Every year more than 700,000 students graduate from 247 higher education institutions in Uganda out of these graduates only, 90,000 are able to secure formal jobs leaving the balance of 610,000 graduates jobless. This has caused many youths to lose morale in education seeing it as a wastage of time since one of the core reasons of them being educated was to secure jobs.
On average, a University student is given an upkeep of UGX 800,000 per semester to cater for his/her welfare while at campus. A few students save some money well as others spend it all. If utilized well, the savings from the upkeep can be used to startup or invest in something.
According to research, most of the rich people in Uganda has earned a lot of money from the informal sector where they invest in small businesses like Boda-Boda’s, restaurants, hawking merchandises among others. Any business regardless of how much you use as capital has the potential to grow into something big.
The hive today has extracted some of the small businesses in Uganda you can start with little capital while at campus and you secure your future through self-employment. You can operate these businesses within your rooms/hostels.
Printing and photocopying business.
90% of university students have laptops and know how to use them through typing, designing, this is capital and skills accompanied to it.
If you are in a hostel or any busy place, this is one of the most profitable businesses you can start. What one needs is to buy a printer and start earning money through printing, photocopying, typing and scanning. A multi-functional printer one that can print, scan and photocopy ranges from UGX 250,000 to UGX 1.5M.
Mobile Money Business
M-money has grown enormously and it is one of the rewarding business ideas in Uganda today. Even if this business seems crowded, no matter where you are operating at, you can be assured that at the end of the day you will still make a profit. You need to have a small buttoned phone which costs between UGX 30K-50k, two mobile money lines i.e. Airtel and MTN of which you can buy or hire them from a person and float of at least UGX 200K. This requires between UGX 1M and UGX 2M depending on the ownership of the lines.
Juice Blending/Fruit Business.
With so many terminal illnesses like cancer, most people opt to stay away from processed foods. You can help people adopt healthier lifestyles by starting a juice blending and fruit stand within your room for students to enjoy after their lectures.
With a seed capital of 300,000 to buy a blender, fruits and containers and you are good to go and make money.
Boutique (Especially Ladies clothings)
This is among the business ideas that most Ugandans fear venturing into.
However, clothes business is booming and if you are looking for a business to start, this would be the best place to.
The good news is that you don’t require a lot of capital to go into the business. With as little as 300,000 you can start selling women clothes.
All you need is to know where you will be buying clothes from and a good location in this case, your hostel room can still work and save on rent. Most people buy closes at Owino market in Kampala.
You can be assured that on an average day, you can make a profit of around 15,000 shillings.
We shall continue to share more business ideas one can implement while at campus and live a happy and joyful life as a student.
Caution: don’t invest tuition and hostel fees in any of the above businesses, invest by using the money you have saved.
