Changing markets

I recently walked into one of Kampala’s growing business hubs and was blown away. There are protagonists, quietly building enterprises that offer value to the target audiences in ways that one could think are unimaginable in an economy like Uganda.

For me, these men and women, will define the future of the marketplace. As I walked in on some of them, as a pretend customer inquiring about their services, I kept on asking myself, “how do I fit in this paradigm? How do position myself to benefit from these new opportunities?”

You can ask yourself the same question; how do  you fit in this emerging market structure that will define the way we do business in this country?

Raising capital for your startup

When I left university at the beginning of June 2011, my dream was to start my own company. I had two ideas in mind; a sports management firm and liquid detergent manufacturing company. I had done Industrial chemistry and loved it, so I chose the path of logic, do what I know first, as I learn more about the business of sport.

I shared my idea with my parents, who welcomed the idea and backed me with my seed capital.  Petra Cleaning Solutions was born. It run course for about 4 months when, it needed additional capital to grow, but having failed to raise it, I closed it up got a job in my father’s organization to raise capital.

I have learnt many lessons about the tough challenge of raising capital for your startup when you have no track record for anyone to give you their money and trust that you’ll make the best of it. To make matters worse, in the developing world were VCs and angel investors are like rare earth metals, it could take you a lifetime to start your dream business if you set yourself on the journey of looking for investment. I would love to share a one that I got from my young brother.

Starting with available options

We set out to use our salaries, as small as they may be to invest in low cost income generating initiatives that could set us on the path of our dreams. For a entrepreneur, the test of your calling is how you work around your impediments in order to achieve your dreams. When doing low cost initiatives will help you raise income for your dream, do them, do  not neglect them.

They will be part of your learning curve. By the time you embark on executing your dream business, you’ll be an experienced business person and save you too many troubles. Start with what you have, do not pity yourself , take the challenge, and remember the old saying, “Rome was never built in one day!”