Jica business contest seeks to transform refugee communities

On Thursday, July 10, the inaugural Uganda business idea contest concluded.

This is a new initiative by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), where they invited for proposals of business ideas by refugees living in settlements and members of the host communities.

And after a protracted period of sieving through the submitted projects, two of 52 business ideas were picked as the winning proposals. Robert Mugisha, a member of the Kyangwali refugee settlement host community, had his business idea, the bio-energy umbrella association of Kyangwali limited as one of them.

In addition, the E-waste multipurpose cooperative society limited by refugees from Bidibidi refugee settlement in Yumbe district completed the contest. As a result of being the best according to the judges, the two winning business ideas both received Shs 12 million from Jica to enable them widen their enterprises for the greater good of the both the refugees and host communities.

Jica’s representative, Tsunoda Satoko, the in-charge of business development noted that this project emanated from their drive to empower communities for self-sustainability, where both refugees and host community members work hand in hand for growth. Mubaraka Idi, 34, is an Electro-Mechanical engineer heading the E-waste multipurpose cooperative in Bidibidi refugee settlement.

Idi said after their business idea was announced as one of two winners, that this was a landmark step in their journey to self-sustainability.

“This money is going to enable us expand our outreach, employ more staff, and also acquire spare parts to aid in our work,” Idi said.

As it is, the E-waster multipurpose cooperative was officially registered last year. But the project started in 2022, courtesy of support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

In it, Idi and the other 29 colleagues, recycle among other things, car, phone and laptop batteries that have been written off as dead or mal-functional. For example, many a computer user has experienced low of poor battery life. This has normally rendered it impossible to work unless the laptop (computer) is in power.

And even when it is fully charged, once the power goes, the laptop can hardly hold power for more than a few minutes to an hour. This has proved frustrating oftentimes. Yet, according to Idi, normally, when a computer battery begins acting up, it is because one of the cells in the pack is spoilt.

So, what Idi and company do, they collect several batteries, and select the cells therein that are still functioning, and put them together to build a new laptop battery.

“Most of the batteries that we have restored to normal functionality, are able to hold power for seven to nine hours without one having to power their machine again,” Idi explained.

Since they started this business, Idi said, they have restored to normal functionality 500 laptop batteries, and actually sell them at Shs 150,000 each. Because of the extensive nature of such work, is the reason why the judges picked this business idea.

Takashi Yamashita of Deloitte, the organizers of the event said that such an innovation is far-reaching and impactful on so many people. That in itself was a selling card for it. But also, its impact also extends to the fact that what Idi’s company is doing is protecting the environment from dumping of what is largely plastic items.

That said, the Bio-Energy umbrella association business idea is also important on the basis of safeguarding the environment from degradation. Its head, Mugisha explained that over the years in Kyangwali refugee settlement, trees were being cut as a major source of energy to cook primarily.

“But now, with Shs 300,000, a home can afford two bags of cement, a truck of sand and stone gravel. Then we build for that home a system, which uses both human and animal waste to produce bio-slurry for cooking,” Mugisha said.

To build one single facility that functions optimally costs at least Shs 3.5m. But homes are allowed time to pay back this money by selling the bio-slurry to others who need it in what is a referred to as a non-cash-barrier approach. The target is to have at least 100 homes running on such a facility by the end of this year, Mugisha said.