From retailer to top paints maker

Feb 27, 2014

Steven Kayiwa is the director of Global Paints in Kireka-Banda, Kampala, a top paints manufacturing company with a distribution chain that covers the entire country. But the price of his success has been passion and perseverance.

Steven Kayiwa is the director of Global Paints in Kireka-Banda, Kampala, a top paints manufacturing company with a distribution chain that covers the entire country. But the price of his success has been passion and perseverance.

Born in rural Ngomanene village, Gomba County in the then Mpigi district, Kayiwa had to work with his brother during the holidays to earn money for his school fees.

From this, he managed to set up his first business as early as his Senior Four vacation; a retail shop in Lungujja, a Kampala suburb. He often fetched his own supplies from Kikuubo in Kampala on a bicycle.

But it was his passion for painting that spurred him to the heights he has reached today, Write Sebidde Kiryowa and Sandra Namisi

trueThe Global Paints factory in Kireka-Banda off the Kampala-Jinja highway


Early life

I was born 45 years ago to Mr. and Mrs. Mesach Sewakiryanga in Ngomanene village, Gomba county in the then Mpigi district. We were 11 children in the family.

My father was a primary school teacher, while my mother was a peasant farmer.

My father did not earn much, but he managed to enroll us in school. I attended Ngomanene Primary School.

Because my father was financially constrained, he only managed to pay for my education up to Primary

Seven.

After my primary education, I went to live with my elder brother, Davis Ssemakate, in Lungujja, Kampala.

Ssemakate, who painted for a living, started paying my school fees in Lubiri Senior Secondary School.

Introduction to paint

Ssemakate would always get contracts to paint buildings, together with his colleagues.

I took interest in what he was doing and volunteered to work with him during the holidays.

There are three things that make a good painter:

First is colour designing; knowing which colour of paint is appropriate for where.

Secondly, the ability to correctly quantify and honestly quote the volume of paint required to accomplish a job without cheating your client. This inspires them to trust you.

trueSetting the machine for production of paint

Finally, pulling off a neat job.

This means going through the right steps, from sanding to creating a picture-perfect finishing.

Because I was passionate, I was thorough in my work. As a result, I soon became popular with the team and clients. After two years of working with paint, I was earning enough money to contribute towards my wellbeing, so I started paying my own school fees in Senior Three and Four.

Venturing into retail business

By the time I was in my Senior Four vacation in 1987, I had saved enough money to venture into business.

With sh100,000, a substantial sum at the time, I opened up a grocery store in Lungujja town, Kampala, for household items such as sugar, salt and soap.

 I would purchase goods in sacks from Kikuubo, Kampala, on a bicycle daily

 My business picked up fast. For instance, I would buy a sack of sugar in the morning and return for another sack by 2:00pm because the first one had sold out.

My sales grew so much that after a year, I hired a pick-up truck to purchase items for the store.

When my vacation came to an end, I joined Kampala High School for Senior Five.

 The shop did so well that by the time I completed Senior Five, I had purchased a piece of land in Kyengera, Wakiso district, and built a small house.

In 1992, when I completed Senior Six, I had enough savings from my retail business to try my luck in a bigger business.

Joining hardware business

There was another elder brother of mine, Joseph Buule, who dealt in hardware in Busega, Kampala. I asked if I could partner with him and grow the trade.

He bought the idea and we pooled up to sh10m, left Busega and set up a small hardware shop on William Street in Kampala city.

Since my expertise was paint, we leaned towards paint.

I used to travel to Nairobi by bus to buy paint, which we sold in our shop.

As the business grew, we realised we could not depend on paint alone. Soon, we saved up to $7,000 (sh17.4m) and I started going to Dubai to buy other hardware merchandise such as kitchen and bathroom ware.

With time, our capital grew to over $10,000 (sh24.8m).

true|
An employee loading paint onto a truck at the Global Paints factory

Manufacturing paint

Whenever I visited factories to buy paint in Nairobi, I would get curious about the process of making this paint. Besides, right from the start of my trade in paints, I had dreamt of manufacturing paint one day.

One of my contacts, a Kikuyu man, agreed to take me around one of the factories. The tour demystified the paint-manufacturing process.

