From stone miner to baker

The story of Akulo Agnes a.k.a. “Chap Chap”, Soroti, Eastern Uganda.

Living in a village near Arapai, 297km East to Uganda’s capital Kampala and 9.3km from Soroti city, Akullo Agnes Arago, commonly known as “chapchap”, is living in the village with her 5 children. She is partially blind and also divorced. The family depends on her financially. Before joining BISS, the only way of her for getting additional income, was through mining stones at her village land. Every day she would get into the small mine and break off large pieces of rocks. She would carry them out of the mine, then break the rocks into smaller pieces using a hammer, until she has cracked a whole truckload of stones. She would then sell them. This was her way of living.

When the opportunity of starting her own bakery came, she was very determined. In the meeting that was organized by SUDIPU: Soroti Union Of People with Disabilities in Uganda, Agnes expressed her interest and promised to make it a success. After being trained at Bake for Life College Tororo in 2019, she started off her work. She learnt the 8 different pan-fried products plus business skills. After that, we delivered the start-up-kit and helped her kicking off her bakery. She then started paying BISS back the money for the start-up-kit. She managed to do this in the required period of two years. This is the first qualification needed to become a potential for the BISS Phase 2 (oven) program. It was in 2021, when she joined the BISS Phase 2 program and got the new start-up-kit with oven, baking tins etc.

Enough introduction of this hard working woman, lets hear from the horses mouth:
“I’m Akullo Agnes Arago, I’m a mother of 5 children. I live in Achelasi Ajasi village near Arapai in Soroti Uganda. I joined BISS Bakeries in 2019, I have a challenge with my vision, I was only a subsistence farmer and stone miner in the village, then the opportunity came through at SUDIPU, the organization that supports persons with disability. I was inspired to register since I wanted to also learn a skill and stop only depending on agriculture and stone mining.
BISS Bakeries has given me a new status among my family and friends. Our living standard has changed, one of my children by the name Olupot Noah, has managed to reach the final year in O-levels, I’m also able to employ 2 people to help me with selling my BISS products on top of that, I’ve managed to start a piggery from my bakery profits. My biggest challenges have been on dealing with hawkers who keep running away for greener pasture, however I’ve managed to learn how to hire, manage and keep my hawkers (sales persons). My goal is to one day move my bakery from the village to Soroti city so that I can serve my products fresh from the bakery, then also buy a motorcycle that can help me with deliveries to the weekly regional markets. My call to other bakers is that they stay focused and stick to the goal that they set, so that they don’t fail along the way.
Finally, a big thank you to BISS Bakeries, for giving me this big opportunity to own a bakery and a lifetime skill and for removing me from scratch to what I am today.
I have a lot to say but let me stop here for now.
Thank you very much.”