Startup Story
Pendo Galukande is one of the original three co-founders of Dis N Dat (Uganda) Ltd and the current Managing Director. She has been featured several times on National Television and print media as a positive example of a social entrepreneur. Her social enterprise having started out creating hand crafted greeting cards, and now has expanded into providing the youth access to skills and employment through the provision of premium gift services. Dis N Dat was launched in 2007 and employs 2 full time people, 4 consultants, and provides about 25 placements for part-time positions for youth annually. Pendo has a track record in Health Management having been the first manager of the leading private hospital in Uganda. She also managed a pharmacy in a rural hospital and oversaw refugee programs in rural Uganda.
LoA chatted to founder Pendo Galukande about her mission and vision to empower youth in art and entrepreneurship through her business.
What does your company do?
We provide premium gift services to organisations. We also provide skilling and employment to youth in our community.
“We were inspired to start our business because of the youth that were falling through the cracks, mostly unable to get employment due to a lack of skills and experience.”
“Rarely do three stay at home mothers manage to put together a self-sustaining enterprise to provide employment to youth in their community and succeed in it running for 15 years without donor support.”
What inspired you to start your company?
We were inspired to start our business because of the youth that were falling through the cracks, mostly unable to get employment due to a lack of skills and experience.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
Our story. Rarely do three stay at home mothers manage to put together a self-sustaining enterprise to provide employment to youth in their community and succeed in it running for 15 years without donor support. Our gifts are special because we incorporate handcrafting techniques in the finishings. The work is custom made and the craftsmanship is unmatched, and even when we produce hundreds of boxes or even thousands, we are able to maintain the high quality.
Our clients come to us because we put a fresh spin to their brand and make their gifts look well thought through. So the recipients feel like they are not just a number but a person that is valued.
Tell us a little about your team
Dorothy is our manager and she is passionate about youth, especially women. She has a track record in insurance sales. Henry is our creative designer who also loves to sing. He puts together both digital and handcrafted work to provide the best quality pieces. Our consultants are mostly in design, sales and accounting, and some of them are previous employees who devote their time to a few SMEs about our size.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
Yes and no. My father was a professor of linguistics at Makerere University and my mother was a playwright and English teacher at a college. However, they passed away when I was very little and I was adopted into an entrepreneurial family. I participated in labelling products when my adoptive mom bought babies clothes from London before they were taken to the shop. Many of the Uncles in our extended family were involved in one business or another. I was a pre-teen then and sometimes worked for them. At University, my sister bought me a camera and I started to take photographs and sell them. Eventually, I started distributing South African potato crisps at Makerere University where I was a student. My Uncle used to import them wholesale. The biggest entrepreneurial experience though came from my first job. I worked with an Irish doctor, Ian Clarke, who is very entrepreneurial. He founded two hospitals and was constantly innovating and finding ways to solve problems.
“Our gifts are special because we incorporate handcrafting techniques in the finishings. The work is custom made and the craftsmanship is unmatched, and even when we produce hundreds of boxes or even thousands, we are able to maintain the high quality.”
“Our clients come to us because we put a fresh spin to their brand and make their gifts look well thought through. So the recipients feel like they are not just a number but a person that is valued.”
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
We want to grow into a fully-fledged, premium quality, large-scale packaging manufacturer and create even more jobs.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
Seeing a young person come to me with no skills and later he or she is skilled, training others, and making a good living.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Business requires very high skills levels. Please get a good amount of training before and during your entrepreneurship journey. Avoid the trap that we tend to have in Africa that business requires no brains. It requires not just brains but determination and a wide range of skills.
Contact or follow Pendo Galukande
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | YOUTUBE | EMAIL pendogalukande@gmail.com
Why LoA loves it…
What many women entrepreneurs in Africa share in common is that they recognize being in business can create opportunities and impact for others. They are often driven to generate sustainable jobs in their communities through their businesses, playing a much bigger and important role in society. Pendo Galukande and her co-founders have done just that with their business, providing much-needed skills development and employment opportunities for young people who just need to get onto the job ladder. Pendo is making a real difference in her community and teaching by example that creating sustainable businesses is the way to address the skills and unemployment challenges that exist in our communities. — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa