Proud father of Zaabu and husband to Hadi my Boss Lady. I share my experiences building & investing in Africa for close to a decade. Opinions are my own
9 years ago I was boarding a plane to Uganda for the first time.
I left my big finance job in Toronto to join a small impact fund as a fellow. I wanted to be "close to the action" and learn how it was to invest and do business in a totally different context.
It was supposed to
I officially left my job in finance in Toronto 8 years ago to move to Uganda. Why did you leave Canada to come to Uganda? I wanted to see what it was to build and invest in a totally different context. That's it! No mission or pretention; just curiosity.
The journey took me
The beginnings of
@ModernLivingEA
Hadijja was sitting behind the bar at Embers on 7th Street. She was the manager. The hours had become crazy as the place transformed over the years into an after-hours. Folks would show up at 3 am and start ordering bottles. As the manager, she
People should stop looking down on products made in Uganda! All the products below are made by my amazing wife and her team
@ModernLiving16
. She doesn't have free land or tax exemptions; just grit and passion. Uganda truly has amazing talents! Reach out 0789356458
The rich are underserved in East Africa. Yes, I said it!
There are around 15,000-dollar millionaires in East Africa. Those include the very rich (i.e. Sudhir) and I suspect this number excludes all the folks who have perfected the art of hiding their money. Our Kikuubo
Instead of dunking on Kenyans, Ugandans should see this as an eye opener. As a Canadian, I can tell you that the folks where I am originally from think Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa before they even consider UG for a Safari. Even the gorillas, Rwanda is eating UG's lunch...
Uganda has surprised me today! I did not know they also have game drive in Uganda! I thought that these are only in Kenya & Tanzania We spent the evening watching Antelopes, Giraffes,zebras, warthogs, water bucks and Hippos. Who would have thought?
#Perlofafrica
#Uganda
#Africa
In mature capital markets, the lenders of Biyinzika would have put the company in bankruptcy, wiped out the equity holders, taken the keys, put the business on auction and find a PE / Strategic buyer to buy it as a going concern with a brand new capital structure.
If the banks
#ParliamentExhibition
- I couldn't resist adding my 2cent
My mum used to be the Head of Legal at the public transport company in Montreal. Think Subway and buses for one of the largest city in Canada. They had an annual budget in the billions of dollars.
She would fly economy
There is nothing special about Ugandan Coffee.
Hopefully, my friend
@rkabushenga
hasn't choked on his coffee while reading this. Please allow me to explain.
What's special about Ugandan coffee? Is it high-end? Is it from the source? Is it of good quality? Is it affordable? Is
In the middle of Tokyo are small specialty coffee shops.
We checked,
There was no "Ugandan Coffee".
The discussion we had is a familiar one:
• It's likely that Ugsndan coffee is exported but branded under different names.
• The government of Uganda has allowed this to
My idea on Bandali Rise went viral. Here is another one. Let's get our own Central Park in Kampala:
Let's have the City partner with the Kabaka and transform his ranch near Kyambogo into our version of Central Park in New York. Many major cities have those parks and
Doubling down on Uganda Zaabu
My 2 cent on Uganda tourism is that the country should double down on nailing specific niches rather than trying to compete head-to-head with the big players like Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa. They are ahead on infrastructure as a result of
I was tagged by my friend
@TonyNatif
on a thread about the current investment landscape in Uganda. Funny enough, I have spent my whole weekend with my finance friends for a bachelor party. They run funds, do real-estate PE, are investment bankers, etc. We have talked about Uganda
My Ssenga truly loved Uganda.
My aunt Catherine visited Uganda for the first time at my wedding close to 5 years ago. She was my Ssenga with a capital S. She travelled the world to be there for us. She played along, rocked the gomesi and was a calming source of support.
In the
Ordering breakfast from CJs is an entrepreneurship lesson in itself. The attention to details is really out of this world.
- All beverages are sealed making it impossible for them to spill.
- The delivery person comes with a uniform with a clear name tag
- Juices and hot
3 years ago, I was devasted. I had just transitioned out of my tech startup. "Transitioned out" is a euphemism. My co-founder and I had irreparable disagreements on how to run the company and I decided to walk away.
