By day, Rebecca Talikaza works as a custodian at Makerere University. Outside her regular duties, she runs a business producing bathing sponges.
For Ms Talikaza, entrepreneurship did not begin with a resignation letter.
Instead, she chose to build her enterprise alongside her employment.
Her business, Beckiz Bathing Sponge, started as a side venture and has gradually developed into an additional source of income.
It is a route increasingly familiar to people across East Africa, where salaried workers are turning to small businesses to supplement their incomes and create another source of financial security.
But balancing the two requires discipline.
There is a full working day at the university, followed by the demands of running a business.
Customers still need to be served. Orders must be followed up. Money has to be accounted for and products made available.
Ms Talikaza has managed to keep the two responsibilities running together.
Her experience challenges a common perception of entrepreneurship — that starting a business requires one to abandon formal employment and commit everything to a new venture.
For some entrepreneurs, particularly women, such a move may be too risky.
Starting small can provide an alternative.
A side business allows an entrepreneur to test an idea, understand customer demand and learn about the market without immediately giving up a regular income.
In Ms Talikaza’s case, the product is relatively simple: bathing sponges.
But simplicity does not mean that running the business is easy.
Small enterprises face familiar challenges, including limited capital, finding customers and maintaining consistent production.
They also require entrepreneurs to develop skills in areas that may have little connection to their formal jobs.
Ms Talikaza’s experience has therefore been about more than selling a product.
It has involved learning how to run an enterprise.
Her story also reflects the changing role of small businesses in Uganda’s economy.
For many people, entrepreneurship begins not with venture capital or a technology platform, but with an everyday product that can generate a modest income.
The first objective may simply be to make the next sale.
Over time, however, those small transactions can provide the foundation for something bigger.
For women considering entrepreneurship while maintaining employment, Ms Talikaza offers an example of a gradual approach.
The business does not have to start big.
It can begin after work, from a small customer base, and grow as the entrepreneur gains experience.
In her case, the journey continues on two tracks — one at Makerere University and another as a businesswoman.
