Orphaned at 12, Bagambe boldly faced the world

Deogratius Bagambe has been running his garage for five years. The little steps he took to become self-employed can be traced back to 1999. After the death of his father, Bagambe was abandoned by his mother. With no one to support him, he set out to find a way to survive.

HOW IT UNFOLDED

I was 12 years old when dad passed on. My mother could not afford to pay school fees for me. I knew life would never be the same again. And not long, she left me in the house alone. With no skill, I started fetching water for people in the area in order to make ends meet.

After some time, I left my home in Mbalwa in Namugongo and travelled to Kireka, a Kampala city suburb, where I ended up on the street searching for jobs.

One day, I walked up to a mechanical workshop and asked whether I could join them for training.

The fi rst reaction I got from them was that I was too young to do anything. However, I was willing to do any work in return for training. I had always been fascinated by cars.

Knowing how desperate I was, they let me train, but I was not treated well. At night, I would sleep in the garage. I persevered until I turned 17 years. By that time, I had saved sh450,000 from the small jobs I was doing. Armed with skills, I left and started something of my own.

I acquired a place near the road, but it was bushy and not strategically located. Seeing how good I was at repairing cars, word got around that I was a good mechanic who did not charge much. I got more customers and I moved to a bigger place that needed clearing and fencing.

I started with a fence made of papyrus reeds. With a permanent place and good work, clients came through. A year after I had started, I met a client who later became my friend. He encouraged me to be trustworthy in order to succeed. Luckily, he was a banker.

He got a loan from which he lent me sh2.5m. I used part of that money to buy old iron sheets that replaced the papyrus fence. The iron sheets made it a better place and even some of my former colleagues came to join me.

In eight months, after saving most of what I earned, I had cleared the loan. All I cared about was to see the garage operating without any debts that would later eat into my future earnings.

PROGRESS

After clearing the debt, I realized I could not operate the garage well without a source of spare parts. I did my best and saved about sh65,000 per month. After saving sh4.3m, I started a spare parts shop at my garage. With continuous saving, God helped me and I managed to buy more spare parts, which required expansion of the shop.

EMPLOYEES

I started with a team of three people. But one died after a year, the other started his own garage, while another one went into the spare parts business. I operated the garage alone for some time, but later recruited more employees.

I pay my employees according to the work done. Most of them have families to support and cannot wait for a monthly pay. Currently, I have six workers and fi ve students. At completion of training, I give them a certifi cate to show they trained with me.

Training is between eight months to one year. I recently acquired a plot of land on which I want to put a dormitory for my students.

This is part of my expansion plans. I appeal to any organisation that is willing to invest in my business to help out, so that we can equip the youth with skills and reduce on unemployment.

CLIENTELE

I have about 100 clients. Of these, 60 are stable clients; who will call me in case anything happens to their cars.

I have a car of my own that I give to such clients, so that they can continue with their work until theirs is repaired. Before working on your car, we agree on what you will pay for the costs. 

I do not ask for a deposit like it is the practice with other garages. I work out how much each car will cost to fi x and invoice the client asagreed upon. Once they have cleared, they take their car. My top clients are Hillcrest Company, who I signed an agreement with to handle their repairs. These pay me monthly.

HANDLING BUSINESS

I consider myself an employee of the workshop, so I pay myself for the job done and the rest of the money is re-invested in the business. I do not withdraw money just because I am the owner.