At the time, it felt like everything around me was dark and
When they are white, we call it foreign direct investment. When they are African, we despise them.
The Eritrean community invests heavily and sticks together. They support each others businesses, invest in each other and employ other members of the community.
To whoever wrote
Time to back some boring businesses
I have been posting for all of last year about the need for early-stage funders to start backing “fast-growing” traditional businesses. It doesn’t matter if you are building a fintech or a new grocery store concept. A Startup is growth. I feel
If someone wonders why no works leave our showroom until it's fully paid for, it's because of stories like this. Way too often in the early days guys with big cars tried (and sometime succeeded) to take advantage of
@ModernLivingEA
. We were close to calling it a day a few times
Recently I received this message from Martha.
@Mbidde
contracted her to make furniture for him, she did and delivered it but he has refused or failed to pay her. I contacted the Hon. to hear what he says about the issue but he ignored me and instead sent the screenshots..
Rwanda and
@FlyRwandAir
is flying Ugandan influencers to Rwanda to promote the country and the airline...
Meanwhile in Uganda, we have talks and symposiums about how to empower creatives...
Perhaps we should start by giving them the gigs?
The great arbitrage of African Tech and why African startups should start looking outward and go global:
Canvas didn't go out to build for the Australian market. Zoho didn't wake up saying "let's build sofware for Indian SMBs". They might have gotten their first clients from
I met the son of a successful Ugandan entrepreneur the other day. He went to school abroad and came back to help run the family business.
The family holding is involved in all sort of industries: construction, tourism, retail, Real Estate, etc. This is very common in Uganda as
My parents' passports were in the bag that was stolen at the airport
@EntebbeAirport
. Their names are Louis Ponton and Sylvie Tremblay.
I'll offer a reward that will make your Xmas memorable if you get me back those passports. Bring what else was in the bag & I'll double it.
Hi everyone, we are renting this beautiful 2 bedroom apartment (self-contained) in Muyenga near La Foret. It is fully furnished by the amazing team at Modern Living. It comes with internet and cleaning 2x per week. It goes for $1,200 per month. $65 per day (minimum for 3 days).
Instead of debating homes vs bonds, why not talk of Side Hustles that cash flow as well.
Consulting, AirBnB, supplies business, coffee farming, etc
I have seen a lot of successful chaps deploy their capital in such.
Also what happened to being able to buy share in US
Do you want to make Bandali Rise an internationally recognized party street?
Make it a walking-only street from Thursday to Sunday. You park your car at Village Mall and go bar hopping. Dance in the street, eat amazing street food, dance in the street once more, and bar hop. No
I think we forgot "the carrot" part of that EFRIS discussion. If I was URA, I'd partner with UDB to create an SME product using EFRIS as the basis for disbursement. For example:
The registered SMEs get 10% of their turnover in EFRIS as an unsecured loan from UDB payable over 3
Remote Internship opportunity!
I have a few exciting projects going on but I need some help. I am looking for an intern to do market research, handle admin tasks, and do the needful to get projects off the ground. It would be a remote role and part-time.
You don't need to
I am reading the back-and-forth on URA-Comedy Club between my friends
@TonyNatif
and
@idringp
and it reminds me of the famous quote from the late Finance minister of Quebec, Bernard Landry. I am paraphrasing but he was basically saying: "A small business that pays taxes in Quebec
Mr. President, it's time we make East Africa a supermarket for Ugandan products.
There is no showroom of
@ModernLivingEA
in Kigali or Juba. Yet, most of the furniture in Kigali, Nairobi, Bujumbura, and Juba is sub-par in comparison despite the growing wealth. We are even getting
I met the leaders of traders from Kampala and other districts at Entebbe.
I listened to their issues, which included:
1. The tax on textiles calculated based on kilograms is high.
2. Manufacturers who engage in wholesale and retail leave no room for traders to do business,
The 3 levels of trading - The framework I use to assess businesses...
When I look to invest, start a business, or pursue the next side-hustle, this framework has been incredibly helpful to me.
Level 1 - Market and convenience arbitrage.
You find local suppliers of products
Changing the behavior of banks and lenders will take time in this country. Here are some alternative ways to secure financing & liquidity for your business.
