‘GOOD QUALITY, DURABLE AND NO IMITATION TOOLS!’

Faisal Kawuuki, Manager EQUIP Rental Workshop, Kampala Uganda

In Bwaise, a district of Uganda’s capital Kampala, Gered Gereedschap has set up – as part of our EQUIP Program and together wit our local partner Children’s Sure House – a tool rental workshop. In this rental workshop, self-employed carpenters can rent tools for a low price which they cannot afford to buy for themselves because it is too expensive for them. “Especially for young, beginning carpenters, buying new tools is too expensive,” says Faisal, the project manager of the rental workshop. “This limits their chances of getting their own business off the ground. Here, they can rent the tools they need inexpensively and carry out contracted jobs or make furniture. With the money they earn, they can then not only earn a living, but also build up a starting capital for their business”

No imitation tools

Since the opening many carpenters have found their way to the rental workshop in Bwaise. “Most of the carpenters who come here to rent tools live here in Bwaise. But more and more people from the surrounding area are also coming here. The high price of new tools is a general problem here in Uganda. And tools available in the shops here are not always of good quality either. The tools we rent out here are collected in the Netherlands by Gered Gereedschap. Where necessary, we repaired and refurbished them in our workshop in Mpigi. So it’s completely ready for use when we rent it out here. Good quality, durable and no imitations, unlike many of the tools sold on the market and in the shops here in Kampala”.

Wide range of products

“We rent out all kinds of tools here: hammers, chisels, hand saws, electric saws, drills, sanders, you name it. For the bigger jobs, we also have a surface planer and a sawing machine. We don’t have to say no very often. But of course there is always something left to be wished for. For example, it would be nice if we also had portable compressors in stock. But with the wide range of tools that we have now, we can already meet most demand”.