Starting from scratch despite her heritage – she is insistent on making the world know that she did not inherit the business or machinery from Sembule – fate has independently cast her in a business that has been a part of her family for decades. Carolyne Nakazibwe spoke to her last week.
When I walked into Mesha Steel Ltd in Busega, it had all the hallmarks of a male-run – or better still – Indian-run business, because that is what we associate with steel mills. Only that the person behind Mesha is all woman – Lydia Mwesigwa, a businesswoman, pastor, wife and mother.
She prides herself in being the only woman in the steel industry in Uganda, Africa, and as far as she knows, the Americas, because she has not bumped into another ‘woman of steel’ like herself. When I was ushered into the office part of the Mesha complex, I was struck by how many women manned the offices there. In fact, I did not see a single man in this part of the business, with Mwesigwa taking a corner desk in the pool office.
“I spend most of my time here; I only go upstairs to my office to rest or for meetings,” she said.
Employing 150 people currently, 56 of them women, I mentioned how interesting it was, seeing the number of women in this business.
“Women are trustworthy. I wanted them in the factory too, but they cannot work at night and we are like a family; we feel one another,” Mwesigwa said.
Once we sat down in her office to talk, she told me of her foray into the steel industry, going out on a limb after she had gone two years without a job.
“I used to work as a saleslady in Sembule Steel Mills. When it collapsed, I lost my job, but decided to spend my days in church (Mutundwe Christian Fellowship and Glorious Church) for two years, instead of sitting at home. It is from there that I would go to pick my children from school,” she said.
Utilising a piece of land she and her husband Pr Paul Mwesigwa had in Busega, Mwesigwa put up a small structure with help from her husband and sister. From there, she would buy round bars in Nakawuka and resell them mainly to Cheap Hardware in Kasubi, Viva Hardware and Hardware World, a modest business that would earn her not more than Shs 150,000 in profit monthly. That was 2013.
“From there, I sought to buy a round bar machine from China,” Mwesigwa said. “I am very good at doing due diligence; so, I found someone trustworthy to buy it for me. That was my first investment and for some time I made only round bars.”
The company has since expanded beyond making just round bars, now making expanded metal lath (used for ceiling reinforcement), barbed wire, BRC (building reinforcing concrete), as well as chain-link. From just one machine, now each of the products they make has its own machine.
“In fact I don’t count the first years when someone would see me and ask, ‘Why are you here? Don’t you work?’” Mwesigwa said. “I count the last four to five years. That is when Mesha took off. Yet I still see Mesha as very young; it is other people that tell me we have grown. For me, all I know is work, work, work.”
Hers is an extremely busy life, because with her second product, the chainlink, came a reputation for high quality that she basks in and fights to preserve. Throughout the interview, her phone rings regularly, and there is always a worker at the door with a business update that cannot wait, or cheques to sign.
“It was not in my original vision that Mesha would be this big, but I just saw it transform by God’s grace.”
PHILOSOPHY FOR WORK
Mwesigwa is eager to see her company achieve greater heights and she wants the same for her employees. Their day starts with a prayer where they all stand in agreement, regardless one’s religion.
“It gives us a sense of belonging, that we are a team,” she said.
She is also careful with the people she employs, going for the best skills she can find.
“I love bright people. I am not the brightest woman, but I need people brighter than me to push me ahead.” Mwesigwa in turn, pushes her team to be aggressive, contribute ideas that she respects and encourages them to go for further training whenever opportunities arise.
She admits she has learnt a lot from others in the industry;
“I am a lady of excellence. If I see something I admire somewhere, I replicate it.” Mwesigwa, who sits on the Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA) board, is also a member of Private Sector Foundation Uganda and Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association. She has earned the respect and trust of her male counterparts in the industry.
Four years in a row, Mwesigwa has been picking the ‘Best Woman Exhibitor’ trophy after the annual UMA trade fair. President Museveni handed her the last three trophies, while Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja handed her the trophy this year. They are all prominently displayed in her office.
WORK-LIFE BALANCE
This is a strong woman, who has managed to keep a strong hold on all the facets that make her who she is. How does she pull that off?
Married for 20 years now, Mwesigwa involves her husband in every decision she makes for Mesha and is careful not to lord it over him at home. She does not forget how instrumental her husband was in Mesha’s humble beginnings, even installing the first machine himself, despite having no engineering background.
“I humble myself. At home I am not a managing director; I am a loving wife, a mother and I seek my husband’s audience. In fact, after 7.30 pm, I do not take any business calls. The workers know whom to call after that time,” she said.
On top of her busy schedule, Mwesigwa also finds time for her faith, being an associate pastor with Bishop Isaac Kituuka at Glorious Church in Bunamwaya. And once a month with her staff at Mesha, she evangelizes in her Busega neighbourhood, taking to the needy foodstuffs, and doing corporate social responsibility.
Mwesigwa’s inspiring family background
Mwesigwa lost her father Henry Wilberforce Buwule when she was in S5 and despite wide perception in the industry that she took over from him, “I was too young to understand his work.”
She, however, after school, went to work with her father’s brother and partner, Christopher Sembuya – who also died last January – starting out at the reception and, later, in sales. Sembuya inspired her to work hard and often reminded them that Sembule was not theirs to inherit upon his death.
“He often told us, ‘these are my things with your late father. We educated you, now work hard for your own legacies. Sembule does not belong to you; I want you to work hard and become distinguished people,’” she recalls.
At Mesha, Mwesigwa says they are just hardworking people.
“When people hear who my father is, they assume Mesha is an inheritance from Sembule, but it is not. Sembule collapsed and I was jobless for two years,” she said.
Raised in Nateete-Wakaliga by a single mother, the Buwule family has had to bury two of her siblings.
“My mother often told us: ‘You come from a very wealthy family; so, you have to work hard. You come from a powerful, elite family, please don’t shame me; don’t get pregnant in school’. That was our mother’s mantra to us,” Mwesigwa speaks fondly of Mrs Buwule. Mwesigwa sees that their mother lacks nothing.
“She uses the cosmetics I use, I give her a monthly allowance from Mesha, she has a personal driver, medical allowance and a weekend allowance…we take care of her 100 per cent.”
As she prays that one day the roads in Busega get better and that Mesha secures space in Namanve industrial park, Mwesigwa also hopes that she can improve the profit margin, which is still small, because she sources raw materials locally and imports some. She went to St Mary’s PS Nabbingo, Lubiri SS, St Kalemba SS and Makerere Univesity, where she studied Social Sciences.
Mwesigwa has a postgraduate diploma in Financial Management from Uganda Management Institute and also attended Andrew Womack’s Charis Bible College for three years.
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