With less education, Mbaziira has curved a business out of cactus

Sep 07, 2020

He reveals that he has been in gardening since 1997. Though he never went to school, Mbaziira says he can do gardening and landscaping.

FARMING | GARDENING 

With less education, Moses Mbaziira the owner of Potting Shed emulated his foreign bosses in Lubowa on Entebbe road where he worked as a gardener and as a result, he earned himself a lifelong business.

"They called me to attend to their gardens and I leant all the basics," Mbaziira reveals.

In 2018, he won a backyard gardening award. He specializes in all types of cactcus plants.

How he started

After completing his primary leaving exams in1995 and getting 12 aggregates, Mbaziira a resident of Insigiro district did not have any finances to further his education.

He decided to come to Kampala.

 "When my sister came to the village during Easter holidays," he recalls, "I asked her if there was anything I could do in Kampala. She told me that her master had a herdsman who was always disturbing him."

So, having heard that, Mbaziira sold his goats and got transport to Kajjansi on Entebbe road.  

Mr. Lutaaya gave him a job as a herdsman and he was there from1995 to 1996. 

As he grazed the cows, Mbaziira came in contact with Anna Pierson a white woman who had a backyard garden in Lubowa.

Her compound had grown grass.

"She requested me to graze the cows in her compound so that the animals eat the grass. She also wanted manure from the cows to fertilize her small garden," he recalls.

Learning skills

As he brought the cows to graze, Mbaziira also took interest in learning from Ismail Sebbi, Pierson's gardener.

In 1997, he quit shepherding the cows and concentrated on gardening in Lubowa. 


Not so long, Sebbi got misunderstanding with Pierson and her husband and he was let go.  Mbaziira replaced him.

When Pierson's husband succumbed to lung cancer in U.S.A, she left Uganda and Mbaziira had no job.

Fortunately, Mbaziira had cultivated a relationship with Trevor Dudley the owner of Kampala Kid's League and his wife.

"While I worked with Ms Pierson, I used to help Dudley and his wife with cultivation of berries and also maintaining their gardens," he says. "So, when I asked them for a job, they gave it to me."

Venturing into cactus growing

Mbaziira had noticed Dudley buying expensively cactus, a desert plant.  

He suggested they grow it from the seed. Dudley bought the seeds from London and surprisingly they germinated.

That is how Mbaziira started venturing into cactus.    

He also has a variety of the cactus plant. "I have more than 100 species of cactus," he says.

"They can have a thousand seeds but it is hard to harvest them if you are not an expert."

He worked for the couple from 2002 to 2018.


Establishing his garden

When the Dudleys left Uganda, Mbazira shifted his garden from Lubowa to Guraga on the Entebbe road.

Prior to that, he had already started selling cactus on garden fairs.

He reveals that he has been in gardening since 1997.  Though he never went to school, Mbaziira says he can do gardening and landscaping.

In spite of that, Mbaziira used to read books about gardening that Dudley brought for him from the United States.

"Everything I do, I have learnt from experience," he says.

In future, Mbaziira hopes to establish a school and educate others about gardening. 

Shifting last year (2019) from Lubowa to Garuga, Mbaziira reveals he spent sh16m to shift the plants, build the shades and also organising the entire area.  

 "I had only saved sh12m but my former employer supplemented me with the rest of the money," he says.

For such plants, Mbaziira says people mostly purchase them during school holidays and public holidays, because that is when they have time to tend to them.

Coping with COVID-19

Mbaziira says he lost a lot of business during the three months lockdown.   

"During that time, we never made any money since everyone was staying home," he says.

Growing cactus

According to Mbaziira, the cactus plant takes two and half years to mature.  That is when people can relocate it from the pot to the place of their choice.

Unlike flowers which die without water, cactus can thrive well even without water for six months and can grow for more than 100 years.

He says cactus can be used to beautify a home, they can be placed in the living, bedroom and outdoor.   

However, he warns that some types are harmful so one needs to care more so those with children.

Mbaziira is a member of Uganda Tropical plant association and the backyard gardeners, Uganda.

Robert Muwanguzi, a senior gardener says working with Mbaziira has given him skills of gardening and also learning how to take care of the cactus.




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