Kennedy Zziwa has built a reputation as one of the most reputable hair stylists in the country. He ditched his computer science profession to become a kinyoozi.
Zziwa is a 30 year old barber or kinyoozi (Luganda for barber) and a computer science graduate from Makerere University,” Kennedy Zziwa, arguably Kampala’s most celebrated hairstylist at the moment says.
Zziwa’s choice of career did not just come out of the blue. Zziwa opens up about being so non-conventional straight from childhood. He was always fascinated by the arts. “In primary school, I was an actor with the Ebonies,” he reveals.
“I acted in productions such as Bibaawo and the Diamond Ring. So backstage, I used to see the makeup artistes, the hair guys and I used to get deeply enthralled by their craft. The backstage preparations actually amazed me much more than the actors themselves did. My interest in hair started mushrooming then but well, I could not do much about it.” This well was because Zziwa’s parents were much so conventional and wanted him to keep in school.
Zziwa went on through secondary school, excelled at O-Level to the extent that he took on sciences in A-Level. However, his passion for the arts deep within was still blazing. It is to no surprise that he studied Fine Art alongside his science combination. He excelled at the sciences and was told to pursue on computer science at Makerere by his parents.
“In my final year it dawned on me that I either find a job after graduation or find a way of realising my hair dream before it was all too late,” Zziwa recells. “While everyone was finding a way of getting a job, I was finding a way of not getting a job but still survive.”
Zziwa then decided it was time to move forward. He enrolled for a short beauty course at the Tina School of Beauty while graduation at university was approaching.
“In 2012, with savings worth Shs800,000, right after graduation, I relocated to Gayaza. While at university, I was staying in a hall, so after campus I either had to move back home or find somewhere else to live. If I moved back home, I was sure my parents would get me a job because they were well connected government civil servants, but remember I was trying not to get a job,” Zziwa says.
With a quest to chase his dream, Zziwa moved to Gayaza where he rented a room worth Shs250,000 a month which would act as his salon during day and bedroom during the night. Worsestill, he used all his savings to buy salon equipment and he was left with nothing. He could not even afford a mattress. He slept on a mat during that time.
By that time his focus wasn’t on the money, it was abouthow to make it without doing what society expected of him. He wasn’t ready to give in to parental pressure for him to get a white collar job.
“My parents were not okay with it. I mean look, here is your son with a reputable university degree fast grooming himself into a kinyoozi,” he says.
After a rough year, Zziwa sold off cows he had acquired off an inheritance and bought an air ticket to China just to go on a random holiday.
“I knew no body there. I just went to experiment whether I could thrive in a place where nobody speaks English. Just to challenge myself. However, I had a return ticket, just in case things backfired,” he recalls.
When he got to the airport, he knew no one, so he just followed the majority through customs and got a random cab guy who through sign communication got him to a motel. Fortunately, the place had Ugandan prostitutes. When his nights at the motel were done, they took him to anapartment in which they were staying as he had made friends with them. Along the way, he started doing their hair.
“When I did one prostitute’s hair and they liked it, they all flooded me for the service. They were paying me excellently too,” he says.
He stayed in China for close to four years and occasionally moved from city to city within those four years.
“Right after those four years, I decided to relocate to Berlin, but right before that, I decided to come back home just to visit my mother. When I came back, it occurred to me that well, eventually, I would still have to come back home. So I was like well, why not just settle home?”
“So I got all my savings and decided to get a place at Kisementi because I loved the place even before I left Uganda. I also realised there were so many foreigners in Kisementi which was favourable because I had acquired skills to work with different races and ethnicities. So I wanted a place that would be a melting point,” Zziwa says.
“There was space at Krishna Mall, so I went to town bought equipment. The only thing I imported was my scissor. There are particular scissors that I like, I imported them. I treasure my scissors so much in that when I pull them out, I feel like everyone should vacate the premises, even the clients,” he jokes on how much he adores his scissors.
Settling in came with its own challenges for instance, getting standard equipment was no easy fete and getting his desired colour theme was quite hard.
“Getting clientele was easy; I think it was just luck. Journalists too helped me push the brand. I also had a launch for the brand. Besides, I run this entity as a company because it’s registered as one so I have a management structure,” adds the barber.
“However, whenever I get stylists they never meet my standards, so training is a challenge. And worse still, after training them, they leave,” he complains.
“My parting shot to anyone out there is that the only hindrance between you and your dream is you. If you have the will, nothing can stop you.”
