She saw opportunity in Kampala’s garbage

Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | At 65, Nakayiwa Immaculate Kimmula is proving that the rubbish many people discard can become a source of income, jobs and cleaner neighbourhoods.

In Kyebando, a busy Kampala suburb, her business, JIMAC Cleaning and Waste Management Limited, collects waste from homes and businesses, helping residents manage their rubbish while creating employment for 12 people.

But the business did not begin with a fleet of trucks or a large investment. It started with a problem she had encountered while serving as a public health leader in Kyebando: poor waste management.

As she watched garbage accumulate in the community, Nakayiwa began to see an opportunity where others saw a problem. She started working with an existing waste collection operator before deciding to establish her own business.

“I realised that garbage was not just rubbish. It was a service people needed, and if managed well, it could create jobs and income,” she says.

That decision would eventually turn her concern about public sanitation into a growing enterprise, supported by personal savings, a loan and a determination to build something lasting.

A loan opens doors

For Nakayiwa, building the business required more than identifying a market. She needed the equipment to collect waste efficiently and serve more customers.

She first saved Shs10 million with FINCA Uganda, building a financial foundation for her plans.

She later participated in the lender’s Waste-to-Wealth Initiative training, which introduced her to waste management practices and opportunities in recycling.

The training helped her appreciate the commercial potential of waste, but expanding the business required a bigger investment.

She applied for financing and secured a Shs20 million Women Empowerment Loan within three days. Combined with her savings, the loan enabled her to purchase a garbage truck and expand her operations.

“FINCA completed the missing piece. The savings gave me a foundation, but the loan helped me turn my dream into reality,” she says.

The experience illustrates a challenge facing many small businesses: entrepreneurs may identify a market and possess the willingness to work, but a lack of affordable financing can prevent them from acquiring the equipment needed to grow.

For Nakayiwa, access to credit helped bridge that gap, allowing her to move beyond a modest operation and reach more households and businesses.

Jobs beyond garbage

Today, JIMAC operates two trucks and employs 12 people, including drivers, loaders and supervisors. Its services cover Kyebando, Kisalosalo, Kalerwe and Makerere.

The business provides more than a collection service. It also offers workers an opportunity to earn an income from an activity that is essential to the functioning of an urban community.

Nakayiwa is also encouraging households to sort their waste at source and handle rubbish responsibly. The practice can help separate materials suitable for recycling from waste that requires disposal, reducing the amount that ends up in public spaces and drainage channels.

Her work reflects a wider urban challenge. As Kampala grows, the volume of waste generated by households and businesses continues to place pressure on collection services and disposal systems.

A 2022 situational analysis report published by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), with funding from the European Union, estimated that Uganda generated about 0.6 kilogrammes of waste per person per day. The report estimated Kampala’s daily waste generation at about 1,000 tonnes.

These figures highlight the scale of the task facing city authorities, private waste collectors and communities.

Waste management is not simply about removing rubbish from streets. It also involves ensuring that households have access to reliable collection services, encouraging waste separation, supporting recycling businesses and strengthening the systems through which waste is transported and disposed of safely.

Small enterprises such as JIMAC can contribute to these efforts, particularly in neighbourhoods where demand for collection services creates opportunities for private operators.

However, their ability to expand depends on access to finance, equipment, suitable infrastructure and effective coordination with public authorities.

A bigger green ambition

Nakayiwa wants to take her business beyond collecting and transporting garbage. Her ambition is to establish a waste-sorting and recycling facility, alongside a coffee and poultry farm.

Such an investment would allow her to explore more ways of generating value from waste while expanding her business.

“I want to create a place where waste becomes wealth. I want to continue creating jobs and leave something meaningful for my children and community,” she says.

Her plans reflect the possibilities within the recycling value chain, where properly separated materials can become inputs for other businesses rather than being treated solely as rubbish.

Realising that ambition, however, will require additional capital, infrastructure and reliable markets for recovered materials. For small operators, the cost of expanding from collection into sorting and recycling can be substantial.

Henry Kiyaga, Women Empowerment Loan Product Manager at FINCA Uganda, says Nakayiwa’s experience demonstrates how financing, determination and entrepreneurship can turn an opportunity into a business that supports employment and community development.

Her story also raises a broader question about how financial institutions and public programmes can support enterprises that address everyday urban problems.

Access to credit can help entrepreneurs purchase equipment and expand their services.

Training can strengthen their understanding of business opportunities and waste management.

Meanwhile, local authorities can support the sector through effective regulation, public awareness and improved waste infrastructure.

Together, these measures could help more community-based businesses participate in waste collection, sorting and recycling, while creating livelihoods and improving sanitation.

For Nakayiwa, the benefits are already visible in the business she has built and the people it employs.

“People saw garbage; I saw an opportunity. Today, that opportunity has educated my children, employed others, and given me the confidence to dream even bigger,” she says.

In Kyebando, her journey offers a practical lesson in community development: addressing a public problem can also create an economic opportunity. With the right support, what households throw away can help sustain livelihoods, grow businesses and make neighbourhoods cleaner.

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