Failure is Never a Loss for a Business Owner.

All entrepreneurs must know their business. It is your business – this means that no one else is going to fight for you or pitch your business for you. It is your business.?

Meet Fiona Mwesigwa, the co-founder of Darkon614 Limited, a company dedicated to transforming Uganda's home care industry with a line of sustainable sulphate-free Hyssop products sourced ethically and designed with ecological mindfulness.

During a streak of days where she was bored, Fiona attempted to make soap and handwash in her kitchen even with no experience as a chemist but with the help of YouTube tutorials. When the outcome turned out alright, she decided to seek mentorship from the Uganda Cottage Industries and later perfected the art learning from an industrial chemist from Makerere University.?

Fiona learned about the Hi-Innovator opportunity during a training organized by the Uganda Manufacturer’s Association, a community she is part of. ?A gentleman who had been successful was sharing his Hi-Innovator journey which inspired her to ask about it. He encouraged her to check the Hi-Innovator website to find out if she is eligible for the Programme.?

When Fiona found that she was eligible for the Programme, she enrolled into the Hi-Innovator Business Academy and was impressed that the course provided essential business knowledge and skills for entrepreneurs for free.

“I had tried enrolling for some of the lucrative business courses whose offering was the same as the Hi-Innovator Business Academy but I was required to pay ￡3500. This is money that I didn’t have as a small business owner.”?

Fiona was invited to share her Hi-Innovator journey with the Participants in the current Cohort 4 during the Pre-selection Bootcamp Sessions. These sessions precede the pitch days because they give an opportunity for the entrepreneur to fully understand their business and how they can communicate their value preposition. She commended the participants for having made it that far and reminded them that there are thousands of entrepreneurs that would love to be in their position.

Entrepreneurs have goals and to be able to meet those goals, they require more resources and financing. ?

Fiona narrated her Hi-Innovator journey saying “My first attempt to join the NSSF Hi-Innovator Programme Women Accelerator in March 2023 was not successful. When I pitched, the Investment Committee that evaluates which businesses should proceed to receive financing from the Programme asked me questions about my business that I could not answer.”?

Business owners ought to know their businesses more than anyone else however Fiona could not articulate what her business or revenue model was, her financial projections were low compared to the market she was playing in, and she couldn’t name a thing that was innovative about her business apart from the branding and packaging. This then led to her business receiving a hard “NO” from proceeding to receive financing from the Programme. ?

While most entrepreneurs’ enthusiasm is short-circuited when they receive a rejection, this was not the case for Fiona. She took a 6-months break from Hi-Innovator to work on the feedback that the Investment Committee had given her regarding her business?– She also needed to change a few things about how they operate. She also shares that she had a mentor who helped guide her on how to technically improve her business model. ?

On goalsetting, Fiona Mwesigwa advises that goal setting helps an entrepreneur understand what they should change about themselves and their businesses to achieve success.?

“You can set a thousand goals but focusing is the game-changer. Focus is the key to success. You can have a great idea and a great business but without focus that business will not last even 5 years”.

If you have an agenda or a checklist where you are constantly setting goals for yourself and you have a plan on how to achieve them, you must tick off every target until it is done. This checklist helps you look back at what point you stopped learning.?

The concept of focus is to pay attention to the simple greatest thing that will change the trajectory of your business e.g focus on your marketing or?production plans and encourage your employees to have a clear goal?on one thing that will bring the greatest impact to your business. ?

Putting your goals down on a piece of paper is your commitment to implement and a constant reminder that if you don’t implement them, your business will never move forward.?

A piece of paper and pen does so much for your sub conscious mind, and it feels like an instruction to your mind. E.g if you have a goal to turn over UGX. 100m in revenue, yet in reality it is just UGX. 40m, it gives you focus and a drive to achieve and work on that goal.?

Of all the goals you write down, always ask yourself which one goal will give you the greatest impact? It could be sales or hiring the right team? For me it was to make my business model financially sound so that it makes sense to myself, and people interested in investing in my business, says Fiona.

As business owners, we usually have more failures than successes, however we must embrace failure and learn from it. Failure is never a loss for a business owner.?

The participants then asked Fiona what her 6-months sabbatical from the Programme taught her and this is what she said.

The Investment committees are always looking for a current picture for where your business is at. Therefore, it is important to be updated about all aspects of your business including the accounts and production.

A pitch deck is a very great tool that an entrepreneur can use to stand out to an Investment Committee while also communicating their current business state. ?

My 6-months break equally helped me prepare and so I attended several trainings that sharpened my practical business knowledge and confidence. Fiona excitedly states that even when an entrepreneur has a rejection or a denial, goal setting helps them?understand how to innovate better. Her?focus is now the actual product as it is now sulphate-free and does not have chemicals?as opposed to the packaging and branding that she hoped would be their unique value preposition. ?

“When I came back in October 2023 for Cohort 3, I knew exactly what the Investment Committee was looking for because I had attended to all the feedback that they had given me. I knew my product and the market we were serving, and how much revenue that my product would generate. Initially the Investment Committee had earmarked my revenues as a concern indicating that I was not performing very well in an industry that so performing well. This was an indication that my business was supposed to be doing better.”?

Fiona initially had no numerical goal and didn't know how much money she wanted her business to make in a year. ?

Most business owners are usually just selling but with no numerical goal in mind e.g I would like my business to make UGX. 100m in revenue by the end of the year. I went as far as writing down all the activities that we?needed to do to achieve this goal. ?

In order to expand to new markets, Fiona commercialized and certified her products, and this increased demand which meant increased production on her end as well. ?

Initially our production was small so even the revenues were small. We knew that we needed to increase productivity but didn't have means, the NSSF Hi-Innovator Programme supported us to purchase machinery which increased our production, which increased our sales and revenues which meant we needed to recruit more people to handle the bulk orders, which also meant we needed to have a calculated go to market strategy with our products. It is an ongoing growth loop.

Business is good but very hard and there is no short cut. You have to do your homework. Every day you have to align your teams, motivate them and set new goals. ?

When you fail, adjust?and try again.

You fail yourself if you set your goals and don’t implement them. If you implement your business goals and adjust them, you will become a successful entrepreneur. ?

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The Hi-innovator initiative supports small and growing businesses by extending catalytic seed funding, building the capacity of entrepreneurship support organizations to provide quality technical assistance, and working with financing institutions to unlock affordable patient capital so that they can become more competitive. To enroll, visit Hi-Innovator Business Foundational Course (nssfug.org)

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