I realised it was possible to manufacture paint and made up my mind immediately that it was what I wanted to do.

I shared the idea with my brother.

Starting Superior Paints

In 1995, my brother and I registered a company called Superior Paints, through which we would realise our dream of manufacturing paint.

We secured a place in Kabuusu and procured locally fabricated machines from Katwe, designed by a foreign technician.

We called our product Superior Paints.

At that time, I used to get the raw materials we used for making paint from Dubai, alongside the other hardware merchandise.

Starting out was no walk in the park.

The technology was rudimentary and the machines were slow. Capital was also a big challenge since we were working with our own money. It was hard convincing anyone to sink money into the business, especially since we were blazing a new trail as indigenous manufacturers.

 We did not have enough money to put people on a permanent payroll, so we paidour workers only when we manufactured paint.

 We would sell the paint in our hardware shop on William Street, which we had renamed Superior Paints.

However, the biggest challenge we faced was convincing our customers and the public that locally manufactured paint was good enough.

 At that time, the two local manufacturers were Sadolin and Robbialac paints.

These were big companies which enjoyedveconomies of scale and established markets.

But we persisted until we made our presence felt. Our secret lay in emphasisingvquality. We were also consistent in production and delivery and marketed our product aggressively.

This included advertising in the media, especially radio, which was cheaper and carrying out door-to-door promotions and delivery.

 We also utilised the word-of-mouth technique. In time, we got local approval and penetrated the market.

Setting up Global Paints

In 1997, I started becoming uncomfortable with the idea of working with a partner. I needed freedom to make my own decisions without running them by someone else.

I discussed the issue with my brother and we amicably agreed to go our separate ways.

I registered my own company called Global Paints, but I continued working under Superior Paints.

In 1998, I thought I could reduce the cost of travelling to Dubai to buy raw materials, so I decided to start locally making Alkyd Resin, a substance that serves as the film forming agent in some paints and clear coatings.

The first step I took was to acquire machinery from India, some of which would be used to upgrade the paint-making equipment.

I used about sh100m.

I borrowed about sh20m from the bank and rest came from my savings. I set up a factory next to the one that made paint in the same area in Kabuusu.

Meanwhile, around the year 2000, as the idea of my company drew close to fruition, my brother moved out of the premises in which we operated in Kabuusu and set up a Superior Paints manufacturing plant in Lungujja, leaving me to manufacture Global Paints in Kabuusu.

The paint-making business was never interrupted because I only changed the brand.

In turn, I also moved out of the Superior Paints shop on William Street and set up another shop called Wakalo Hardware from where I would sell my Global Paints.

Tragedy befalls him

In the same year, after I had set up the Alkyd Resin factory, I brought a technician from Kenya to operate the machine and train workers.

He had provided me with all the technical guidance I required to set up the factory.

Unfortunately, on the day of commissioning the factory, it was razed by fire. All the machines, raw materials and the buildings were burnt to ashes. But my idea was not destroyed in that fire.

 Fire destroyed my property, not my ideas

Rising from the ashes
Fortunately, the fire did not spread to the paint manufacturing industry.

Thankfully, I had also insured the factory building that was gutted by fire although the machinery was uninsured.

They say, lack of capital should never hinder you from attaining your dreams.

 What I did first was to get whatever money I had left on the account and used it to clear all my creditors.

This gesture surprised all my suppliers because they least expected it; they had all heard about the tragedy that had befallen me and expected the worst.

With renewed confidence, coupled with a sense of empathy, they showered me with materials on credit.

I continued manufacturing paint, which I sold and repaid them.

I also took out a bank loan and gradually got back on my feet. I continued working in the same place, but gave up the idea of manufacturing Alkyd Resin.

I embarked on rigorous marketing and advertising in the media to build a brand and grow my sales.

Fortunately, with my experience from Superior Paints, I was knowledgeable about the market. As the business gained momentum, I started realising that my operations were outgrowingvthe size of my premises.

There was no room for expansion. Besides, the place was close to my residence and I did not want to risk exposing my family to yet another disaster. I decided to look for new premises.

Moving to Kireka-Banda

Around 2003, I started looking for land to set up a new factory and landed on Plot 1097 in Kireka-Banda, where we are situated to date.

