Tragedy brought the best out of Mukabagire

Business Times continues to profile women involved in business, who will share their success tips and experiences of how they made it in the cutthroat and male-dominated business world. This week, Peterson Tumwebaze caught up with Bernadette Mukabagire, a real estate developer in Kigali It is said that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. This could have been the case for 54-year-old Bernadette Mukabagire, who despite losing her husband during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi never gave up on life. Besides, she had to take care of her six children.Born in 1959 in Kimihurura, Mukabagire lived a good life until 1994 when the Genocide struck her hard, leaving her helpless with no one to look up to except God. “Sometimes things can happen to you and all you wish for is death. I could not believe that all our property was gone. But as time went on, I decided that events could not control my life. I vowed never to give up despite challenges,” Mukabagire told Business Times.“I had always depended on my husband for everything, including school fees for my children. So, his death was like losing all that I had. However, I quickly had to adjust to the situation bearing in mind that my children had to survive. That’s when I hatched the idea of constructing rentals because the need for houses after the Genocide was high,” says Mukabagire, who earns over Rwf1m from her rentals. She sold part of the land her husband had bought in early 1990s to put up small housing units to earn a living for her family.“Providing shelter for people who were returning home was the only way I could earn my children a decent living,” Mukabagire adds.She started by turning her kitchen into a rental. In 1996, she built two units, which have since expanded to a moderate housing estate. Mukabagire has no regret for having sold the family land to construct houses for low-income earners. “For the first time in two years I had a reason to smile becasue I was able to provide for my family,” she narrates. She says the desire to ensure a better future for her children kept pushing her to innovate and expand the business. “Because my family was big, two units were never going to be enough to sustain us and make some saving. This called for a drastic decision which was to sell another plot of land and construct two more units. It was a risk that was worth taking… I have since not only bought bigger plots of land, but also more than doubled the number of land where I plan to construct more housing units,” she explains. He target is low-income earners. Mukabagire, who owns houses in various parts of Kigali, says she decided to specialise on real estate because she does not understand other sectors. “It’s always better to concentrate on what you know best to void losses,” she advises. Mukabagire argues that sometimes problems if well exploited can be a way to success. “Human brain has the capacity to transform one’s life. It all depends on how you work around your brain,” she notes.ChallengesBeing a widow in this business comes with lots of challenges, especially some contracting engineers who will always want to challenge your house plans. Tenants are yet another challenge. She sometimes gets tenants who want fully-furnished houses and yet they want to pay little money. Mukabagire says it is always difficult to strike a balance between what the tenant wants and business profitability.Tenants who don’t want to pay, pretending that they have no money make it difficult for us to make profits. When tenants default, it costs us a lot, Mukabagire points out.Low moments Mukabagire says her lowest moment was when her eldest daughter lost a leg during the Genocide. “She was a source of inspiration for others, so seeing her grounded was a nightmare,” Mukabagire says. She notes that it is also stressing when you pay an engineer and they let you down, and “you have to start afresh”. Inspiration “I have always been inspired by my past history…what I have gone through is the reason I am still working so hard,” Mukabagire, who is paying fees for her three children who are at university, says.Laying a concrete foundation for my children is all I am looking up to. I have always told my children this, stressing that it can be achieved through their education. Makabagirwa plans to set up low-cost units for business people in future.