Hands, Head, and Heart: Bena Creates Her Own Success
Nalukenge Bena, a vibrant 45-year-old mother of four from Makindye, Uganda, found herself without a business and fully dependent on her husband before joining the Street Business School training program.
She learned about Street Business School through the community chancellor, who convened a meeting for the leaders. Given Bena’s role as the women’s representative, she was entrusted with mobilizing women in her community to enroll in the training program. Recognizing the opportunity, she eagerly signed up.
Throughout the training, two modules resonated deeply with Bena – Module 5 on Market Research and Module 4 covering Bookkeeping. Though she always harbored a business idea, lack of capital seemed a formidable obstacle. Bena, however, never anticipated that she could own a business. “I mainly joined the training program to learn how to run a business and later get a loan. I was addicted to borrowing and getting loans. Sometimes I would get a loan and just keep it. I loved knowing that I just have money on me even when I wasn’t using it for anything, but the SBS coaches advised us to stay away from loans,” Bena revealed.
Before she graduated from the program, Bena started conceptualizing business ideas. Realizing that she didn’t need a loan, she initiated her venture with the little she had. “During the training, I realized that I didn’t even need the $52.71 that I had spent a long time waiting for to start. All I needed were my hands, head, and legs,” Bena confessed. The training sessions instilled confidence in her, with the coaches emphasizing that women can indeed be entrepreneurs.
After completing the Street Business School training program, Bena’s perspective shifted, and she began spotting opportunities everywhere. “Everywhere I looked, I saw opportunities. I would see leaves and just see money since I could make herbal medicine for cough out of the mango tree leaves,” Bena shared.
She seized the opportunity to sell cooked food, saving money for daily upkeep and eventually starting her food business with $5.27. She initially cooked pilau and beans, selling each plate for $0.66 to neighbors. This not only helped her find a market but also promoted her business.
As her customer base expanded, Bena reinvested her profits to increase the quantity of food she prepared. Venturing into hawking the food on a wheelbarrow, she enlisted Benita, her 19-year-old daughter’s help, creating a mother-daughter team. “My oldest daughter comes with me, and we hawk the food. We usually started moving at midday since that’s the time for lunch until 4 pm,” said Bena.
Presently, Bena prepares 5kgs of rice, 1 kg of posho, 1 kg of beans, and a kg of peas daily, generating profits ranging from $5.27 to $7.91. Expressing gratitude for the knowledge gained from the training program, Bena acknowledges that it has transformed her into a successful entrepreneur.
Now, Bena rears chicken and goats, sells firewood, and runs a catering business. She gets hired to cook food at big functions like birthday parties and weddings. She started her own company and named it Wood Haven Creative Catering Services. “I am a whole CEO now to my own catering company. All the people that looked down at me before, now ask me to employ them on my team whenever I have a big function to cook at.” Bena makes a profit of $88.88 every time she is called to a function.
Bena hires people in her community and inspires other women to work hard and not wait for someone to come and save them. “I advise women to be hardworking because poverty is the start of all their problems, especially domestic violence,” Bena advised.
Bena has made significant strides towards developing herself and her family. Right now, she is building her own house in the village. “The Street Business School Training program completely changed my life. I have never got a loan ever since I attended the training, yet I’ve been thriving. Something I never knew that I could do,” Bena said with a smile.
Written by Lilian Nansubuga
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