man. Business also has its lows; there are times when it is very slow, bad debtors which affects capital. But this has not stopped me because business is my passion and I am not ready to give up anytime soon. Nevertheless, the business mentorship I received from MAPLE has helped me in running my business. I can now comfortably manage records and accounts smoothly. My business worth has grown from Ugx 200000 to Ugx 15 million.
I have always wished to be able to support my husband by trying out a small business to fill up the free time, and I am glad my husband granted me the opportunity to work. We are a happy family and he actually supports me to be an active member of the savings group. He has also encouraged his friends to encourage their wives to work and also be part of saving groups to ease on the financial burden which is always left for only the men in the homes.” In addition to that, Mrs Masawi now employs some youth in the shop that help in sales, marketing and delivering of the products and she pays them on commission basis.