When Vincent Mutyaba thinks back 25 years to when he left Uganda as a young man and travelled to South Africa as a refugee, the US $50 he had in his pocket at the time actually seems like a lot of money – worth about R900 today – feels substantial in hindsight. Especially when measured against the setbacks he would later endure including losing everything twice in his struggle to build a life for himself in Cape Town.
Vincent’s journey is one of grit, life-long learning and being open to any opportunity as he rose from trading at a tiny informal stall to building a multi-million rand property company. Today, his fast-growing company, Zaug Properties, houses close to 500 students and young professionals in the southern suburbs of Cape Town.
Back in 1999 his original plan was to reach the United States to study law. Instead a friend who had settled in Cape Town urged him to join him there, a decision that would reshape his future. Although Vincent had a qualification in carpentry, he never got to put it to use. Instead, he started an eclectic series of jobs in Cape Town in a herculean effort to build a life for him and his wife, a Capetonian whom he met soon after arriving.
His first job was as a spaza shop assistant in Gugulethu, a local township, then worked as a driver for a construction company, before securing a position at a local Spar supermarket. Starting out as a shelf packer, Vincent steadily took on greater responsibility, eventually working at management level without the equivalent pay or recognition, he resigned when he was once again passed over for promotion.
His supermarket years were an intensive introduction for Vincent to local languages and the economy of Cape Town, and he supplemented this learning process with a formal business course. “I’ve always tried to learn the technical aspects of whatever field I worked in,” says Vincent. He also started studying law through Unisa.
His next career move, however ended in disaster. Vincent joined a company selling high-end vacuum cleaners, but his infant son fell seriously ill in the middle of his training, and the company showed little understanding or support. The strain on the young family was devastating, they lost their home, and Vincent’s wife had to move back in with her parents while he tried to rebuild from scratch.
With the help of a church acquaintance, Vincent managed to buy the rights to run an informal trading stall next to the train station in Claremont, a local shopping hub in Cape Town. Over the following months, he worked steadily to reunite his family. But then the global financial crises of 2008, along with other challenges, wiped out his small business.
This marked Vincent’s lowest point. He and his wife were compelled to move into her parent’s backyard room. “I felt this shame in me, thinking how my father always managed to provide for his family,” says Vincent.
Through sheer determination, Vincent turned his luck around. He re-established his informal trading store, and learned how to survive on its modest income while enrolling in a course to become a fitness trainer. Slowly, he built up a client base as a personal trainer at a major gym group, while employing someone to man his stall in his absence.
One of his gym clients happened to own a large portfolio of rental properties and needed help with the day-to-day administration. He spotted in Vincent someone whose abilities were underused and was eager to progress. Vincent joined the property business and learned how to set up basic rental-collection, tenant management and maintenance systems for the sprawling portfolio of houses. True to form, he completed this hands-on experience by enrolling in a property management course.
Vincent took his first step on his own in the property business when the owners allowed him to rent one of the houses from them and sublet it to students. This arrangement allowed Vincent to grow his own business step by step until he reached the point where he decided to step out on his own on a full-time basis.
Today, he owns five of the 30 properties in his rental portfolio, the most recent of which was financed by Business Partners Limited. Unlike traditional banks, the financier offered Zaug Properties 100 percent funding, which allowed him to keep much-needed cash flow in the business rather than putting it down as a deposit.
Vincent has come a long way from living in his in-laws’ backyard and even completed his law degree two years ago. Yet for him, his journey is far from over. He plans on expanding his student-accommodation portfolio by buying or developing 15- and 20-room properties, to ensure that he will always be able to provide for his family, not just sustainability, but with abundance.
About the Author: BPL Admin