Prepayments: Don't be scared to sell your solution even if it is not yet built. Nothing gets an early adopter more excited
I am going to China next week for a furniture expo. I will be visiting factories and major markets sourcing for hardware, accessories and machines. I will be posting the play by play while I'm there. Please send your questions below if you want to learn more about China sourcing.
In 20 years, they will celebrate
@NyegeNyegeFest
as an example of grit, creativity and passion...
I helped the
@NyegeNyegeFest
founders in the very early days. I went to the first one, was impressed and reached-out as we were in similar circles and they were friends.
My
I have spent the week in Montreal; my hometown. Here are a 2 things my dear Kampala could borrow:
- Close a few streets to cars: One night, the weather was perfect and instead of taking the subway back home, we walked 5km+. This enabled us to experience the variety of 4
Tips they don't tell you at incubators and startup programs - Social Media Edition
Close the trust gap: Marketing all boils down to closing the trust gap between your company and your end customer. You are probably in a world where:
1) Your potential customers don't know you,
When I was working on my previous agritech startup, we took the bus to Nairobi overnight. We were broke trying to secure a lifeline to continue going at it longer.
All the investors wanted to meet in posh cafés like ArtCaffé, Cafesserie and so on. We would spend our days there
Make Kampala the remote work capital of the world...
I listened to an old episode of
@TheFlipAfrica
earlier today. It was part of their series on the future of work and how remote work plays into it for Africa.
If I were in charge of attracting investors to Uganda, I would
I posted about this. Going to Zambia (800$) is the price of a trip to dubai with food and 3 nights at the hotel. Don't get me going on how much it costs to send a container either way. To build intra-african trade we need to find a way to reduce the cost of transport!
The Problem: Entebbe- Nairobi $350: An internal flight in Kenya to a hotspot like Nairobi - Mombasa $123! In Uganda, to fly to an internal a hotspot, it’s $300! If you want to go granular and help Africa, you start here.
I visited the offices of
@RocketHealthUG
yesterday. I was impressed. The office was buzzing but everything was extremely organized. A Uganda success story in the making!
Well done
@Davisthedoc
@drjohnmark_b
and team!
One of the most successful entrepreneur in the history of Uganda was nicknamed "Mukwano" or "Friend". Remember that next time you are about to be rude to someone. Make no enemies.
Uganda is small, be kind.
As you guys are looking to build your businesses for 2024, here are some concepts that have stuck with me.
I use them as rules of thumb to give me direction and help shape the decisions I make and the bits of advice I give.
Trust = Consistency x Time.
A customer who trusts
"Do things that don't scale"
Hadijja left this morning at 4am to go to Rushere to help a client put the final touches on her home. She has a function the next day and wants to make sure everything is finalized. Let me rephrase, Hadijja wants to make sure her client is delighted
What are some of the most amazing yet underrated brands in this country? I am not talking Mukwano or MTN, I am talking products or services from SMEs that make you go: "wow"
My thoughts on Intra-African trade.
800$ for a ticket to Lusaka
I went to Zambia a few months back. I met a Ugandan running a successful logistics company there. From my discussions with him, it's a great place to do business for a Ugandan Entrepreneur. "The hustle is very
I sincerely believe that to be a sucessful founder you need to have the following gene deffects:
- You don't dwell on things: Life can throw the worse at you (personally, business wise, etc.) and you won't dwell for more than a few hours or days. Your gene mutation might even
Forget Jack Ma of Alibaba, Zhong Shanshan is the man..
The richest man in China, Zhong Shanshan, is the owner of Nongfu Spring which has a portfolio of beverages including the famous Nongfu Spring Water. It's pretty much everywhere in China. China through the 90s and early 2000s
Below is a repost from a Linkedin post of my colleague Dan
@spoutsofwater
. Folks don't know but we have the largest ceramic water filter factory in Africa in our backyard. Sometimes next year, it will be the largest in the world.
This a truly amazing Ugandan success story and
Idea of the day: A pre-cooked meal company in KLA. You can pick from a diverse menu and they deliver within 4 hours. No more road-side chips or KFC, you always have a home-cooked meal in the freezer.
PS: If it exists already, share the love and let me know, I'l be a power user!
