Byonanebye (In red jacket) making  half cakes.She finds solace in bakery after years of being unemployed.

Until 2017 when she got sustainable skills courtesy of  Kitovu Mobile youth empowerment program,Novence Byonanebye could not find a job after resigning from her first job in 2014.

A holder of a certificate in Business Studies, attained in 2013, Byonanebye,  who worked  as  a cashier for one of the motels in Kampala, dropped her job because she was not paid for the nine months she worked for the motel,which declines to mention.

“Life was hard for me. I regretted why I had even went to school ,”the 24 year old shares.

Like many girls who get spouses when the going gets worse,Byonanebye was not exceptional,she got a man in Kampala whom she settled with.

She says her spouse was later transferred to Kyotera District. “I moved with him to his new work place. I still looked for jobs in Kyotera and hardly got one”

She then realised that getting vocational skills would save her; but had no where to start from.

But in  2017,she says  she got to learn about the DREAMS Project,which is designed for Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW)    “So, I requested my fried to explain thoroughly  about the project which I thought was going to see me escape  unemployment after getting skills”

Later, she got in touch with Kitovu Mobile DREAMS coordinators in Kyotera and later got enrolled on the program because she categorically qualified.

But as luck has it, she says barely a week after getting enrolled; she was called to go for a workshop to get trained as a data entrant.”I don’t know who connected me to them, who gave them.my number, but In think it was God’s arrangement”

After the training, she says she was sent to Kyotera Safe Space and given a data entrant job. “My first pay was Shs 100,000; but I felt happy because I had never received money for so long. Besides, I was getting trained in bakery as a beneficiary”

She says she chose  bakery because I had a friend who was earning well from this trade,and wished that getting sustainable skills was the way to go.

Byonanibye clad in her DREAMS graduation gown.

After her graduation in 2018, She started bakery business as well as entering data at the same safe space.

Ms Byonanebye (in red jacket) training Kitovu Mobile OVCs.

At the same time, she takes trainees in bakery which fetches her more income.

She does her bakery business from home and supply her markets which are mainly shops in shops in Kyotera District. “I have five of them where I supply daddies and half cakes”
Earnings
She says on a daily basis, she earns 5000 on top of her salary as a data entrant at Kyotera safe space.
She is also hired to train groups in bakery and charges between Shs 25000-50000 depending on negotiation abilities.

Achievements.
Her cardinal achievement is moving from a rented house to their own house which she says she contributed heavily towards its construction.
“It is from my savings that I supported my spouse to build our own house”

Ms Byonanebye’s house in Kyotera town. She says through the earnings from bakery and her data entrant job,she was able to contribute towards the building of their house.

Future plans.
In the next five years, she says she wants to be fully self-employed; and becoming the biggest supplier of bakery products in Kyotera District.
Challenges.
Suppliers tend to pay after selling stock which is a bit inconveniencing. This she says affects her production because she still has less capital.