I then procured additional machinery and embarked on building the factory. I started out with one building, which cost sh150m.

The money came from a bank loan, profits and credit facilities from my suppliers. In 2004, the Global Paints factory in Kireka- Banda started officially operating in that first building.

The factory started by producing about 8,000 litres a month of decorative paints (both emulsion and oil) mainly for residential houses produced by about 15-20 employees. Since I had enough knowledge about the market for paints, I produced only what I knew the market wanted and this helped my business to grow.

 Moving into plastics manufacture

I soon realised that we were losing a lot of money buying packaging material. If we could manufacture some of our packaging material, not only could we save on costs, but it would also increase our production capacity.

In 2005, I took a bank loan of $140,000 (about sh347m) and ordered for machines for making plastic jerrycans.

The machines arrived in 2006.

Unfortunately, another tragedy struck and the store where we kept our materials for

making paint went up in flames. I lost about sh200m.

Unfortunately, I had not insured everything. However, I was saved by some insurance money from the property I had insured.

The fire did not stop the plans to set up the plastics manufacturing plant.

We assembled the machinery and soon started making plastic packages for both ours and public consumption. We now had the complete chain.

This improved our production and expanded our operations. We started producing about 10,000 jerrycans of paint a month.

Achievements

Today, Global Paints has become one of the leading indigenous paint factories with our products sold all over Uganda.

From ordinary decorative paints, we now produce a wide range of products such as flat emulsion, undercoat, weather guard, silk vinyl and matt emulsion.

We manufacture oil paints such as high and super gloss.

Werecently went into manufacturing auto, roadmarking and exterior decorative paints.

We have a production capacity of over 400,000 litres a month and employ over 100 people at the factory.

What other people say about Kayiwa

Charles Muyimuka, dealer in chemicals

I met Kayiwa in 2004. We got to know each other because we were both dealing in chemicals. Because he needed to buy raw materials for his paints from the same suppliers as mine, our paths often crossed.

From my experience dealing with him and from observation of the way he goes about his business, Kayiwa is a genuine and honest person, both with money and in the way he deals withworkers, suppliers and clients alike.

He is exceptional when it comes to taking risks as a businessman. He is also courageous, hardworking and resilient as evidenced by the many times he has bounced back after losses inflicted by ­ fire that gutted his business premises.

He is a man who likes to scale ladders and this motivates everything he does. It is from him that I have learnt the value of hard work and aiming higher in life.

Bashir Lweese, a public relations officer

I have known Kayiwa since 1997. By then, he worked with Superior Paints, which was in its infant stages, and had just registered Global Paints.

Kayiwa and I are close friends. I attribute his success mainly to his selflessness. Kayiwa wishes everyone good.

He is also trustworthy; he can be trusted with everything from ­ finances to more. He is credit worthy, has cultivated a good and trusting relationship with his bankers and is a God-fearing man.

It is from him that I have learnt to be genuine, kind and humble because however unnerving a situation seems, Kayiwa handles it calmly.

What makes him tick?

I encourage teamwork among my workers. As a director, I involve myself in all aspects of the business from production to marketing to encourage my employees to work as a team.

I do not compromise on quality.

This has been one of our biggest sellers as a brand.

I also maintain a close relationship with our customers because I know without them, we are nothing.

As an indigenous manufacturer, I am sensitive to things that other manufacturers might take for granted such as the weather of our country.

I believe in applying appropriate technology and products suited for our environment. I bear this in mind when making paint.

I do not mix work with family. Yes, I do employ family members, but on merit like anyone else. Being family is no insurance against dismissal.

If you do not play by the rules, you leave.

Changing people’s mindsets is tough

The business of making and distributing paint is competitive, yet the profit margins are slim.

Many people believe that what was there will always be, forever and ever. If someone grew up seeing his parents use a certain brand of paint, he will not be open to using other brands on the market even when they might be better.

Unlocking such people’s minds to switch to new brands such as ours has become our biggest challenge.

Our business thrives on raising brand awareness among potential clients, yet advertising and marketing are expensive.

Paints manufacturing is a capital-intensive venture.

However, most of our distributors take our items on credit and do not pay fast, which creates cash flow problems for us. On top of that, commercial bank interest rates are not friendly, making it hard to procure financing for expansion

 

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