Since 2013
@GalaxyFMUg
has been shining a light and appreciating the greatest Ug-n talent over the years . We are doing it again at the
#ZzinaAwards24
@iuea_uganda
auditorium on 8th February. It’s one of those things we just do to uplift the Ug music . Vote
Business idea looking for feedback:
@ModernLivingEA
opens a showroom in London, Boston, Toronto & Dubai (over time) to serve the diaspora. A lot of our clients have complained about the struggles of building and furnishing a home while in the diaspora. We provide a turnkey
The "capital intensive" story and why, no matter what, ROI is what matters...
It's funny how people will say that traditional businesses are more "capital intensive" and then celebrate the tens of millions of dollars raised by tech startups.
Sendy burned through $28M and,
We are renting this beautiful 2-bedroom self-contained townhouse in Forest Village. The unit comes with unlimited wifi, utilities, gas once a month, and cleaning twice a week. It goes for $1,150 per month for long-term stays. Please get in touch with me on WhatsApp at 0787979933
I know I am going to sound like one of those motivational speakers but if you feel stuck about your current conditions, take action:
- Update your CV
- Send that cold email
- Book that trip
- Go to the gym
- Start that side hustle
In a nutshell, take the first steps. It's
China Trade Fair Diary
#4
- The Chinese Factories in 3 Parts
Today is my first day back in Uganda. I missed my son and Kampala. With all the Twitter exhibitions, it's easy to forget that Uganda is pretty awesome! I never thought I'd miss matoke and pilau so much.
Visiting
A few learnings from starting and investing in companies.
#1
Partner with the right people and align early: I was in love with the problem and I had nothing exciting on my plate at the time so, I jumped in too fast with my last co-founder. We were not aligned on the core. He
If I may, Ugandan banks are extremely profitable:
Step 1: they charge depositors fees left right and center, they then
Step 2: Lend to government at 16%
Step 3: Get grants or government funding to lend to strategic sectors (SMEs, youth, agriculture, etc) which they use instead
The story of Prudence from Bella Wine is one of anthology. She started selling jerrycans of wine in the taxi park. Brick by brick she built a great business! I am glad I was able to support her during my days at Mango Fund! I need to visit her new factory in Namanve.
#UIAInvestorsBaraza2024
: Prudence Kasibante Ukkonika, MD of Bella Wines and Juice, appeals to Ugandans to support domestic investors by buying their products in order to enable them continue to create more jobs for Ugandans.
@ugandainvest
has allocated for her land in Namanve.
I am shocked Ugandan home-sellers / brokers rarely do any home-staging before putting a house on market. Man, you look at the pictures and people's actual dirty laundry is on display, the place is upside down, and pictures are taken with a phone from 1995.
The issue with Scams is that they build the narrative of the industry and the country.
Future government and donor programs will use those scams to benchmark future programs and companies. There will always be a doubt about the ability to do anything good...
The board rooms at
This post is unrelated to my post on looking for an intern. I received amazing write-ups and I will be reaching out. Super exciting!!
One thing we don't talk enough about is the hidden cost of youth unemployment. Getting a job in a structured environment shapes you. It teaches
Based on my experience in Uganda, African markets probably have the strongest viral potential in the world. I break it down into 3 main reasons and that's why I am incredibly bullish on eCommerce:
Almost every single purchase decision is made on a referral & word-of-mouth:
"Can
@ponton_alex
I've been reflecting on the efficacy of the venture model in Africa, in general, and I feel quite bearish on VCs funding consumer products in Africa (whatever the ecommerce permutation) if they are expecting high growth.
100% agree. The only nuance I'd add is that most VC-backed companies won't reach 100x returns so having a sector thesis about what can reach VC returns vs. not is almost useless. You are trying to pick probabilistic impossibilities so VCs should focus on whether or not the team
How do we back more ideas that are not venture scalable to become sustainable in Africa?
People pitch me bold ideas for Africa's future.
Most won't be a 100x success in 10 years to be a fit for venture capital.
But, it doesn’t mean these ideas don’t deserve funding.
I have not looked at Real Estate as much as
@KakandeAlex
or
@jrkyanda
but here are the questions I would ask if I were to seriously build a view on the sector. I use land and Real Estate interchangeably below.
