Liz, as she prefers to be called, is 23 years old and is employed as a chef at Karibuni fast food restaurant and bar in Hoima. Two weeks before this interview, she had opened a roadside fast food business selling potato fries and roasted sausages.  

The agile chef from Kiombozi Hoima, earns UGX 150,000 (USD 35) per month as salary from her regular job at Karibuni Restaurant, but was also able to save some money for 6 months before she ventured into her own food business.  

“I only set up my roadside restaurant when I break off from work in the evening and I’m happy it supplements my income,” she says.

Her dream of becoming a chef did not materialize on a silver platter. She had wanted to become a nurse but she did not pass her core science subjects to qualify for a nursing certificate course.  Catering was her only available next option.  She then counseled herself and enrolled. She says that she does not look back with regret because her choice is paying off well.

She adds that at first it was boring to be a cook but she was motivated by the fact that the food business needs little capital to start, has a readymade market and a non-limited number of customers.
“You see, everyone, whether poor or rich has to eat; you just have to position yourself well where your product can sell,” she affirms.

Liz was exposed to an environment where girls are particularly skilled to compete favorably in a male-dominated world. She says that her roadside business has provided her with an environment to learn extra skills like budgeting and accounting for resources, managing sales and costs of production plus others related to running a business.

Like most business people, Liz has a dream of growing bigger in business.  The present challenge is that fact the tax collectors who collect market dues want all the little money she makes but she adds that she has endured knowing that tomorrow will be better.  

Millennium Business School, which is located in the Western region of Uganda in the district of Hoima, mainly specializes in Catering and Hospitality, Hairdressing and other female-dominated trades.