Elias Aryanyijuka is a passionate entrepreneur from Uganda. He is the Managing Director of Home to Africa Tours and Travel, a Tour Operator specialized in tailored tours and safaris in Uganda and the East African region, providing expert personalized travel advice for safari, wildlife, and adventure, while being a channel through which the global community is informed about the real beauty of Africa.
Elias Aryanyijuka has always had a strong passion for studying and learning. Despite being born in a modest family who did not have much money, he was able to afford his education earning money by cleaning the school’s classrooms every day. This brought him to the University, where he studied in the field of ICT. Straight out of the university he founded an online mobile SMS marketing company, which turned out to be very successful and generated the funds that started Home to Africa Tours and Travel.
At this point, he needed to acquire some entrepreneurial skills and at the same time learn how to create lasting social impact, that’s why he decided to enroll in the Global MBA in Impact Entrepreneurship offered at Uganda Martyrs University in Kampala.
“A friend told me about the program and how it was convenient for entrepreneurs and working people. It was just what I needed to catapult my business to the heights I dreamt of. E4Impact MBA is uniquely tailored for social entrepreneurs ready to grow their businesses and create social impact in the communities around them.”
Today Home to Africa Tours and Travel is having great success and expanded from Uganda to Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania.
“The company has a hard-won reputation for quality and reliability, and has been able to gain such feet through the dedication and commitment of the team it employs. We have a 2018 and 2019 TripAdvisor certificate of excellence demonstrating our dedication to providing quality, professional service.”
1.How was your Business Idea born?
The idea came from my wife, Agwang Teopista Aryanyijuka. I am a computer scientist, but I always ached to travel around the country and have adventures. Knowing this, one day she suggested to try to make travel my profession. It was a brilliant observation and I immediately understood that it would have become my destiny.
2.How can your business improve the life of the beneficiaries of your activities?
Home To Africa already contributes to the incomes of persons employed, especially the youth, along the tourism value chain in Uganda. We make it a point to encourage our clients to buy craft and local items from local shops and self-help groups. We also order gift bags from local businesses. These gift bags have in them some locally sourced African gifts that we offer each client on arrival. Besides this, we have gone further to make targeted support to the education of over 100 children through our charity Global ICT Care by deductions 10% of what we earn from the proceeds from each client. We also encourage our clients to visit these communities and provide support to the women and youth groups. Before the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic, our projects and interventions had impacted over a big number of vulnerable children and women.
We can do more, we know we can! That’s the reason why we are constantly building partnerships and learning how best we can create economic impact and catalyze the increase of household incomes, as a company we are doing our part, but we can’t do this alone. Through partnerships with like-minded companies and organizations, we can create sustainable and meaningful impact in these communities.
3.What has been the main challenge you had to overcome in your entrepreneurial experience?
Travel is about meeting and mingling with people from all over the world. They all come from different cultures and have varying points of view. Sometimes it is a challenge blending them in a tour operation. Most are agreeable and curious about those from other places. Still, they have different needs and expectations and all of them want their needs met immediately. It takes a cool head and an experienced hand to make everyone happy. But that’s our job! But I also realize that when you communicate clearly about the experience you have designed, and also prepare the tourist with the necessary, correct facts about the experience and destination, it goes a long way in managing expectations and demystifying some of the myths about Africa, its culture and people. I have taken enough time to study and understand my main markets. I know how the Germans, Americans, Canadians travel, I know how each reacts, I know what they want and this works for the good of our reputation and the whole safari experience.
4.In your opinion, what are the main qualities an entrepreneur should have?
An entrepreneur needs to invest in what he or she loves the most, their “Passion”. If you do what you love, even when you make a loss, you do not feel it that much. You also have to be a Risk Taker; first and foremost starting a business is a risk on its own, you are not guaranteed success, you either win or lose. However, one has to mitigate risks. Some risks are very good for business growth. So, take well-calculated risks.
5.Is there a person you are inspired by, i.e. an entrepreneur or a particular mentor?
I would say they are two people. Firstly my mother, Mbabazi Meble, a peasant farmer, who worked hard to see my future bright. She used to involve me in garden activities. One day she found me asleep against a hoe handle in the garden. All she told me was “My son, go back home, read your books, study harder start your own business that you will be able to live a happy life“. Her words remained in me till today, whenever I get low, I recall her words and get the strength to carry on.
Then, my previous employer who fired me for starting my first small business. Having a job in Uganda is not guaranteed, it’s luck. Some employers don’t support their employees to have side gigs. It’s not dangerous for an employee to have a side gig as long as it doesn’t affect their assigned responsibilities.
6.What would you suggest to a new-born entrepreneur?
First, know what you want! Going into business just is not for everyone. What are you prepared to sacrifice to make it a success? You must be fearlessly focused and single-minded. You must be prepared to accept defeat as well as enjoy the wins, and to move on undaunted. It is important to expect the worst and mitigate the same risks but very important to note is you must understand your customer. Who are your customers? What do they want? Can you offer it better and exceed their expectations? This is some food for thought if you would like to be an entrepreneur.
7.Could you tell us a particular satisfactory moment you had in your entrepreneurial activity?
When I handle any client throughout the whole process from the initial communication to the departure successfully and receive feedback, this makes my day. Just constantly meeting different people and experiencing a variety of cultures is energizing. I know it made me a better person and more appreciative of the world. And it is not just me – I think that 99 per cent of my clients are transformed by the travel experience. They get to see humanity through a different lens, that of an expanded understanding and gratitude for the life they live. They get to understand like I do, that it is a privilege to travel this earth and experience life through travel.
I will never forget a day when a previous client travelled many miles to meet me when I visited Berlin and insisted I have dinner with his family, this takes a happy client. Another previous client decides to cancel her work appointments because she wanted to have lunch together while I was on a business trip to Dubai.
8. Could you tell us how the MBA has helped you and your business?
This MBA is tailored to deal with company-specific challenges, while preparing the entrepreneurs to best utilize resources available to them, position their companies to best provide their products and services to the right market and place social impact at the heart of their activities. It also helped me streamline certain aspects of my daily business operations. For example, I was poor at records management, but in our first class, this was one of the major areas of emphasis. I implemented this immediately to the surprise of my team at the office, to them this was not the person they knew, to me this was and still is a big achievement. Later, when we learned about branding, I realized I needed to rebrand my company and right after-sales started to skyrocket. The results where clear, Home To Africa Tours and Travel was finally on the right trajectory.
Learn more on Home to Africa Tours and Travel
Facebook Page: @hometoafricatours
Twitter Account: @home2africa
Instagram Account: @hometoafricaa