Is land a better store of value if currency depreciates heavily?
Data is in.
Analysis is in. I’m going to compile as much as I can and do one long comparative. Send it in.
Pre-emptier statement.
If your goal of buying land is for your Family construction. Just buy. That’s not a typical investment. Don’t look at the numbers. Buy.
🕯️🕯️Vision 2024🕯️🕯️
One little hack I will use more: Doing business planning is helpful. It forces you to think through dependencies, gaps, milestones, funding needs and so on. The key issue is that more often than not, the milestones & objectives end up in a report that is
Going to COP28 under the Ugandan delegation was both overwhelming and eye opening. It was the first time I was at an event where “the world” converged.
For
@SPOUTS
International, the company I represented, it helped us reinforce our relationship with partners, meet stakeholders
I promised you guys I would bring friends to the party. I am very excited to be joined by
@nahabwe
and Hadijja of
@ModernLivingEA
!
@nahabwe
needs no introduction. He has been one of my mentors for the last few years and he brings decades of experience building amazing
As promised, I will be hosting a small get-together at
@wildcoffeebar1
on Thursday at 7PM to discuss my China Trip with
@ModernLivingEA
. I am trying to get an idea of the size so please answer this survey!
A very underrated rule of thumb these days: Kampala is small, be kind!
I don't mean to sound like a motivational speaker but if you have been around this town for a while, you know...
It's now less than 500$ and a direct flight to go to Lagos, Kinshasa, JoBurg and Mumbai and all the neighboring East African Countries with
@UG_Airlines
.
A small detail but it has simplified trade dramatically if you ask me. I pray that direct flights to Guangzhou and the
I was reading the story of Treepz who raised 2M+ & bought Ugabus with the mission to improve bus transport. They later pivoted to car rental and it made a big fuss. Fiasco (in the making?)
What if that funding and those resources went to an operator like Pokopoko with the
"All economic development is local. All politics is local."
The Pokopoko Bus Service has acquired a new bus. As usual, some of the WhatsApp groups in Bwera and Kasese shared the photo. The old man who owns the bus company started by selling safety pins. His original shop still
This was definitely unexpected. I am glad that my story inspired a few. I am grateful to everyone who reached-out. If you sent me a DM, I will make it a point to get back to you in the coming days.
Someone even sent me a Gold Deal, not sure how to reply to that one lol
3 open questions that I am obsessed with:
#1
Pan-African scaling: I have worked in 6 African countries this year. Every time, I look at furniture companies & ask around. In all cases, the offerings are limited, the local carpenters are unreliable, and the imported furniture is
I am going to take a step further from the post of
@MarkRuhindi
and the responses from
@TonyNatif
.
If we were to organize a grassroots conference for SMEs, which topic and which speakers would you like to cover?
I am told that the Kilimanjaro of Uganda is taking steps to distance itself from the Kilimanjaro of Tanzania. As a duly registered entity, they want to avoid "any confusion or misrepresentation in the public eye"
The Nile of Nairobi is also seeking legal advice....
Excelling in a high pressure environment
Considering that most banks (including JPM) had to enforce rules to avoid senior bankers from burning their junior staff out, this speech needs to be taken with a big grain of salt.
During my investment banking interviews, associates
Employees Are Responsible For Their Own Work Life Balance — Not the Company.
Jamie Dimon, CEO of the world's largest bank JPMorgan Chase, drops some harsh but true words.
Is he telling the truth in this 90-second clip or making an excuse for demanding employers (which JPMorgan
People who are downplaying AGOA because only a few million dollars worth of trade benefited from it, miss the big picture.
To put it bluntly, it's pretty clear that the Western investment / donor community is reconsidering it's involvement in Uganda. That means deals are
Project Coffee Oppenheimer - Making Ugandan Coffee Special
We are not developing a nuclear bomb in a race against the Nazis like in the movie Oppenheimer.
Yet, I think we can all agree that "getting the positioning right" for Ugandan coffee is of national importance.
Coffee
There is nothing special about Ugandan Coffee.
Hopefully, my friend
@rkabushenga
hasn't choked on his coffee while reading this. Please allow me to explain.
