“Cheers” for Omaha

In Africa, women are one of the continent’s greatest potentials to unlock economic growth. This
is sd given that they provide the majority of labor. Unfortunately, a traditionally male-dominated
business environment in Africa is a barrier for most women to fully participate in the economy of
their countries. Despite these challenges, a Ugandan woman has developed an entrepreneurial
spirit and set up a successful business idea, showing that women have the capacity to succeed in
business. Julian Adyeri Omaha has built a multi-million dollar drinks and food business and is
the owner of Uganda’s largest juice processing factory,. Delight Uganda Limited. With her
strong determination and leadership, Julian is one of the major employers in Uganda and is also
coordinating women’s farmer cooperatives. With an annual turnover of US$4mihion, her
company owns 45% of the local market share for fruit juice. This story shows how women can
overcome the gender barrier and transform their societies by building successful business
activities. This inspirational woman entrepreneur shows the power of grit and determination to
succeed in business, despite the many hurdles encountered, to build a highly respected, multi-
million dollar drinks and foodstuff empire in Africa.

Julian Adyeri Omaha is one of Uganda’s top female entrepreneurs. She is founder, chairperson
and managing director of Delight Uganda Limited, producing the country’s most popular fruit
drink She’s known affectionately as “Mama Cheers” after her popular fruit drink brand, Cheers.
Julian has diversified into a range of other business activities, including egg and poultry farming
under Kidera demonstration farm located in west Budania, Tororo District where Omaha has a
stock of over 38,000 layers chicken producing 600 trays of per day, maize-feed production, a
flour mill and bakery, a fruit farm, a student hostel for 400, as well as coordinating women’s
farmer cooperatives that provide food aid into Sudan. Today, Julian employs over 1,000
Ugandans and exports to countries such as Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan and Democratic
Republic of Congo. Julian is a powerful voice of advocacy for improving economic access and
opportunities for Uganda’s women in business. She 4s a leading member of the Uganda Gender
and Growth Coalition, a group of seven women’s rights advocacy groups.

In 2008, Julian was among six women in Africa to be honored for their entrepreneurship skills
by the World Bank. Today, she is one of the most decorated woman entrepreneurs in East Africa
and has received honors and awards including the Commonwealth Entrepreneur of the Year
2014; 2014 EY entrepreneur of the year in the emerging category; 2014, Julian is named among
the 100 most honored women (Making a Mark) by Canadian Women; 2010, Julian is honored as
Best Job Creator of the Year by the Uganda Investment Authority for having created over 850
jobs for women through her various businesses in Uganda and in Tuba - Southern Sudan; 2009,
Julian is presented with an award by The International Alliance for Women for economically
empowering women; 2009, Julian is awarded an International Star for Leadership in Quality;
2004, Julian won the Uganda Woman Entrepreneur of the year Award and most recently,
received the Women Leadership Award from Tanzania’s President John Pombe Magufuli.to
mention but a few.

However, her entrepreneurial journey was not an easy one and she is an inspirational example of
triumph over adversity. Julian began her working life as an employee of her brothers, while at
the same time saving her own money to start a business as a small trader. As a woman, she
wanted to show that she could have her own business, too. Julian Omaha lost everything when
she transferred all her funds to her new business partner who ran off and disappeared from his
place of business with all the cash she had advanced to purchase stock. “The only things left
were a wheelbarrow to take fruit to sell at the market and a red dress I would wash out every
night. This meant she was back to where she started. It was to be a hard lesson that was to shape
her entrepreneurial journey from that point onwards and she learnt not to put all her eggs in one
basket - a strategy that was to become her philosophy for business expansion and diversification
in the future.

So, although devastated by what had happened in her first entrepreneurial venture, Julian began
again as a sole trader, wheeling fruit in her wheelbarrow to market and saving the proceeds of
her sales each day. At that point, she had nothing except one red dress which she washed out
every night, her wheelbarrow, and sheer grit and determination to succeed. Over time, Julian was
a very savvy trader and she worked out that if she took the overnight bus to Kenya to buy and
bring back goods from Kenya to sell in the local Ugandan marketplace, and stood up all the way
on that bus, it would only cost her half the fare. “I would take the overnight bus and stand up the
whole way to get a 50% fare discount,” she recalls... So, she would do that, and she would bring
back goods from Kenya and sell them, making maximum profit. She managed to save $100, and
with that $100 she made an investment. She did a food processing certificate from Frutarom
Isreal in 1988, realizing that there was a gap in the market for locally produced fruit juice and
canned fruit. Her aim was to start a juice processing business, not just small scale like the market
vendors, but a real factory. Her inspiration for this new venture came from her mother who had
taught her as a child how to process local fruit. That knowledge, combined with her newly
acquired food processing certificate, gave the technical expertise she needed to put her new
business idea into action.

Once again, she had to take her new juice products for testing to the government chemist by foot
because she couldn’t afford transport, once again relying upon her trust wheelbarrow to transport
her goods. However, despite these early challenges, the local market responded positively to
Julian’s products and she could see her dream being realized. Once bitten, tice shy and Julian
wanted to ensure she was in full control, and that her business was formally registered and
licensed. This time, she learned the lessons of the past and ensured that she was in full control of
her business and that it was formally registered and licensed. She recalls how cumbersome and
complex this was, with numerous offices to visit and unclear requirements. “There was so much
to do and so many different places I had to go - for business registration and tax payer
identification numbers, different licenses and requirements from a range of different authorities,
a declaration that had to be made before a Commissioner for Oaths, a company seal to get,
inspections bf my premises rom different authorities— it all seemed so complex. I remember
paying a lawyer what seemed to me the gigantic fee of USh500, 000 (Us$279).” The added
complexities of being a wife and mother, as well as a businesswoman in a traditionally male-
dominated business environment, also made setting up the new venture extra challenging.

