Vaolah Amumpaire on running an online hardware store

Kampala, Uganda | AGNES E NANTABA | Vaolah Amumpaire is a marketeer and the brain behind Wenahardware.com, a multi vendor e-commerce platform for building and construction materials. She says she got to establish an online hardware store from disappointments caused by dishonest people who fail to building and construction materials as agreed for their colleagues and relatives working in foreign countries.She points at news stories of people who trust their friends or relatives to build on their behalf but end up swindled.

Amumpaire came up with the idea of an online hardware store to enable Ugandans abroad buy building materials directly and have them delivered to their construction site in Uganda.

She says although the platform may not completely rule out the cases of deception, it reduces the possibility and saves them resources, time, and money. Wenahardware.com users buy directly from the various vendors on the site and the materials are delivered on the construction site.

She says, “It is not only a buying platform but also provides industry prices to all those constructing”.

Amumpairesays she decided to incorporate `Wena’, a South African word for ‘you’ into her business names because her vision is to create ‘your hardware’ not limither non-physical store to Uganda but spread out to the entire continent.The plan is to roll out the platform in Kenya and later Nigeria and Rwanda.

She says, “Those are very aggressive markets so we want to test some of the deepest waters before expanding to every African country”

Clients simply logs into the platform, scrolls through the different products available to know the prices, make, quality and size or quantity. When the client places an order, however, it goes to Wenahardware staff and not the vendor.

“The order comes in and we confirm it using the contact,” she says.  The company offers various payment modes; including prepayment and cash on delivery but before offloading the goods.

Wenahardwarestaff verify the products from different physical hardware stores for authenticity prior to being listed on the online store.

Amumpairehas a background in marketing and is the focal person in the company operations.

She says, “The marketing background makes me flexible and push-on because marketing requires patience and persistence”.

To Amumpaire, it is a good challenge although sometimes the team is overwhelmed with the inquiries and orders.

“We always learn something new, challenge ourselves and push on believing that you offer a solution at just a click of the mouse,” she says.

She says the items are described in detail on the platform by make, size, and manufacturing company to create a feeling of being in a physical shop. She says some physical hardware stores initially saw the platform not as an opportunity but a threat to their businesses.

“We are not competitors to physical hardware stores but we are helping to generate more traffic to their stores,” says Amumpaire, “We help owners of physical hardware shops to see beyond their physical locality.”

Amumpaire is the first born in a family of five born and raised in Igara East, Bushenyi district. She spent the early years of school at International Window School before crossing over to Mary Hill Mbarara and bouncing back to Bweranyangi Girls’ School. Her entrepreneurship and leadership instincts developed right after the murder of her father while she was in high school. This pushed her to take on the available opportunity as a second year student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in International Business at Makerere University Business School. She is also certified with the Chartered Institute of Marketing. For the passion to do marketing, she took on post graduate studies in Sales and Digital Marketing in Dublin.  She practiced marketing in different sectors something she says exposed her to complexities in business management.

“Training in marketing gave me the exposure and a firm foundation,” she says.

Vaolah Amumpaire’s Liteside

Any three things that we don’t know about you?

I am an aggressive person. I am passionate and when I choose to do something, I give it my all. It’s not easy to change my mind on something especially where I am passionate and believe in. Some of my peers say that once I am involved in something, it gets done.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

It’s about challenging yourself with a task and getting it done.

What is your greatest fear?

I am an open minded person. May be what freaks me out is a customer having a bad experience with us because it has a multiplier effect.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

Sometimes the people around me say that I am too pushy because I want to get things done.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

People who are too slow at adoption and it gets unbearable with me.