“Because of our dwindling fish catch, when we heard about the LEAF II Project, we approached them and they offered us training as well as starter kits to enable us begin commercial production of school chalks, hair shampoo, and liquid soap to complement our fishing income,” says Godfrey Dunia, chairperson of the Joint Effort for Economic Development (JID Company), an amalgamation of three community groups from Mahyoro Landing site on Lake Edward, Kitagwenda district, southwestern Uganda. The LEAF II trained the group in 2018 to make soap, chalk and shampoo and in labeling and marketing.
“Although we were confident that our products were of high quality, we did several random tests to prove that. We for example, bought several boxes of chalk from big established companies and replaced the chalk inside with ours and gave them out free to schools to get feedback, and they all said our chalk was great! So presently our main challenge is to convince people to buy chalk branded with our company name, and that is still work in progress,” says Dalaus Sseluyima, the group secretary.
The group says their biggest challenge came when schools closed for a year and half because of Covid-19. This left them with over 500 boxes of chalk in stock and several containers of liquid soap. The say the market is however slowly recovering. The second challenge they cite is access to raw materials.
“We get our raw materials from Kampala, 345 kilometres away, and this eats into our profit margin. However, our trainer, who is based in in Kampala, has supported us by buying raw materials on our behalf and sending them to us,” Godfrey Dunia the group chair explains. The group collected savings from members, bought cameras and laptops and diversified into photography and videography for weddings and birthday celebrations. They also got a loan from the Gender Ministry and bought a motorcycle (boda-boda) for transporting their produce. According to the group secretary, these side businesses have held the group together. He explains that fishers prefer quick money, and any delay of income could have demoralized them and made them exit.
“I am very impressed with them because they are doing something unique, and I encourage them to market their produce in bulk directly to schools to penetrate the market and compete with established brands. I also encourage them to train their women members on use of computers,” said Eng. Sowed Sewagudde, the Acting Commissioner for Transboundary Waters of Uganda, who was part of the team that visited this group early 2022.
The Multinational Lakes Edward and Albert Integrated Fisheries and Water Resources (LEAF II) was a project of NELSAP/NBI funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). NELSAP-CU implemented the project in collaboration with the Governments of the D.R Congo and Uganda. The project ended on 31st March 2022.