“Suggest businesses that require little capital but yield high profits,” is a request I recently saw on social media. I think the request was posted because of the ongoing “Harvest Money Expo” that is annually organized by the New Vision.
As for me, the request reminded me of the time that I was in my last semester at Kyambogo University in 2018. My widowed mother who was fully financing my tuition had recently died. My dad passed away in 2007. I was trapped in great fears and thoughts as to whether I would graduate with my degree in Management Science that year. My great support, my mum was no more.
I thought I would be given the money collected during my late mum’s funeral to cover my schooling expenses but to my surprise I was told by my uncles that the collections were meant to clear up debts for the funeral.
I had to strengthen myself and think on how to provide for the expenses I needed at campus such as, among others, buying:
- Buying teaching notes
- printing and copying notes.
- Buying food and other personal necessities
- Paying tuition fees
Anyway, I had received condolence contributions from my church, Lira Pentecostal Church and from my friends, former and current school mates. I decided to use the contributions from my church family and school friends to cover my schooling costs, but this was not enough. And so, when I reported at campus, I had to plan on how to survive the four months of my last semester in Kampala.
One day, at the beginning of the semester, while doing shopping in Owino Market (now renamed St. Balikuddembe) , I observed young men selling second hand shoes at only 2,000 shillings. This got me interested. This because the shoes looked good and could be sold at a higher price.
Reaching my hostel, I reflected on the second-hand shoes business and how I can start doing it while I was at the university and selling to my fellow students. This could be my life safer, I thought at the time and I am glad I took it on.
I budgeted and decided to start my shoe hawking business with capital of 20,000 shillings. The next day, I went to Owino market and bought 10 pairs of shoes which I carried in my green pill. The green pill is for those who are just starting and buying a few stocks.
On my way back, I had thoughts running on my mind. How would my course mates look at me doing this under-rated business of hawking shoes? In deed when I arrived at my hostel, my room mate was surprised. He could not imagine that me, who is studying to be a manager, can lower myself to hawk second hand shoes.
I was undeterred by my roommate’s reaction and in fact I tried to convince him to partner with me so we could do this lucrative business together. I knew for sure that even though both his parents were still alive, he was still from a disadvantaged background. He declined my proposition by asking me “how will my Tanzanian babe see me hawking shoes?”
Interestingly, it was the laughter and teasing that I was getting from my roommate that attracted my first customers. My female hostel mates who happened to hear my roommate laughing and teasing me, came to see what it was all about. When they saw the selection of shoes that I had for sale they became so excited with my innovation.
And right there and then, my first customer, my hostel mate, bought a pair at 7,000 shillings. With such I huge profit margin, I got inspired to continue with the business. With my earnings I comfortably paid all my dues and even covered the cost of food for my roommate.
I must say though it was not necessarily that easy. I was an evening classes student with lectures from five to eight at night. After lectures I would rush to my hostel to pick up the shoes to display on the pavement at the entrance of our university.
My classmates found it fascinating that I would be with them in class and then as they were exiting the university, they would find me among my fellow hawkers.
I had a lot of balancing of my time to do. When I would run out of stock I would re-stock at between five and six in the mourning. In a way my shoe business was the first opportunity that I had to put my theoretical managerial knowledge to practice – I had no choice but to manage me for my education.
So, I will always suggest second hand shoes hawking as a business that requires little amounts of capital and can yield high profits.
CPAR Uganda Ltd 