After his Bachelor’s degree in Micro-finance at Kyambogo University in 2013, Wahab Mutebire who hails from Mbarara secured a job as an auditor with one of the hotels in Entebbe.
“I was so happy that I did not struggle to acquire a job, and my salary went on rising from Shs200,000 to Shs300,000 in just a couple of months all coming as a result of my hard work and my commitment at work,” Wahab told Matooke Republic.
Despite the fact that Wahab could take things slow and relax in anticipation of more salary increments as time went on, Wahab decided he would not sit on his laurels but would instead be a dream chaser.
“I was happy at my workplace but I could not give up on my dream right from campus that I had to become an entrepreneur one day. I made sure I saved the biggest part of my salary. Good enough I was still staying with my parents so rent was not a thing to worry about,” added Wahab.
After working for two years, Wahab was earning as much as Shs800,000 as his salary every month and that is how he managed raise Shs4.5m in savings.
“With all this money on my account, I nearly bought one of my friend’s second hand Toyota Rav4. But another of my friends advised me to invest my money in a candle making project,” Wahab recalled.
It was an idea that instantly had the young man from Mbarara excited. Wahab said he went ahead and did lots of research about it “and the good thing I was already versed with the knowledge of how candles are made on my short training in Kenya while I was still in my O’ Level vacation.”
So for him, the only task was finding out how much the machines and other raw materials cost. He was in for a big shock. After doing extensive surveys, he realised he needed about Shs9m to get his dream venture off the ground.
That did not dampen his mood, however. He engaged his dad who was by then working with the Uganda Revenue Authority who gave him Shs2m that he topped up to start his business, in 2016.
And that is how the ‘Smart Candles’ firm in Masanafu was birthed. “I chose to continue with my regular job until last year, after realising my firm was getting established.
So far I have about 15 workers from the ones that operate the machine to the ones that hawk our finished products.
“We specifically manufacture blue candles, which are hard enough meaning they take a long time to melt. Our target buyers are wholesalers from town. We also do door to door selling, with a half dozen of candles, sold at Shs1000,” Wahab said. Does not sound bad at all for a 28-year-old entrepreneur.
How candles are manufactured
Wax is the main raw material used in making candles. It is sold in boxes of 25kgs with each box costing about Shs7,000 and from one of the boxes, about 120 candles can be produced.
Despite challenges of increasing prices of wax and other raw materials used to manufacture candles, the budding candle manufacturer says he has never regretted investing his money in a candle-making project which he said rewards him with about Shs180,000 in profit per week.