Uneducated millionaire owes wealth to L.Victoria

May 24, 2013

We visited Dolwe Islands and bring you the story of one man who has made use of plastic bags.

By Matthias Mugisha

Until World Environment Day, June 5, in a campaign, Save Lake Victoria, Vision Group media platforms is running  investigative articles, programmes and commentaries highlighting the irresponsible human activities threatening the world’s largest fresh water lake. We  visited Dolwe Islands and bring you the story of one man who has made use of plastic bags in an effort to save the environment.

Sitting on an inclined chair, legs stretched, radio in hand and eyes closed, he cuts a figure of a sun- bathing crocodile.
Yolamu Yamulemye, 58, is a Primary Two school drop-out millionaire with the ability to instantly part with sh800m on request.

In some way, Yamulemye, commonly known as ‘Mukiga’, shares some common aspects with crocodiles. Mukiga, a former smuggler and self-made tycoon on Dolwe Island on Lake Victoria, will open his eyes and greet you as you approach, the way crocodiles may appear asleep, while they sun-bathe, but would instantly snap when you approach.

That is not the only similarity. Crocodiles live and feed in water. Mukiga has made his fortune from water. “Without water and fish, I would not be here,’’ he says.

Today, under his company, Dolwe Logistics, Mukiga runs the only reliable money lending business and owns houses in Dolwe Islands among other things. He does not lend out money less than sh5m. He also owns a fleet of mini buses in Kampala. So many things make him stand out. He is the only man with computers, Internet and photocopying services on the island.

While photocopying one page costs sh100 in Kampala, Mukiga charges sh2,000. And the queues keep growing. But it is not only the photocopiers that he charges exorbitantly. For accommodation at his lodges, he charges three times more to strangers than he normally charges.

Luckily for him, he is not short of clients. Mukiga’s tenants are mostly “happy go” girls he fondly calls bazukulu (granddaughters). In return, they refer to him as jaja (grandfather).

STARTING OUT

One day, a friend told him about the opportunities in Dolwe Island. “I did not have capital to start a business so I thought hard and this idea of plastic sachets came up. They were free and littered all over Kampala, yet the fishermen wanted them. I started collecting them. Some people thought I was a raving lunatic,’’ Mukiga explains.

He was so broke by the time he went to Dolwe he could not afford the boat fare. A Good Samaritan transported him on a container boat free-of-charge.

“I first came to Dolwe on a container boat carrying the sachets worth sh30,000, which I had picked as trash from Nakivubo channel. They sold like hot cakes,’’ Mukiga narrates.

In Dolwe, a kind man called Ivan Sekiti accommodated him on compassionate grounds. Overwhelmed by the demand for his ’trash’ on the island, Mukiga, hired extra help to collect the sachets from around Kampala and Nakivubo channel. They still do today. A pack of 100 sachets costs sh10,000.

“I could not meet the demand so I started making orders from factories. That was when the money started rolling in,’’ he adds.

With increased revenues, Mukiga diversified his business and started dealing in swim bladders. The emondo or ennuni (swim bladder) is an internal gas-filled organ that contributes to the ability of a fish to control its buoyancy.

In some Asian cultures, the swim bladder is considered a food delicacy. In China, they are known as fish maw and are served in soups or stews.

Swim bladders are also  used in the food processing industry as a source of collagen. They can be made into a strong water-resistant glue, or used to make glass. A kilogramme of swim bladder from a mature Nile perch costs an average of sh400,000 on landing sites from middle men. “Swim bladders brought me millions. Today, I employ graduates despite my level of education,’’ he says.

Mukiga has people working for him in his money lending business too. Although he cannot operate a computer, all his dealings and transactions with clients are computerised. His biggest clients are fishermen who use their boats and engines as collateral. He says his capital base is close to sh1b.

BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY

“Nobody is my brother. I came to make money,’’ he concludes. But war betides the stubborn borrowers, who underestimate and try to cheat Mukiga because he did not go to school. They will soon discover what else Mukiga has in common with a crocodile.

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