Ugandan Businesses

Before coming here, I was really curious as to what types of businesses the people here would be running, and how they would be using the loan money.  During our first week, I have been able to see a few of the businesses here, as well as learn a little bit about them. 

A very common business is a piggery.  Typical piggeries we have visited have four to eight pigs.  Deo will always tell us about the quality of the pig house.  The worst one we have seen was akin to a shelter you would see on Survivor—a lean-to with a palm leaf roof.  The nicest one was cemented and had both an indoor and outdoor section for each pig.  Most have been moderate, strong looking wooden fences (pigs are pretty sturdy animals) with a decent roof.  With such a loose definitely of “pig house,” the quality of these structures is one of the things we will be checking out when people are applying for loans to purchase pigs.  One of the major problems in the pig industry is disease, which can sometimes be avoided by vaccinating the pigs.  People looking to get new loans have also considered different strategies such as purchasing a different (and more expensive) pig breed which produce more piglets. 

Chickens are also a common business.  It has gotten to be trickier, because of the price of feed.  Feed prices have been fluctuating a lot.  It has become more profitable to export the feed, which has raised the price here.  While many people have abandoned raising chickens, we have seen two very full chicken houses.  They are not my favorite, because the chickens are very loud and very crowded in there. 

We have also seen quite a few people who are involved in the growing or trading crops such as coffee and corn.  An issue that faces the people growing these crops is weather, as it is unpredictable.  Traders purchase in small quantities from many different sellers, and then sell in large quantities. 

We’ve seen other various businesses, such as hair salons (they actually spell in saloon here), breweries, and retail stores.  One store sells drinks, and was interested in getting a new loan for a refrigerator, to differentiate from her competitors.  Another lady sells alcohol, and her store of it looked quite interesting…she keeps it in a backroom in these yellow “jerrycans,” which are used to carry water here.  Our favorite business is of this lady, who makes and sells pancakes.  They are made out of sweet bananas, and are very delicious.  We want to go back and visit her again.