During her Senior Six vacation, “art lover” Karen Aida Kyazze wanted to find a profitable way of using her time by getting a job but her protective mother wouldn’t let her as she was trying to protect her from some of the challenges young girls face in the work place, like rampant sexual harassment. As luck would have it at that time, one of her aunts happened to share pictures on their family Whatsapp group of a flower vessel made from old car tyres. Seeing these images sparked something in her.
“When I looked at the tyres, immediately an idea came to me that I can do a table and take it to campus”.
A hands on Karen decided to experiment the idea right away by getting the shs150,000 pocket money her mother had given her and storming Kiyembe, that is located in the city center. She relied on her intuition to get materials needed to create the table like leather, glue, stands, screws and plywood. She then proceeded to a nearby workshop where she asked one of the men to make for her a plywood cutout and then got to work designing her table. A few days later, she would complete the beautiful table that she intended to put in her hostel room but fate had other plans in store for her.
“My uncle saw the table and he bought it at shs250K and immediately I thought ohh I can make money out of this”.
Karenz Creations recycles old car tyres into interior and exterior furniture like tables, chairs, wall mirrors, decorations from stones, bottles and recently they made their first water fountain that was sold to Chez Johnson Hotel in Muyenga. Karen was inspired to create the water fountain out of curiosity. After seeing them on numerous occasions at Acacia Mall and Garden City, she was intrigued and decided to carry out research and find out how they operate. During her research, she discovered that most of them were being made out of glass, cement and clay, all materials that could break. This problem needed to be fixed and she got the perfect solution for it.
“I decided I was going to make one from steel, we would get the steel, paint it, so that when it rusts, we paint it again, but either way, the steel would not break”.
“I went to a friend of mine who does metal work and told him about the idea. He told me Karen you are crazy we can’t do this, I told him no, you can do this, we are going to do this.”
After numerous trials and errors, they got their water fountain.
Karen has registered a number of achievements since launching the business 3 years ago. She was able to sustain herself all through campus, she has attended and spoken at events that have helped broaden her network, for example last year, she attended the annual Young African Women Congress Summit in West Africa, which she is currently a member of. She is also a member of Ideas for Action Africa courtesy of World Bank. Additionally, she was nominated last year as a ‘Woman In Innovation’ by URSB during the Intellectual Property Day. Karenz Creations currently employs 4 people part time.
However, just like most entrepreneurs, Karen has had her fair share of mistakes she made along the way that she wishes she could have avoided but trusting and judging clients basing on how they look, takes the cake.
“Sometimes clients would tell me to make for them the tables and promise to come for them and pay later. But because I met them in a decent place, and they looked like they could actually pay, I would get the little finance I had, make the table only to wait and never see them again.”
Also selling her products at very low prices cost her a lot in terms of motivation.
“It’s a bad thing to work for nothing because then you are not motivated”.
Currently her greatest setbacks include lack of enough finance to purchase the machinery that breaks down the tyres and customers who want to pay less for her products because they are made from recycled old car tyres, forgetting the value, time and creativity she invests in making them.
Additionally, some people underestimate the nature of her business and don’t see the value and big picture of what she is trying to address which is climate change that Uganda is currently grappling with, which she partly blames on the high rate of deforestation.
“It’s because trees are being cut for wood If we can replace deforestation with car tyres to make furniture then we can be able to address the issue of rain. When you burn a tyre there are fumes that are released so more green gasses, more problems and more sickness. It’s partly why cancer is on the rise”.
However, Karen’s desire to create jobs for women so that they don’t have to suffer like her mother did while working abroad, is one of the things that keep her going.
“There are a couple of times I’ve just wanted to give up everything but I’ve been inspired to keep going because of my mum. My mum had to work abroad for many years without seeing us, she sacrificed everything for us to get an education so for me that stands out. It makes me want to create jobs so that women do not have to go abroad to Abu Dhabi, Oman, and other countries to get jobs”.
Setting and sticking to deadlines ,and making continuous improvements in terms of the quality of her products, have given her an edge in business.
“If we say we are making chairs in two weeks, we have to beat that time and make sure its two weeks. Also, we have been improving the quality of these chairs overtime because initially it was just tyres but now we have added leather and waste products.”
Meanwhile, she attributes her success to her go-getter character, inheriting her parents’ entrepreneurship genes coupled with hard work and determination.
“When I want something no matter the risk I will put my trust in God and go for it, I think it also runs in my blood”.
The future is bright for Karenz Creations as they look towards expanding into making more water fountains, beds, roads, wardrobes and a recreation center comprising of tyre made play equipment for children.
“The only problem is we don’t have the finances but we have the brains to do whatever we can. Even then that is not a limit, you still do what you can with the little money that you have, to achieve your dreams step by step”.
Karen advises aspiring entrepreneurs to most importantly take care of their mental health.
“The biggest problem is the mind, protect it from stress, anxiety and depression. Entrepreneurs are usually perfectionists, but from experience I advise that they should take it one step at a time, because when you push too hard, you may not live to see your success, you may die early. Also enjoy the process and trust God.”
