Kyeyo taught me to value time and money

Jan 17, 2014

Julius Mutebi Nsubuga was not born in abject poverty. He is young and well educated. He has a bachelor’s degree from Makerere University and a master’s from Kingston University, London.

Julius Mutebi Nsubuga was not born in abject poverty. He is young and well educated. He has a bachelor’s degree from Makerere University and a master’s from Kingston University, London. He has worked in the United Kingdom and Australia.

But unlike the multitudes of Ugandans who prefer to stay on out there and spend their lives doing odd  jobs or pursuing careers in better economies, he saved up every penny he toiled for and returned home not to work in a big company  but get his hands dirty doing his own business. Today, he is among the emerging forces in the real estates business writes with apartments and warehouses for rent writes FAHAMI WASSWA.

Back ground

I was was born in 1974 to late Paul Nsubuga and Alexandria Nankinga of Kireka Wakiso district. He is the last born of a large family of 10 children of whom eight are still alive. He is married with children.

I started my educational journey at St. Matiya Nursery Kireka. I then joined Kamuli Primary School where I completed my primary education.

I later joined Kyambogo College for my Ordinary Level; Makerere High School for my Advanced  Level and Makerere University where I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science.

The UK connection

Immediately upon completion of my final exams at Makerere University in 1998, my sister Justine Namutebi, a successful banker, sponsored me to go the United Kingdom to pursue a master’s degree. She figured that as the last born, it would improve my chances of having a better life. I had no choice or say in the matter. If it was up to me, I would have stayed to attend my graduation party.

I flew to the UK where I joined Emille Woolf College on Northern Line Borough High Street Mictham, London. When I reached there however, it was during winter. The weather was too cold I could not with stand it so I decided to return home barely a month after my departure.

This did not go down well with my sister who had paid the tuition fees and other associated costs. In fact, my entire family rallied behind her. They were all furious and extremely disappointed with my decision to abandon my studies abroad and return home.  I tried to explain to them that I could not study in such harsh and unfamiliar weather but they could hear nothing of it! It was only my mother who understood and supported me. She was in fact happy I had decided to return home.

May be I was not prepared; maybe I was young and naïve but I was glad I was back home because then,  I had a chance to attend my graduation ceremony at Makerere University with my friends which I could have missed if I had stayed in London.

But my sister assured me that she I had to return to London after the graduation. That is exactly what happened. Only this time, I was to live with a new host family. Because of the time I had spent away from my studies while back in Uganda, I could not catch up with the class so the university administration advised that I wait a new semester and enroll again. Unfortunately, my sister Namutebi who had pledged full support for my studies had died three month after I had just returned to London. I decided to put school on hold.

Life in the UK

In the meantime, I had to find work to support myself. I got job as a cleaner at Heathrow Airport. I worked in the evenings from 10:00-7:00am from Monday to Friday earning a total of £75 (about sh310,00) per week; tax free.

Over the weekend, I would work at the National Deaf Service in Balham Northern Line Underground railway, South West London where I would earn £210 (about sh865,000) for two days a week .

This was a very good job because I only worked at night and my work was to take care of the deaf. I always found them asleep and left very early in the morning when they were still asleep.

The good thing was that those of us who were in the UK for studies and worked to support ourselves paid less tax than the rest. But, as foreign students, we were restricted to working only 20 hours a week and no more.

However, because I was doing different jobs, I was able to get away with that and almost worked for 50 hours a week. I could work for more than 20 hours just in two days: Friday and Saturday night.

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The family warehouse in Kiwanga, Seeta. PHOTOs/Fahami Wasswa

Since I was making a bit of money (at least by Ugandans standards) without much responsibility since I stayed with a host family who took care of all my bills, I decided to start saving money and thinking of where I could invest it.

In six months’ I had started renting a house still within London and left my host family. Rent was £550 (sh2,261,570) per month but we shared it with Mariam,  a friend of mine with  whom we stayed.

I hurried to rent because it had been two and half years and not once had I returned home.  I was home seek and I missed my mother. I wanted to come over to the UK and see me but I could not host her in the home of my hosts.