What's special about Ugandan coffee? Is it high-end? Is it from the source? Is it of good quality? Is it affordable? Is
@mas_nant
No not at all but it was one of my clients. The founder, Prudence, is an amazing entrepreneur who has built this business to last generations. It's been a while but it was one of the businesses I invested in while at Mango Fund
I am not always retweeting the content of Madam because tomorrow is my birthday and I want her to buy me a nice watch. (Would be nice though :D)
I am retweeting her content because I am grateful to have met a real trailblazer and amazing future wife & mother 8 years ago...
Throwback Monday! This was at our first workshop 5 years ago. Even at big meetings, I still introduce myself like this:
"Hello, I am Hadijja. I am a carpenter"
It doesn't matter if your line of work is male-dominated or dusty. Follow your passion!
I am pretty sure UDB would provide pretty attractive financing to a credible group of investors to take the operations over. They might be able to even secure incentives from UIA..
Lots of moving pieces and I don't know the full background but there should be a better option
There is this Taiwanese Bubble tea / chicken place that just opened at Palm Plaza on Gaba Road. The chicken is on point, the branding is creative and the owners have that spark in their eyes that you see from entrepreneurs that just launched. Support them please 🙂
My Wish on My Birthday
I conducted an investment readiness training in Zambia close to a year ago. It was my first one. After four days of training, it culminated in a pitch day in front of investors.
The Zambian entrepreneurs there reminded me a lot of the folks I engage with
Potentially controversial opinion of the day:
I am much more excited by an entrepreneur attending a trade fair or industry conference than an entrepreneur attending a Startup networking event or a pitch competition.
Being obsessed with your clients in accretive to your
China Trade Fair Diary
#2
- It's All About Exposure.
We have not yet visited factories. To tell you the truth, we have barely left our hotel and the Canton Fair Exhibition Center. We walked a lot though; close to 15 KM per day. Think shopping in Kyembe but Kyembe the size of 10
It looks like we will have 100 people if everyone who answered "yes" attends. That's probably enough to make it official with a flyer.
PS: I am adding friends to the party to join me in the discussion. Post in the comments any topics or questions you want to talk about. It will
As promised, I will be hosting a small get-together at
@wildcoffeebar1
on Thursday at 7PM to discuss my China Trip with
@ModernLivingEA
. I am trying to get an idea of the size so please answer this survey!
Some hard lessons from scaling and thinking about capacity:
#1
Charge more! As entrepreneurs we tend to leave way too much value on the table. I met an entrepreneur the other day. He had just scored a large scale contract for his platform with one of the largest parastatal in
I remember when
@HonAniteEvelyn
was visiting the showroom of a tile manufacturer, she said we didn't need to buy tiles from abroad anymore. The same can be said about furniture and
@ModernLivingEA
is the proof.
There are many great players in the industry and I am always
We did a photoshoot at the showroom recently and we are very excited about the results. Everything you see is proudly made by our team and available for sale. No need to wait for a few weeks. You can load your truck and take all the items you like :D For details please call
The wasted opportunity of AGOA is that you can sell "African baskets" on Etsy for up to $300 per piece, and not more people took advantage of it.
We need to build champions...
I would walk around the streets of Montreal (yes, I know it's in Canada, but still, we have similar
Uganda can become a hub for furniture manufacturing in the region:
I agree with President Museveni. It makes 0 sense for furniture to reach Mombasa from Dubai, China or Turkey. Get on a truck for 3 days and reach the Pearl of Africa for State House, a hotel or someone's home.
My earlier post has turned into a celebration of UG brands making us proud. Can I just take this time to also celebrate
@michaelkiwanuka
for making it to
@BarackObama
summer playlist today? This is huge and I am still lighting candles so that to one day I see him perform in KLA
Alain Bouchard or the billionaire you never heard of. Most people in Uganda think of Bill Gates, Zuckerberg, Bezos or Musk when they think of highly successful entrepreneurs. I often found that studying the journey of lower-profile entrepreneurs can bring even more interesting
I went through all my tweets that did well in the last few months. Some random thoughts:
1) You need a voice and a niche: I didn't tweet about NSSF or the Parish Model. I didn't tweet about Capital Chicken or the Ukraine war. It was hitching but I felt like I had nothing to add.