SELLING ROLEX FOR SURVIVAL

By CJA participants in Seeta
Rolex is a slang word used to mean a fried chapatti with eggs. Ali Ibrahim is a young man who comes from Mukono District and left school in 2006 after failing to raise school fees when he performed well to join Secondary.  He was frustrated and stayed home without doing anything for one year.  In 2007, he started a small scale business of selling flied chapatti and eggs in Seeta Town, Mukono District, near Ridar Hotel.

He started this business after looking all round and finding out ‘completely’ that, there was no one to pay for his education. When he had just started, the business was doing well with so many customers, but now day’s customers are few. He attributes this to an increase in the prices of consumables. He gets customers from Seeta Town and school going children.  He is proud of his business as it keeps him busy. He cannot steal, as he is able to get enough to eat.  He does a lot of digging to supplement his business though he does not have enough land.  He interacts with the people who are dealing in the same business for ideas on its expansion.

To Ibrahim, everything does not seem colourful in his business. He noted the increasing prices of foodstuffs for example eggs, wheat, flour, cooking oil etc. He said “a tray of eggs is 6,000= and one egg ideally should be sold at 300=". But people cannot buy it at this much so he sells the egg at 150=”. He noted the challenge of high competition in the chapatti business, and the risk of chapatti getting spoilt if not bought. He is yearning for more funds to give him the capacity to expand his business and he still hopes for the best. He has the courage to expand the business if funds are available.

Ibrahim like many other young boys who have dropped out of school, has opted for this business to earn a living. The government of Uganda should increasingly support the establishment of these small scale businesses as they have proved well run, and thus offer a promise for future sustainability.

Posted by Brett on behalf of the team at the CJA training in Seeta.