Going back to school

In 2000, I decided to fulfill the reason as to why I had gone to the UK. I applied to Kingston University, London, for a master’s degree in personnel management.

Since I had no sponsor for my studies this time around, I did not have any alternative but to work hard and support myself. The fact is that I needed a lot of money. I needed money for tuition, upkeep, rent while I also had to send some back.

I worked with students from Kenya, Tanzania and some other Ugandans. Employers loved us because we were straight, obedient and disciplined unlike West Africans, Jamaicans and those from Trinidad and Tobago who were rather unruly in comparison.

We forced ourselves to work very hard; I could wake up as early as 5:30am and returned home at 11:00pm. This is what was called a long day.

It was very hard to juggle work and studies because I needed to work for more time yet I also had to be at school. I would go to school from Monday to Friday from 10.00am to 4.00pm. From there, I would connect to the evening job.

Feeding was another issue. Whereas I would comfortably have three meals in Uganda, In the UK I could only afford salad for lunch. Many times I went home rather late. It was hard to prepare decent food at such a late hour. I would resort to fast foods and snacks like bread and tea.

Tuition was £12,000 (sh 49.3m) per year. There were two terms of payment; upfront where one would pay the whole amount at once and direct debt (where one would pay a certain amount of money in installments on monthly basis to the university for the whole academic year.

For my case, I paid £900 (sh 3.7m) per month. This was too much. I could not afford to pay rent, tuition and buy basic needs so I decided to apply for a bank loan.

Banks did not extend loan facilities to students but I had a health account in Lloyds Bank and because of the good amount of money that was flowing in from all my jobs, the bank accepted to give me a loan but they insisted on paying the university directly and debit my account.

But financial hardships caught with me. I was not able to write my dissertation within the academic year. However, I graduated the following year. I also attended the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) in Wimbledon, South London and attained a certificate. I am a member.

Life after studies

After school, I first worked as office administrator for Ambition Recruitment Services, a recruitment agency. I was paid £100 (about sh411,194) per week. This was a supplement to my previous jobs.

I stayed in London for just a year then I left for Sydney in Australia to stay with George Gregg, an old pen pal whom I had stayed in touch with over the years and who had helped me fully pay up my university tuition fees.

In Sydney, I stayed in his Gregg’s house as I looked for a job.  I secured a job of personal assistant in TK Marks, a recruitment agency.  They paid me $250 (about sh625,000) a week. I worked in Australia for a year and a half and decided to come back home.

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Mutebi (right) works with his wife closely

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Mutebi with his mother and friendsafter graduation in the UK

Coming back home

I went to Europe to look for opportunities on how I would improve my education and life in general but I had big love for my country. I always dreamed of the day I would complete my studies and come back home.

So after my education, I very much wanted to come home, live with my friends and family so that I could put much of what I had leant in use back here at home to benefit of my country.

So after working for that time in Australia, I felt like that was enough and it was high time I returned.

Working in Uganda

When I was in the UK, I asked my mother to identify for me land which I could buy and build a house. She told I did not need to buy land. She instead offered me 25 decimals (quarter of an acre) on our family land in Kireka where, through my remittances, she built a flat of six apartments.

That money basically came from earlier my savings as I looked around for more casual jobs. It was a big project for the start because the foundation alone cost me over sh50m. The project took a period of five years to complete.

To avoid future wrangles on the land everybody was given a piece of land.

Upon my return though, I first sought work. I worked for different companies like Job Connect Uganda Limited, Uganda Breweries Limited, Team Business College and also as a private consultant.

My experience working for other people in Uganda is that human resource is not respected. The relationship between the employees and employers is poor. There is no job security; someone can easily lose a job. Interviews are made for formality when, in actual sense, the jobs have already been given away. I just got fade up with the whole system. I decided to quite my jobs and concentrate on my real estate business.

Concentrating on real estate

Real estate as a business had always been close to my heart. As a child, I noticed that my parents earned a lot from rentals especially in their old age. So, wherever I went in the world, it has always been my plan to come back home and invest in land.

