Business VS Treasury Bonds

In Uganda today, there’s a debate on whether one should put their money in a small business or buy treasury bonds?

Both can grow your wealth, but they’re very different in so many ways and let’s break it down in the simplest way. 1. Business.
This will give you daily, weekly or Monthly cash Flow. For business you have a lot of control; You’re the driver. Your effort, is equal to your results.

With Business growth is rapid. You Can multiply fast if done well.

However the Risk involved is equally High, let alone competition, bad customers, theft, or market shifts which can also kill the business.

For Example, A chapati stall can bring you 20k in a day. Expand to 3 stalls and it’s 60k daily. But if location fails, you lose fast.

Had been Dating this one girl for close to a year and everything had been okay. She would come to my crib anytime and I would do the same after all it was me contributing to the rent. Until one day when I decided to spend the weekend at her place… …., a well designed apartment in the neighborhoods of Kisasi. She was paying UGX 1.2M monthly and sometimes I’d pay it off fully. Sometimes I’d contribute half of it after all she was my girlfriend and I was the only one she had and expected money from. So I thought 🤦🏻🤦🏻😭😭😭

Building a House First Or Starting a Business first in Uganda?

Which one would you choose in Case you landed on your first UGX 100M?

Well, for many Ugandans, the dream is to stop paying rent. It feels secure, cultural, and you can’t be “chased out” by a landlord. But from a financial angle, here’s what to consider.

Let’s break both sides down and see which one is the best compared to the other. 1. Building a House:
The Average cost of building a simple 3-bedroom house in Uganda costs around UGX 70M to 100M (without luxury finishing). And this depending on your location, cost of materials and bargaining power.

However if it’s your personal home, it doesn’t bring in money. What it actually does is locking money. For example, instead of renting at house at UGX 500k per month, you’ll save that expense, but the house itself isn’t generating any income. Infact it will be taking more from you in repairs.

Let’s put it into perspective, Someone builds a UGX 90M personal home in Gayaza. They stop paying UGX 500k rent. That’s UGX 6M savings per year. It would take 15 years before the house “pays back” the 90M.

But If you build rentals, then it becomes a business (a rental unit in Kampala’s outskirts goes for UGX 300k–500k monthly).

So when does it make sense to build yourself a home to sleep in?

If rent is eating too much of your income or if you’re older and want family stability.

How to Avoid Being Cheated by Your Engineer in Uganda

After my recent post on a construction of a 3 bedroom house at 75M, a lot of people both engineers and Non Engineers came out to refute it but none was able to jot down the simple calculations for us to make the comparison.

Building in Uganda can be exciting until you realise some engineers (or site supervisors) are better at building stories than houses. With all due respect most of them who were arguing without proof are either stealing from their clients or the clients were cheated heavily and made to believe only one version, a 3 bedroom house consumes 120M and nothing less.

While it’s true, it could even consume 150M, it’s also true it can cost 75M depending on several factors like, location, how basic the house is (here I mean nothing funny,) just a simple house. Your bargaining power, cost of materials etc etc. so many factors.

Your Engineer has the ability to help you save without compromising on the quality, but can also cheat you most especially if he finds out that you have no idea or experience with any project before which is actually the case for VERY many people in Uganda and even elsewhere.

So without wasting time, Here’s how to keep your money and sanity intact while dealing with Ugandan engineers. 1. Don’t Just Hire the First “Engineer” You Meet because In Uganda, anyone with a hard hat and a tape measure can call themselves an “engineer.” Ask for proof they’re registered with Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers (UIPE) or atleast the Engineers Registration Board (ERB).

If they’re not registered, at the very least go and see their past projects. Speak to the owners and quietly. Ask relevant questions. Ensure they’ve not just set up a fellow conman. After you leave come back and ask neighbors to verify if the people they showed you was the real owner. This can be a bit tedious but yes do it, it’s better to be grateful than regretful in the future.

A Quick Guide to Building Your First House.

Building in Uganda can be stressful, but it’s one of the most rewarding things you’ll ever do. Therefore Don’t rush, don’t skip steps, and never leave everything in someone else’s hands without supervision. If you plan well, you’ll move in without debts and sleep peacefully in a house that’s truly yours.
Here’s a Step by Step guide: 1. Get the Land Right Before You Touch a Brick
Many people lose money before they even start building because they rush into buying land. To avoid this ensure you do the paperwork: Don’t just stop at the “sale agreement.” Make sure there’s a genuine land title and it matches the plot on the ground.

Walk the land: Go there yourself. Talk to neighbours. Sometimes a plot has three different “owners” all selling at once.

Get a surveyor: For a few hundred thousand shillings, get to save millions as they’ll confirm boundaries and mark your beacons.

Was having a terrible backache plus thigh pains the other day and it kept getting worse as the night progressed. So around 8pm, I decided to seek professional massage therapy at a Spa located near my home only to be shocked by…. ….What happens there. Or better yet what I was introduced to.

After entering the gate, the Askari (Gateman) directed me to the reception which was at the back of the house and not the front as it is with most places. That was a bit off but then I chose to continue because who knows, maybe it’s for privacy purposes.

In 2022, I was conned/Scammed about 25M in what I had earlier thought was cryptocurrency when actually it wasn’t. The platform was Deal No.1

It all started when a very close from of mine Ryione called me and asked to share what she at that time called a very profitable online business opportunity that had the potential of making us Billionaires in a few years or even months depending on our investment…… I’d known This friend for about 6 years and our relationship had been very good. I once managed her other business before she left the country so trusting her wasn’t a problem.

So I quickly availed myself for a meeting where she explained every process from how to invest, trade and how much profits to expect at the end of the investment cycle.

A year before my girlfriend and i started living together as a couple, her Salary Was a Mystery. At first, She told me her salary was 1M UGX. Two years later, she got Promoted and When I asked about her new salary, she said, they had only increased it to 1.2M UGX

When I asked her about her money She……. …..She gladly told me that her money is so little and that i should not really put a lot of attention to it. She did this rudely so I decided to chill it. She use her money to buy dresses and shoes, changes nails every week etc etc.