Sometimes giving someone a second chance, is like giving them an extra bullet for their gun, National Social Security Fund (NSSf) offered a second chance to Mr. Birungi David of Masaka to keep his business dream alive
Birungi who had worked in DFCU Bank for over 10 years retired in 2006 at the age of 46 years and started on his long-term dream of creating his own business empire.
Setting up a city supermarket in Kampala was his first business venture immediately after retirement but this could not sustain itself hence collapsed, an ambitious Birungi did not give up then he started drinking a coffee business, like the previous enterprise, it could celebrate its first birthday.
You might think that after all this consistent failure, Birungi gave up, well no, he did not. He continued to invest in the alcohol (Waragi) business but unfortunately, the raw materials and packaging materials were not enough to sustain a stable production and hence collapsed as well.
Now, back to the drawing board, Birungi decided to withdraw his NSSF benefits that were worth Ugx36M in 2018 and this was another bullet in his gun and therefore it reignited his business dream.
Mr. Birungi used UGX10M to start a splendid residential house in Masaka and used UGX15M to start up a pineapple factory. As we speak, Mr. Birungi produces 20 cartons of pineapple juice on a daily basis selling each bottle of juice at Shs500.
“There is nothing like failure in my life, I am sure that determination leads to success, therefore, I must persue my dream until It’s alive. Without doubt, I must succeed by all means no matter what challenges come my way, “Birungi said
His product (pineapple wine) has already been tested twice by Uganda National Bureau of standards (UNBS) and according to Birungi, their response towards his product has consecutively been positive.
Currently his juice is being sold in Masaka town and the neighboring towns of Kyotera, Lakai, lyantonde and Sembabule and his target market is mainly the school going children, Boda Boda and supermarkets.
Birungi’s pineapple juice business was inspired by the brawny Mukwano industries that have existed for almost 50 years in Uganda dealing in small products such as soap, juice and mineral water with a constant supply overtime
You probably might be wondering, if Mr. Birungi has any challenges, yes, he does and his main challenge is the heavy taxes imposed by the existing regime on small scale industries. He continued to stress that high taxes stifles growth of small-scale industries
But like he said, Mr. Birungi is a hardliner and has managed to stand all the challenges and this has been possible because of his Banking background that rotates around record keeping for accountability and minimizing cost for each purchase.
Lastly, Mr. Birungi who is in his late 50 years gives a free advice to everyone to adopt the saving culture because according to him, it is still lacking among many Ugandans and he endorses the NSSF as the only trustworthy saving fund.
