Philip Kakuru born in Uganda and a citizen of South Africa is one of the few individuals whose stories are unbelievable but teach a lesson (motivate) many who could have lost hope towards success
Kakuru a teacher by Profession who was born in Mbarara western Uganda managed to use the limited resources at his disposal to break through by owning schools in South Africa and Real Estate business both in Uganda and South Africa.
“My Parents are Mr. Edward Bwahika and Mary Bwahika Katukuru village, Nyakayojo Division , Mbarara City, i joined Kyambogo University -Uganda later University of South Africa – South Africa. To raise tuition fees , we sold Cows and income from Rentals from our late Dad’s commercial property in Mbarara Town.”
He says that things having not moved on well in his field of specialization in his home country (Uganda)
He says that during the early 2000s he moved to South Africa which had just gained independence and there he had been tipped off that there were several slots available in the country’s education sector.
“The job I got there was to teach Geography and Economics in Pretoria South Africa which I did very well before joining the entrepreneurship sector.”
That as one of the means of boosting his income, he invested in a small retail business shop with a Ugandan friend whom he met there and they used to import merchandise with some Ethiopian and Senegalese businessmen and bring them to South Africa since by coming to South Africa he had come with some money estimated around fifteen thousand dollars ($15000).
Some of his added advantages was that he was able to easily learn some additional languages like Zulu, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana among other native languages which easied communication with various key stake holders in the country.
“Later on after good returns from retail and savings from earnings from teaching I was able to embark on a business of hiring weekend venues to conduct private teaching in specific subjects of Maths and physics (Physical Science at grades 10-12 ( in Uganda context S4-S6. So I invested one thousand United States dollars $10000 USD in the business which later on brought in some good money.”
He insisted on carrying on Saturday class tutoring project which became a success after getting a goof number of students and by the end he could earn money equivalent to four times in a single day compared to his first time my full time employment.
On how he adopted this idea, Kakuru revealed that he copied the concept way back from Caltec Academy Uganda , which became a success and thereby concentrating on recruiting and giving it more publicity through advertisement.
“In 2004 we opened the first campus in Johannesburg Central Business District on Market Street because we knew we would tap into the 2 millions which flocked Johannesberg daily. We chose programmes that attracted industry needs like electrical engineering, Mechanical /Motor /Diesel, Chemical engineering, Boiler Makers, Civil engineering and business courses like Financial Accounting, Laboratory Technicians etc. After a better pay off ,in 2005 we opened another campus in Braamfontein next to Witwatersrannd University to tap into the University overflow or rejects or those who had been denied entry and needed to improve the marks mad qualifying the following semester intakes.”
On top of that, Kakuru a family person with three children and wife is the Patron of National Resistance Movement (NRM) in South Africa which he contends that doesn’t make him political but it’s out of love for his party as any other individual.
His role model is Elon Musk basing on his background from South Africa to Canada and finally settling in the USA. He called upon all Ugandans undermining themselves to continue working hard and smart because one day they will make it regardless of their family back ground.
