Ndugwa in front of one of his mills.
By Samuel Lutwama
When 34- year-old Daniel Ndugwa dropped out of school in S2 at Kireka High School, he caused a stir in his family. He was like the proverbial prodigal son. His elder brother who was paying his tuition was incensed. At the age of 17, Ngugwa decided to start a new life on the island of Kiyindi.
Using the little English he had learnt at school he started selling smoked fish to neighbouring Islands in Kenya.
“The little English I knew at the time gave me an edge over other fishmongers. I could communicate and gain the trust of many people. I, however, lacked the experience that those who had been in the business longer had.”
Ndugwa made lots of money and soon he picked a reckless lifestyle. “I used to have a lot of people in the bar drinking on my account,” he says.
Sadly, however, one incident in 1997 changed his life. His precious merchandise went bad. Suddenly, he became a fugitive, always on the run at the sight of those who had trusted him with their merchandise.
“For quite some time, I was a hunted man. I did petty jobs for survival for a whole year,” he says. Ndugwa’s desperate efforts won him the sympathy of a lady who was doing business at Marenga Port.
The lady introduced me to the idea of selling fuel to different ports. He heeded her advice and his new business prospered.
But, before long, his dreams were shattered once again when the one of the lady’s boats capsized and she died. He tried several businesses thereafter, but lacked the financial clout to sustain him in the business.
Moving to Kampala
At the time, he thought of moving to Kampala and exploring what other business opportunities were available. With only sh180,000, to his name, Ndugwa set off for Kampala. On his way to Kampala, he lost the money.
At home, his wife was expecting their second child. And just like the prodigal son, Ndugwa returned to his elder brother for financial help. “I knew that my brother was still enraged because I had dropped out of school,” he says.
His elder brother gave him sh100,000. It was like a drop in the ocean; he had so many needs at the time. The first thing he did was to find accommodation for his family and then start doing odds jobs.
Among the things he did was carrying bags for clients who transacted business in Owino Market. “What still amazes me is how I used to carry extremely heavy loads,” he recalls with amusement.
Soon, his services were sought after by clients. He positioned himself near a grain mill in Kisenyi. One of the proprietors of the grain mill had a medical problem and had to be away for some time.
Ndugwa seized the opportunity and managed the business in her absence. It was then that his business potential was manifested. He capitalised on her weaknesses to build his own personal cliental base.
“I knew that the owner of the grain milling machine was not good at customer care so I started building a loyal customer base. By the time she came back, the business was flourishing,” he says. Customers used to make a long queue seeking his service. Ndugwa was sacked without notice.
Daniel Ndugwa's home.
The birth of his vision
Just before he was sacked, he heard a sermon in which the pastor preached about leaving the known life in pursuit of the unknown destiny.
“I had no idea that the sermon was directed at me until I was sacked from the job,” he says. With this newfound freedom, Ndugwa was able to widen his cliental base.
Using the money he had saved when he worked as a casual labourer, he became a broker (kayungirizi) between clients and suppliers. One day, he made a deal that spurred him to put all his energy and resources into what he was doing at the time. He saved money and closed more business deals. It was then that the idea of printing business cards came into his mind.
“I printed the business cards in 2000, seven years before I registered my company,” he says.
To give his company authenticity, he printed receipts that accompanied the transactions. As a believer he was inspired by a scripture in the Bible, Habakkuk 2: 2 that talks about writing down the vision before it comes into existence.
How he started Bisoboka General Supplies
In 2004, he met Samuel Mukasa the proprietor of Biyinzika Enterprises. Ndugwa learnt a lot about business from him. Mukasa was a big influence on him.
Ndugwa transformed his business, Bisoboka General Supplies, into a household name among traders dealing in agricultural products here in Uganda and beyond.
He decided to expand his business beyond the Ugandan borders and his preferred country was Southern Sudan. The demand of agricultural merchandise was high yet very few traders could risk to go to there. He became a leading supplier of soya, sorghum and maize to the government of South Sudan.
He boasts of having a special business relationship with the government of Southern Sudan. However, he has gone through several challenges that would perhaps intimidate some to give up. He has been harassed and intimidated by Sudanese and because of bureaucracy, getting paid takes a long time.
He says that God has blessed him beyond measure, “The first thing I did after getting a financial breakthrough was to build a big commercial house in my childhood village of Kidokoro in Mukono district as a way of honouring my humble background.
Later, I constructed several other commercial buildings in and around Kampala. But the highlight of my career has been building my dream home at Massajja, off Salama Road, in Kampala.
“I bought a road and named it after my company; it is called ‘Bisoboka’ Road,” he says. He however refused to disclose his current capital saying proudly “what you should know is our capital is big enough for me to take my family on holidays to Europe, Dubai and Israel.”