| Julian
Omalla started with a red dress and wheelbarrow but now owns
one of the biggest juice processing factories in Uganda
A new World Bank report profiles seven women entrepreneurs,
describing reasons for their success, as well as some of
the legal, regulatory, and practical obstacles they faced
in expanding their business efforts. The report, Doing Business:
Women in Africa, casts a spotlight on the seven women entrepreneurs
who are from Uganda Cameroon, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa,
Swaziland and Tanzania.
Julian Omalla, the profiled Ugandan,set up a juice processing
company called Delight Ltd that today has annual turnover
of $3.9 million and 450 employees with a business reach
spanning Uganda and Sudan:-
Sheer determination to succeed kept Julian going and she
gradually traded her way back into the black, saving her
profits to invest in a new business venture.
Today Julian is the owner of Uganda’s juice processing
factory, Delight Ltd, with an annual turn over of $4m and
45% of the local market. She’s known affectionately
as “Mama Cheers” after her popular fruit drink
brand, Cheers.
In 2004 she won the Uganda Woman Entrepreneur of the Year
Award. Julian now has diversified into a range of other
business activities, too, including poultry, a flour mill
and bakery, a student hostel for 400, as well as coordinating
women’s farmer co-operatives that provide food aid
into Sudan.
She now employs some 450 people.
Success didn’t come easily, not least because of the
obstacles she faced in the business environment.
Julian recalls business registration and licensing was
so complex and expensive she almost gave up hope. Today
Julian is part of the Uganda Gender and Growth Coalition,
a group of seven women’s groups advocating improvements
in business regulation.
A wheelbarrow
Twelve years ago, Ugandan Julian Omalla lost everything
when her business partner absconded with cash she advanced
to purchase stock.
“The only things left were a wheelbarrow to take fruit
to sell at the market and a red dress I would wash out every
night,” she says.
Julian began her working life as an employee of her brothers,
while she saved to start her own business as a small trader.
“As a woman I wanted to show I could have my own business,
too. I was doing well until I became too trusting…
I transferred all my funds to my business partner to purchase
stock and he just disappeared from his place of business.
I was back to square zero.”
Julian was devastated, but says she learnt not to put all
her eggs in one basket – a strategy that became her
philosophy for business expansion and diversification.
So Julian began again as a trader, wheeling fruit in her
wheelbarrow to market and saving the proceeds. Soon she
had enough for travel to neighbouring Kenya to buy other
goods.
“I would take the overnight bus and stand up the
whole way to get a 50% fare discount,” she recalls.
“My aim was to start a juice processing business,
not just small scale like the market vendors, but a real
factory. My mother had taught us to process local fruit
and I’d done a certificate course in food science,
so I had the technical background. I could see there was
a gap in the market.”
Once she had saved enough from her trading activities for
an initial capital investment of $100, Julian began production.
She had to take her products for testing to the government
chemist by foot because she couldn’t afford transport.
She smiles now remembering the image of herself in her one
red dress: “My only means of transport was my wheelbarrow,
and I was the whole company.”
But the local market responded positively to Julian’s
products and she could see her dream being realised.
Once bitten, twice shy and Julian wanted to ensure she was
in full control, and that her business was formally registered
and licensed.
She recalls how cumbersome and complex this was, with numerous
offices to visit and unclear requirements.
“There was so much to do and so many different places
I had to go – for business registration and tax identification
numbers, different licenses and requirements from a range
of different authorities, a declaration that had to be made
before a Commissioner for Oaths, a company seal to get,
inspections of my premises from different authorities–
it all seemed so complex. I remember paying a lawyer what
seemed to me the gigantic fee of Shs 500,000 ($ 279).”
Gender roles in Uganda added to the burden.
Julian found being a wife and mother made the complexities
of business registration even more difficult.
Men have so much more time than women and they’re
more likely to be able to travel to the different agencies
– and have the contacts often needed to actually get
things done.
Soft targets
So the more complex, cumbersome and costly business registration
requirements are, the more likely women business owners
remain marginalised in the informal sector.
Women are more likely to face additional challenges too,
such as being seen as “soft targets” by officials
seeking facilitation payments to expedite complex bureaucratic
procedures.
The Uganda Regulatory Cost Survey Report 2004, covering
241 enterprises in four regions, measured the compliance
cost of business registration and licensing requirements.
It found that more than a quarter of all enterprises surveyed
reported that government officials had “interfered”
with their business—by asking for bribes, for example.
Among enterprises headed by women, the figure was a much
higher 43 percent.
Once Julian felt her juice operation was running smoothly,
she wanted to expand Delight Uganda Ltd’s operations
and product range.
Capital for expansion became a major obstacle. The banks
always want collateral which so few women have in Uganda
– “women don’t inherit under custom law
so we are at a big disadvantage”. Savings and retained
earnings were Julian’s two main methods of financing
business expansion.
