Atim Grace is a strong woman, she has tried all sorts of businesses including Cab driving to try to sustain her life and that of her family. After several failed business attempts, Grace decided to take a chance and venture into the honey business In January 2020. The drive to get started came from an overwhelming desire to do something that would sustain her livelihood. Fueled by passion and commitment Grace poured everything she had into starting Jebrac limited a business that sells 100% pure natural honey.
All she had to do to start the business was get capital and identify a harvester to supply her with honey in bulk. Using Y-save multi-purpose cooperative- a savings group run by Watoto church in Uganda to help cell members grow, she quickly withdrew one million shillings, established her business premises at Nsambya Ggaba Road near American embassy and started her business. By the end of January, she had identified a reliable harvester and started buying honey in bulk, repackaging it and selling it in smaller quantities.
She said she went into the honey business because of her passion and the need to solve a recurrent problem “I realized that many people have honey but they mix a lot of things, so instead of me sitting down and complaining about fake honey in the market, I said I should do something. I saw were there was a need and decided to meet it”, “Again there is readily available market for honey because of the health benefits” she said. Honey is not only food but medicine, Honey is rich in vitamin B6, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, sodium and zinc. Honey relieves a host of health problems like Insomnia, Indigestion, Coughs, Colds, Headaches, Fatigue, Anemias Acne, Ringworms, Eczema and many others.
Many people are well aware of the benefits of honey this made it abit easy for Grace to start growing her business because there was market for her honey but after Two months of operating her honey business successfully, everything went to a standstill because of lockdown restrictions imposed by the government by the end of march. The corona virus outbreak started killing hundreds of people in several countries and governments started instituting measures to curb the spread of the virus. The emergence of COVID-19 affected her business. Like millions across the globe Grace was forced to close her business. She like many other businesses in Uganda endured the consequences of covid-19 for nearly 5 months, she didn’t give up, she knew that selling honey was the business she was destined to do. “it had worked when I started in January, it had worked before and I knew it would work now, that’s why I decided to settle in for honey so I again started looking for a suppler after government started easing, lockdown restrictions”. The government of Uganda started easing some of its lockdown restrictions in late July at that point saloons, several business arcades were allowed to open, Boda Boda cyclists as well as public and private vehicles were allowed to operate. Government had realized that they could not lockdown businesses forever despite the fact that the virus was still spreading in the country. at that time the country had 1,072 COVID-19 cases and 958 of the patients had recovered and there was no death.
Transport helps in the movement of labor and other costs of production, after government eased restrictions on transport grace started looking for a harvester and continue the business she loved.
“After restrictions were eased, we resumed and I again started looking for suppliers, of course we tried to look for harvesters but they were not readily available so we found a suppler who obtained honey from genuine harvesters and they started supplying us in August”
This global pandemic changed people’s lives triggering what has now been termed the new normal which compels citizens to wash hands, social distance, wear masks, sanitize as well as follow SOPs established by governments. These SOPs are now choruses echoed loud on speakers of radios, televisions and computers across the globe. Despite the slow return to normal, businesses are facing increased costs of production associated with expenditures spent on following SOPs and high transport costs.
“Our supplier was from Arua but Arua honey is out of season, so the harvesters cross to DR Congo buy honey and then bring it to Arua then they supply us. Of Course, the price increases because of distance” The more the channels of distribution in business, the higher the final price paid by customer because each market intermediary wants a slice of profits from the business. Grace used to buy a 20-liter jerrycan at between 130,000 to 150,000 shillings and spend a total of 60,000 shillings on transport but now because of the impact of covid-19 on transport the costs have doubled “a 20-liter jerrycan of honey costs between 250,000 to 300,000 shillings. Transport is now 120,000”. Despite the fact that price of honey doubled, grace sells approximately 10 liters of honey a week.
Grace sells each liter of well packaged honey at 25,000 shillings. “We package our honey in one-liter containers that we get from Mukwano and print our labels on paper and stick them on the bottles, its more costly but you have to build a brand and every business has the responsibility to do so”. She intends to start packaging her products in containers of 200grams,250 grams ad 300 grams, she plans to get these packaging materials from kikuubo a place in kampala where one can find all types of plastic containers.
Like any other business Grace faced a few challenges. “At the beginning people don’t trust your honey, you have to convince them that you only sell pure natural honey, they ask for samples even when they see the specifics on the advert they don’t believe because they are used to unscrupulous dealers who adulterate their honey.” Additionally, she said, “customers want to buy the honey cheaply, yet you have invested in a lot, they want more and they what it at a low cost”. Besides those challenges Grace has had several successes. One of the key factors for Graces’ success is that she doesn’t compromise the quality of her honey with additional substances, “I sell 100% natural pure honey and customers demand it because of its benefits. Honey is medicine, that’s why I have attracted many customers from different parts of kampala, wakiso and Entebbe.”
It’s well documented that for any business to succeed quality must be at the forefront of all activities. Quality is what attracts or repels customer to and from a product. “My customers trust the quality of my products. they always make repeat purchases and they usually make referrals. “I focus on integrity, honesty and producing something genuine, if I promise I should deliver, I also make sure I never run out of honey, it should always be available for people so that there are no excuses, customers should get it when they need it.” Grace makes deliveries for free within kampala “if clients are far like Entebbe or mukono we might have to share the transport costs”. She said “free deliveries affect the business a little because it enters into the profit margin, but I can endure that for now”
To improve on the speed of deliveries, Grace wants to purchase a scooter that will help her navigate and maneuver through the jam-packed streets of kampala. Grace utilizes ICT platforms for selling her honey directly to customers and makes deliveries on call like many other businesses trying to resurrect and survive under new circumstances imposed on us by the corona virus. Maximizing online platform to market products is now inevitable for many businesses. “ Although I make most of my sales at my business premises, one must utilize ICT platforms, I think business will survive using ICT platforms especially now in this covid-19 era, that’s why am on all social media platforms like WhatsApp, facebook, twitter and LinkedIn as well as more business oriented platforms like Sokoni-links which directly links buyers and sellers. “on a scale of 100, I give ICT usage 80% because it works for us, people see the products and the advert and then they call”
Sokoni links helps market Grace`s business because customers can see images and videos of her honey, directly share or print her business page, Grace gets reviews and feedback from customers who directly contact businesses through hyperlinked Emails and Phone numbers, they can easily locate her business because Maps on the site provides directions.
Business need to have direction set by vision and mission statements. we asked about her vision ,what she saw Jebrac limited in the next five years “In the next five years if it were possible I want to have a bee farm, I don’t know how but that’s the level I should get to instead of getting honey from Congo somebody needs to do something, we have a lot of land, climate is favorable for anything to thrive.” Instead of being a small retailer in a shop, I hope to be a large-scale producer of honey someday”
currently she is building trust among her customers because she sees them as a valuable part of her business success “People should just trust us, especially us who are new in this business, we want to erase those negative opinions about honey caused by dishonest sellers, that’s why we are here” she said as we ended the 16 minutes phone interview. The management of Sokoni links limited congratulates and wishes Grace Atim success in all her endeavors business or other wise and will continue supporting her business using our Sokoni links marketing platforms.
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