Nakayiza has turned ordinary charcoal traders into millionaires

By George Bita

For a 72-year-old, she moves around Rippon landing site in Jinja town with astounding ease. Her appearance somehow demands respect from most traders who greet her with reverence.

Occasionally, she stops to remind those who have not yet saved some money to do it so as not to squander all cash obtained from sales.

It seems like they all belong to one big family as she calls them by name. A few excuses of failure to save money crop up here and there, but are readily accompanied by a stern warning from the elderly woman that saving is an overriding factor for the survival of any business.

This is Fatuma Nakayiza’s daily routine. At her advanced age, one would expect her to be at home, depending on hand-outs, but she has decided otherwise.

Ever since Nakayiza started working as a charcoal seller here almost 42 years ago, she embraced the culture of saving.

“As a single mother, I realised that the only way to keep money safely was through savings. Not to leave others behind, I sold them the idea of a savings group,” she narrates.

Initially, Nakayiza agitated for an unofficial association with a designated amount of cash remitted per week. These funds enabled one member to benefit weekly as per an agreed rotational format.

“By 1995, we used to each contribute sh5,000 so that the beneficiary of the week walked away with sh500,000 from 100 members. Then we unanimously decided to create an official establishment,” she says.

As one of the brains behind the establishment of Rippon Market Savers Association (RIMAS), Nakayiza, now the patron, works tirelessly to ensure that the 560 members respect the ideals of the enterprise. 300 members are from the 52 islands that make up Buvuma district, the 260 are dealers from the mainland in Jinja district.

Nakayiza advises members to streamline operations by paying a mandatory sh300 from every sack of charcoal leaving the islands and landing at the Jinja site by boat. This means each week, the group generates an estimated sh1.3m.

Most of the traders at the landing site deal in charcoal, but of late, retailers with shops dealing in general merchandise have opened up near the Lake Victoria shoreline.

“Businessmen of these days tend to be spendthrifts. I recall in 1974, there was a trader here called Livingstone Magayi who taught me how to keep at least five cents from every profit earned,” Nakayiza observes.

According to her, Rippon landing site had only one structure serving as a store for Uganda Railways with traders sheltering in grass-thatched huts.

“We would stay in those huts with our charcoal that usually came in at night aboard big wooden boats. In the morning, the selling took place adjacent to the lakeside,” she says.

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The RIMAS offices at Rippon landing site in Jinja

Nakayiza’s influence

Esther Kyakulaga, a charcoal trader from Bubere village on Buvuma islands says Nakayiza helped her save enough cash to build a permanent house.

“I used to spend money with the view that I will make much more the next day. That does not happen anymore after I was convinced by this elderly woman to join the local savings group,” Kyakulaga reveals.

She discloses that over 250 islanders have been convinced to embrace the saving culture by Nakayiza.

Deogratius Musisi, a canoe owner says he joined RIMAS six years ago and has duly benefitted by acquiring his own boat.

“I used to dock at Rippon from Buvuma islands with 160 bags of charcoal three times a week. Interestingly, the boat I started work with was not mine but after Nakayiza begged me to learn to save, I am now a proud owner of my own,” Musisi says.
Martin Gakumba, the RIMAS chairman, appreciates Nakayiza for her effective mobilisation at the landing site.

“Her untiring efforts have assisted sellers to come together and save millions of shillings. It is now common for members to easily access loans at friendly interest rates, as low as 10%, compared to over 20% from commercial banks,” Gakumba says.

He says members mainly rush to borrow during the time for taking children back to school so as not to use up their business capital.

Who is Nakayiza?

 Nakayiza was born in 1941 in Gomba, Masaka district. She got married briefly to Musa Kasujja with whom they had two daughters, Mariam Nalubega and Aisha Nabukenya. Nalubega passed on, and Nabukenya is currently a housewife at Walwanda landing site in Buvuma district.

After separating from her husband, Nakayiza moved to Busoga and settled at Rippon landing site to become a charcoal dealer.

She insists that she is not done yet and hopes to live much longer to see the group become a fully-fledged savings and credit cooperative organisation.