CPAR Uganda Ltd

I really appreciate the training that I and my colleagues had in January 2020 (Module I – Understanding Poverty in Rural Uganda of CPAR Uganda’s Project: Mentoring Young Adults into Innovators against Poverty).

I have tried my best to minimize my expenditure to give me chance to save, but also having a happy life amidst savings. It feels painful as sometimes I feel like purchasing something I have come across, but I always take my budget control seriously by handling priorities.

This has helped me to achieve my plans of buying a motorcycle, which I bought during this pandemic (COVID-19) in June 2020. I bought an affordable used motor bike at Ug.shs 1,200,000 (one million two hundred thousand shillings).

James Opolo on his motorbike

The motorbike has helped me save on bodaboda (motorcycle public transport) costs to go service computers and printers of my clients. I now put fuel in it and do little service, compared to previous days where I needed to hire a motorcycle per hour (Ug.shs 3,000 to Ug.shs 4,000), which was very costly.

I have used skills from the training on doing things in a group. The business I am running has three persons I am working with. And at times issues do arise which need to be handle, either as a group or sometimes individually and may need administrative decisions, but putting into considerations other members so that our business moves on.

Very soon, we shall be having end of year meeting to check on how we worked in 2020 and what next for 2021.

By James Opolo, Innovator