Truthfully, I have not encountered a business that is more rewording than real estate especially rentals.

Joining the warehousing business

In 2009, I proposed to my family members that we could have a source of income for the family and we all agreed to start warehousing facility and container storage facility.

We leased four acres of land in Banda for five years at 90m. But due to high competition for the land, we relocated to Kiwanga, Seeta, in 2011 where we also leased five acres of land for 10 years.

We contract the facilities to traders who pay us and we then pay the land lord.

Kyaluwajala apartments

In 2005, with the money that I had saved when I was working in Sydney, Australia, I bought land in Kyaluwajjala. The plan I have is to build four levels of eight rental apartments. I have so far completed the ground level and tenants have since moved in. I hope to have completed it by the end of the year.

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What makes him tick

When we set out on a project, we do not borrow money at the beginning of the project; we only borrow to complete the projects.

We bought two acres of land in Seeta at 75m where we erected the building that house Pan San Quality Learning Centre. But we only own the building.

We have also acquired 2.5 acres of land in Nansana at 150m. We have a plan of constructing apartments there.

Working with family


I work with my five siblings and my mother who are both directors and workers at my real estate company, Nsubuga and Sons Limited.

My mother is growing old and weaker but she plays a role in guiding and bringing us together.

As a family, we have a sense of direction; we all believe and appreciate the benefit our parents enjoyed due to owning some rental houses and this serves as a foundation for our objectives and goals.

Although I am the initiator of the idea, we all sit together as a family and deliberate on how we can move forward.

We evaluate our business and share the profits depending on capital contribution but many of us prefer ploughing it back in business. We usually agree to disagree but sot out our selves eventually.

As far as my children are concerned, they are still young but my wife plays a leading role in decision-making and advice.

It is good to involve children in business at the time they start understanding and appreciating the value of money.

I visit construction sites with them; make purchases with them and try to explain the significance of the business to them so that they can understand why I did not buy a new year present for them.

Challenges


I always have good ideas but the funds to finance the projects are scarce and the interest rates are so high making borrowing a challenge.

Sometimes you complete a project but it takes long for you to find tenants to occupy. This is very frustrating because you need to start servicing the loan right away.

In the real estate business, there is a lot of dishonesty and luck of transparence. Some tenants can adamantly dodge paying rent after occupying the premises.

Dishonest contractors cause massive losses in construction. They sometimes procure substandard building materials, help themselves to them or fail for finish work in time.

Advice to other young entrepreneurs

Young people should stop looking down on vocational training and favouring formal education that they believe will lead them to white color jobs. The latter are not readily available. Vocational training however nurtures creativity and grooms job creators. This is what we need.

Form groups so that you can share ideas; remember, two heads are better than one. The most important factor about pooling together is that it gives you the power to easily access financial support.

For those of you who have gone to school, do not insist on looking for jobs you have studied for. Be open-minded enough to do try everything that comes your way. Your aim should be venture out on your own someday.

Get involved in politics because it shapes everything in the country.

Work very hard and save so much, accept who you are and work to achieve most of the situation.

Lessons from his time abroad

I learnt to appreciate the value of time and money.

You also learn to give equal opportunity, a second chance and a fair hearing.

I now know to appreciate unity and diversity; people with different backgrounds but leave together for a common good.

I learnt to appreciate people for the good in them before criticizing them. I support them to overcome the weakness I identify in them.

Future plan

I have always had a passion for politics that is why I studied political science at Makerere University. In way, it ties in with my master’s degree.

I want to be a leading real estate player in the country.

Diamond tips


The future is in creativity and innovativeness; get out of the habit of doing things the way you think they are supposed to done or the way others do them. Think instead of a new and different to them; improve and add value.

You should be willing to sacrifice some time to learn new inventions so that you can use it to develop yourself.

Do not wait to have everything to start a business; it is not only about capital, labour, land but most importantly ideas and confidence.

It is not wise to borrow money to start in business. Borrow to expand or add on that which you started with your savings. Banks start calculating the interest from the day you get a loan so you start draining you before you get any revenue.

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