After training at the primary teachers’ training college, Anatori Arinaitwe went into teaching back in Rubirizi Village. After two years of teaching; he was not amused with the amount of money he was being paid per month. Anatori began thinking about other ways of making money he thought would help him achieve his goal. Meanwhile, his elder brother who was an engineer/ plumber had opted out and decided to vend newspapers which he was reaping big from. He had already acquired some property so Anatori was inspired into similar business. Anatori talked to his elder brother about trying his luck with vending newspapers and he accepted to introduce him to the trade. In 2014, Anatori moved to Kampala and staged his first newspaper stall at Shell Bugolobi where he worked for four months before moving to Ismael Road. All was not rosy for Anatori since he was new in the trade and he didn’t have any clientele base. He did not know what customer care was and he said that cost him so much. He would sell only a handful of newspapers by the end of the day, but he did not give up since he had targets to meet.
He says it was not easy because some of the clients he was supplying newspapers to were not paying him and others would take long to pay him or would move on to another vender which was hindering his business. Luckily for him, his elder brother was always there to bail him out of any shortage. His brother made sure that his house rent was covered and all his meals were catered for until he got onto his feet. The conditions were tough for Anatori in the beginning because during rainy days, he would not sell and on sunny days, he had to make sure the papers were sold out before the sun got too hot or else the newspapers would change color and look old. Sometimes, when his brother was unable to help, Anatori went without food for days because he could not afford to buy food and sustain his business: he had to sacrifice one to achieve his goal.
Six months into the business, he moved to Ismael Road where he built a client base. His business grew because he had now acquired the craft of talking to clients. He was able to get individual subscribers: he supplies two ministers with papers every morning and supplies companies too. On top of that, he has some ministries who have subscribed monthly for newspapers.
At this time, Anatori saved some money and his brother suggested that they team up and begin distributing newspapers to other venders every morning; he was able to save shs.20, 000 a day which improved his cash flow.
When he saved shs.1.5 million, he went to the village and started buying produce from farmers at a cheaper price which he in turn sold at a higher price; this also helped expand his cash flow. He said at one time, he bought dry cassava at shs.500 and sold it at shs.1,300 a kilo that made him love venturing into produce and keeping it till the price went up. So he would inject more money into his newspaper vending business. After four years, Anatori was able to save shs.4 million from his two businesses. This money he says has changed his life for the better.
He bought land where he planted coffee from which produce he was able to buy two motorcycles (boda bodas) which he took to the village. Today, Anatori hires people to ride the motorcycles while he continues to vend the newspapers. In the village, he added that he has also built a three bedroomed house and earns shs.24, 000 daily from the boda boda business. He says he is saving the money to buy more land in the village because he is venturing into coffee farming. Anatori says he will keep vending the newspapers because it is from the newspaper business that he has achieved all that he has. He added that he handles his vending business like a perfect job because he has learnt so much from it and it has made him who he is today.
Anatori says that the secret for staying long in this business is sacrifice. He noted that if he wants something, he will skip his meals to see that he saves the money to acquire what he wants and whenever he goes hungry, he is inspired to save enough money so that he could one day live a better life. He also says the money from the coffee is helping him get involved in other businesses because he stopped using money from the newspaper business.
At the moment, he distributes newspapers to sixteen venders and some supermarkets in Bugolobi. “To benefit from this business, one has to trust the people who introduced one to the business and to also know the street one is going to vend the newspaper in well otherwise, one is likely to choose an area where people will not buy them thus losing”. Above all, he says that you need to have enough capital and be financially disciplined since once one is extravagant, they cannot last long in the newspaper business. “What has kept my big clientele for five years is the way i talk to them”, he says. Anatori does not hope to remain in this business all his life and five years from now, he hopes to be a businessman and a farmer growing coffee, rearing animals and buying and selling vanilla and coffee.
