‘BEFORE I COULD RENT TOOLS HERE, I HAD TO IMPROVISE FROM TIME TO TIME’

Michael Okwri, Carpenter EQUIP Rental Workshop, Kampala Uganda

“You need several different tools to be able to do carpentry jobs properly,” says Michael Okwri. “If you can’t buy those tools yourself, it’s going to be difficult. Before I could rent the right tools here, I had to improvise with the tools I had from time to time. Small, simple jobs became a challenge and I couldn’t take on bigger jobs anyway because I didn’t have the right tools.

Michael is one of the many carpenters who rents tools in the rental workshop set up by our local partner Children Sure House in Bwaise, a district in Uganda’s capital Kampala. For a low price, self-employed carpenters can rent tools in this workshop that they cannot buy themselves because it is too expensive for them. The tools have been collected by Gered Gereedschap in the Netherlands and, after repair and refurbishment where necessary, are transported from Children Sure House to Kampala to be rented out.

Solution

“This rental workshop is definitely a great solution for us.” Michael puts down the saw he was using to cut through a plank when we started talking to him. “Especially for carpenters who are just starting their own business. Most starting carpenters here don’t have enough starting capital to buy enough tools of their own. I had the same problem. I can now buy some small tools for myself, but I still regularly come here to rent tools that I don’t have myself. For jobs where I need a surface planer or band saw for example. Before, this type of job used to take hours with hand tools. Now I can get it done in no time. A lot of jobs I couldn’t do before because I didn’t have the tools. But now I can, and I make more money.”

My own small house

“Because I can now take on larger assignments, my income has increased. I earn at least about 500,000 UGX (€ 120) per month. But there are also months in which I earn much more. This gives me the possibility to support myself and my family. I have three children. It used to be difficult to put the money together to feed and dress them properly. Especially the school fees were a problem. Now I’m less worried about that. We are living in a rented house here in Kampala, but I bought a piece of land with the money I saved. As soon as I’ve saved up enough money, I want to build my own house on that land.”