Julian’s juice processing business was now a reality, known in the marketplace as Delight
Uganda Ltd, with her fruit juice brand ‘Cheers’ becoming a popular choice amongst consumers.
Once Julian felt her juice operation was running smoothly, she wanted to expand Delight Uganda
Ltd’s operations and product range. Capital for expansion became a major obstacle. The banks
always want collateral which so few women have in Uganda - women don’t inherit under custom
law so we are at a big disadvantage. Savings and retained earnings were Julian’s two main
methods of financing business expansion.

Commercial farming beyond fruit for the Delight factory seemed a good business prospect and
by engaging others to use their land to grow crops Julian avoided the need for a big capital
outlay. Julian has always been a strong advocate for other women and looked for ways of
helping rural women form farmer cooperatives. Over 100 women now belong to the Bunyoro
Grain Farmer Association through membership of women’s cooperatives like “Till and Feed the
Nation.” Julian started by coordinating grain sales for the women’s groups and then saw the
opportunity of creating her own processing and packing operation called Global Food Securities,
flour is packaged under the brand name “Mummy’s Choice.”

She also manages a 1,200 acre farm in Nwoya District, Northern Uganda, where she grows
mangoes for her fruit producing factory. She recently extended the farm to 5,000 acres by
partnering with the Ministry of Local Government with support from the United Nations Centre
for Development and Nwoya District. This initiative gives jobs to 1,000 locals including
homeless young mothers.

In addition to catering to growing local demand, Julian was among the first Ugandan business-
people to take advantage of the Southern Sudanese market aftr the war, and now around 50% of
her exports go there. Julian reiterates that it hasn’t been easy. While women are the majority of
those working the land, under customary law they have only user - as opposed to ownership -
rights. Their husbands must give permission for them to join a farmer group and then they have
the rights to the cash earned from their wives’ work. “T am suffering a lot for some of these
women,” Julian admits. “Often their husbands take their hard earned money to drink or to buy
another wife, it pains me so much. We try to organize village meetings to confront these issues
but change isn’t easy.”

When Julian won the Uganda Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2004 she felt even
more compelled to help other women get ahead economically. Active membership in the Uganda
Women Entrepreneurs Network meant Julian became part of a “Gender Coalition” of seven
women’s groups advocating for better regulations for businesswomen. The Gender Coalition has
been successful in creating a women’s tax desk at the Uganda Revenue Authority and the
commitment for a “one stop center” for business registration and licensing, where all steps can
be completed at the same place, at the Uganda Investment Authority.

Julian is proud that she has been able to be part of an effort working for better business
conditions for all Ugandans. Because of the additional constraints women face this will be even
more beneficial for businesswomen. Julian’s business empire now includes a grain processing
and packing plant, bakery and confectionary line; a poultry farm with 30,000 commercial laying
hens and a student hostel under construction. As she reflects back on her successes, Julian says
the thing that gives her most satisfaction is being able to create jobs for the Ugandans, especially
women. Ironically, she says losing everything in those early days turned out to be her best
lesson. Her advice to other women who want to succeed in business? Don’t put all your eggs in
one basket.

In an interview, on what made her ‘successful, she had the following to say; ‘1 love challenges,
work and starting new businesses. I like employing people. So I work until late in the night.
When I am writing business proposals and starting a new business, I sleep at midnight. IA/hen
I’m launching a new product, I sleep at 10:00pm and get up at 2:00am to work and sleep again at
5:00am.

In an interview with Dr. Maggie Kigozi the former ED of Uganda Investment Authority, she had
this to say about Julian Omaha; “Julian Omaha is one of the women I deeply admire. She is an
inspiration to me for many reasons. Omaha has become a very successful entrepreneur and has
helped many people, majority women”. “She is an astute entrepreneur, with a knack for spotting
business opportunities, where a need is. It is how she ended up investing in South Sudan and her
portfolio, which started with drinking water, ha’s grown to include among other things, a bakery.
She realized there was high demand for bread which existing supply could not fill, so she went
into filling it”. Omaha is not selfish with knowledge and has tried to be a resource person for
other women in business basing on her extensive experience. 1 know this because I have
benefitted from her wisdom severally. When I was going to begin farming, I approached her and
she was very helpful and encouraging. She finally noted that as women can draw lessons from
Omaha, which may help us grow even more. One is that we can start small and grow a business
to the size we desire. Hers is the typical starting small but ending up great story. We should not
be afraid to try. She has taken risks, most of which paid off. She continues to take risks. Not all
of us have the confidence but we can learn. The third lesson is to always learn as we go along.
Omalla makes it a point to keep learning. When I was at UIA, I noticed she was always open to
learning new things and never missed a learning opportunity in whatever form it became
available. This has worked out well for her and is worth emulating.
In a nutshell, Julian Omaha has taken the opportunity of the gap for local fruit juice processing
on the Ugandan market to create a highly successful business. She used her determination and
leadership to create many employments, mainly for women by empowering them in agricultural
activities. She also won worldwi4e awards and received honors for her entrepreneurship skills.
Thus, many lessons can be learned from her story leading to policy implications.