Commercial farming beyond fruit for the Delight factory
seemed a good business prospect and by engaging others to
use their land to grow crops Julian avoided the need for
a big capital outlay.
Julian has always been a strong advocate for other women
and looked for ways of helping rural women form farmer co-operatives.
Over 100 women now belong to the Bunyoro Grain Farmer Association
through membership of women’s co-operatives like ‘Till
and Feed the Nation.’
Julian started by coordinating grain sales for the women’s
groups and then saw the opportunity of creating her own
processing and packing operation. Called Global Food Securities,
flour is packaged under the brand name “Mummy’s
Choice.”
In addition to catering for growing local demand,
Julian was among the first Ugandan businesspeople to take
advantage of the Southern Sudanese market after the war,
and now around 50% of her exports go there.
Gender agenda
Julian reiterates that it hasn’t been easy. While
women are the majority of those working the land, under
customary law they have only user – as opposed to
ownership - rights. Their husbands must give permission
for them to join a farmer group and then they have the rights
to the cash earned from their wives’ work. “I
am suffering a lot for some of these women,” Julian
admits.
“Often their husbands take their hard earned money
to drink or to buy another wife. It pains me so much. We
try to organise village meetings to confront these issues
but change isn’t easy.”
When Julian won the Uganda Woman Entrepreneur of the Year
Award in 2004, she felt even more compelled to help other
women get ahead economically. Active membership in the Uganda
Women Entrepreneurs Network meant Julian became part of
a ‘Gender Coalition’ of seven women’s
groups advocating better regulations for businesswomen.
The Gender Coalition has been successful in creating a
women’s tax desk at the Uganda Revenue Authority and
the commitment for a “one stop centre” for business
registration and licensing, where all steps can be completed
at the same place, at the Uganda Investment Authority.
The Authority’s director, Dr. Maggie Kigozi, is optimistic
about the positive impact the “one stop centre”
will have: “It helps encourage small businesses –
and especially the women who are more time poor and more
likely to be intimidated by bureaucracy - to formalise.
They can do everything in one place rather than physically
having to go to numerous government offices.
Once they formalise they can enforce contracts, borrow
from the banks and claim back VAT that they wouldn’t
be able to in the informal sector.”
Womens desk
Dr. Kigozi notes that without a tax number and audited
books of accounts, businesses are subject to surprise inspections
where a tax inspector is able to make an estimate of taxes
owed. The Gender Coalition has many anecdotes of women with
informal businesses who were seen as “soft targets”
for zealous tax inspectors demanding regular cash payments.
The Uganda Revenue Authority has now established a women’s
tax desk so businesswomen have a single point of contact
to check on tax requirements without feeling intimidated
or harassed.
The “one stop centre” will have the mandate
to connect both foreign and domestic investors with some
50 agencies for the secondary licenses a business might
require for the sector they operate in. Dr. Kigozi says
these agencies, known as ‘Team Uganda’ now all
have a client charter visible to the public that sets out
the cost of the service and the time it is expected to take
for delivery.
Julian is proud she has been able to be part of an effort
working for better business conditions for all Ugandans.
Because of the additional constraints women face, this will
be even more beneficial for businesswomen.
Julian’s business empire now includes a grain processing
and packing plant, bakery and confectionary line, a poultry
farm with 30,000 commercial laying hens and a student hostel
under construction.
As she reflects back on her successes, Julian says the
thing that gives her most satisfaction is being able to
create jobs for other Ugandans, especially women. Ironically,
she says losing everything turned out to be her best lesson.
Her advice to other women who want to succeed in business?
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Other winners
Kah Walla
(Cameroon)
Established a management consulting firm called STRATEGIES
in Cameroon with an annual turnover of $500,000, employing
15 workers and with business reach throughout Africa, Europe
and the United States.
Janet Nkubana
(Rwanda)
Founded the handicrafts company Gahaya Links in Rwanda
that today has an annual turnover of $300,000 and over 3,000
employees with a business reach spanning Africa and the
United States.
Aissa Dionne
(Senegal)
Started the interior design company called Aissa Dione
Tissus in Senegal that today has an annual turnover of $700,000
and over 100 employees with a business reach from Africa
to Europe and the United States.
Sibongile Sambo
(South Africa)
Founded SRS Aviation Ltd., an aviation services company
in South Africa that has an annual turnover of $5 million
and 9 employees with a global business reach. Sibongile’s
obstacle to doing business in South Africa was getting credit.
Zoe Dean-Smith (Swaziland)
Began a home ware company in Swaziland called Gone Rural
Pty Ltd. with an annual turnover of $600,000 and 731 employees
with a business reach spanning Africa, Europe, and the United
States.
Dr. Victoria Ksyombe
(Tanzania)
Started a financial services company in Tanzania, Sero
Lease and Finance Ltd., with an annual turnover of $6 million
and an employee base of 60 with 12 branches across Tanzania.
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