Mulokwa Noelle had it all, working at a research organization with a salary to die for, but her soul wasn’t happy being confined to sitting behind an office desk all day with her face buried in reports. She decided to take responsibility for her life and do something about it. Noelle reflected on her much love for children who she describes as her “greatest therapy” plus an ever present inner voice that had always nudged her to start a kindergarten, and with this ,made a decision to take action. She took to her diary in 2015 and wrote down everything she needed to start a kindergarten and embarked on a saving spree.
When her boyfriend was going to China in 2016, she decided to tag along so she could use her savings to purchase women accessories and clothes to sell to her friends. But her plans did not go through.
“Somehow when I was in China, I ended up looking at kids’ play stuff and I was like instead of buying bags, shoes and stuff, I’m going to sell them then what next?”
Noelle approached the man who was selling the play stuff, who then requested for her company name and logo to inscribe on the play equipments but she had none. She quickly thought of what she loves most and her mother came to mind, so she decided to name it Loyce Amusement World after her. She then made a few phone calls home and asked a friend to design a logo and send it within an hour. Eventually she was able to leave with 3 bouncing castles.
Loyce Amusement World specializes in supplying kids play stuff like bouncing castles, swimming pools, trampolines,mascots ,clowns among others for home parties, birthdays, baptisms, school parties, school expos etc.
Noelle’s first clients were her friends, family and social media users. She also printed out fliers that she gave out at events.
“Every event that we would go to, we would carry flyers, and talk to parents.”
While Loyce Amusement World is currently mobile, she harbors ambitions of having a physical location and turning it into Uganda’s first Disney, where adults can join in on the fun too.
Loyce Amusement World may be her main hustle, but it’s not her only source of income. Noelle is non discriminative when it comes to other jobs she does to supplement her income due to her profound love for money.
“I love money; I love nice things. Since money won’t come and find me, I have to go and find it”.
“I Was recently at a construction site, and I said to myself I can sell this sand to someone. I researched and discovered a place where it’s mined and got a few contacts of the people with big cars that transport the sand, so I go to every construction site and tell them I can sell you sand at a cheap price”. She discloses.
Noelle also makes t-shirts and prints school calendars for different schools.
Achievements:
In the 3 years Loyce Amusement World has been operating, Noelle has managed to expand it with 6 bouncing castles, kid’s swimming pools, among others. Her client base has equally expanded to include schools where she organizes Fun days during special days like end of year parties. She has worked with schools like Hormisdallen Schools, Little Sailors Kindergarten, among others,and has been able to hire 3 member of staff.
Challenges:
Initially capital was a problem and still is, due to mostly, the high cost of importing the equipments in the country characterized by high taxes. However, she was able to overcome this by ensuring she saved a lot of money from her research job that she used as her starting capital. Currently whatever amount of money she makes from the business, she ensures she invests it back in.
Noelle’s other challenge was transportation of the play equipments. Clients usually refuse to pay for it yet she can’t sit with them on a boda due to their size. She overcame this by purchasing a car.
Advise to aspiring entrepreneurs
1. Just start.
“You know what made me take long is, I was thinking no I need this, I need that. I wrote my staff in the diary in early 2015 but I started in 2016 but the moment you say I need to start just start. Thinking I need this and that postpones your success. Things will always sort themselves out.
2. Having doubts like will it work out, many people are doing it, only hold you back. The world is big enough for all of us.
“When you go downtown, you find over 500 people in an arcade selling the same things, but they work. It doesn’t matter how many people are doing it, just find a way of doing it different.”
3. Stick to your plan A to the T.
“It’s good to have a plan B, but then you need to be like this is my only plan, so you have to make it work.”
4. Collaborate with people, it’s easier to share ideas and skills. Noelle says she started Loyce Amusement World solely, but along the way she realized she needed someone who complements her and luckily, she found that in her sister, who is more outgoing and aggressive than her.
5. Develop a relationship with your clients. Check on them every once in a while, send them messages during special days, etc. This ensures they always have you in mind.
6. Don’t trust anyone with your business. They won’t have the same level of care and commitment that you have for it however good intentioned their motives could be. Noelle says she was forced to quit her well-paying research job to concentrate on her company.
