Alice the Stationery winner from 'The Den'

Alice Akwero grew up in Kitgum, in the Acholi lands of northern Uganda

The oldest of 8 children she has 4 brothers and 3 sisters, all of whom are still alive, as are her parents.

To start with Alice’s childhood was fairly standard for a provincial Ugandan girl – she went to school each day, Helped with the chores when at home, looked after some of the younger siblings, and enjoyed being with her friends.

But then the Lords Resistance Army appeared on the scene and things changed completely. Teenagers were being abducted in the night and rebels would appear in the villages and towns, rounding up anyone who happened to be in the wrong place.

Alice’s family were fearful for their lives, and for three or four years they moved between Kitgum and Kampala, seeking safety.

This all happened when Alice was about 13 – 17 years, and in those years of turmoil, Alice fell in love with a lad of her age, and she got pregnant. Stephen was born, and Alice started moving back and forth with Stephen’s dad, rather than her own family.

When Stephen’s dad was abducted one night and hacked to death, Alice fled to Kampala vowing never to return north. She has lived in Acholi Quarters ever since, raising Stephen (now age 10), and her daughter Bella (age 3) whose dad is not around.

Alice earns money by selling bead products to a market trader, and also to teams from overseas when they visit. Thankfully she has managed to avoid working in the quarry too much, although she knows that is a fall-back option if she gets desperate for money. The money she earns is enough to pay the rent, and cover a meal a day for the family, and keep them clothed and shod – school fees are a bit too far, but thankfully Stephen is sponsored, so he is finally able to go to school.

Alice was the recent winner of a small ‘Dragon’s Den’ competition that was held within the Lubanga Ber cooperative of which she is a part. Her proposal was to open a stationers shop – something that doesn’t exist in the community already, and yet for which there is a great need.

She wants to sell the straightforward stationery bits and pieces that are needed for school, work etc; but also to have a photocopier and printer service – for those times when someone needs a copy of their ID, or of a letter, or many of the others occasions when people without email and internet want to keep a copy of something in the way that we would just do a scan and email option.

I met with Alice yesterday, one week on from her success in the Den, and already she has bought the photocopier, bought some stationery, and got her first copying job in the form of printing the service sheets for the local church. 

She hasn’t sorted the shop front yet, and still plans to do that. Indeed I think Alice had aimed to get the shop front in place before doing any business, but seeing how quickly she has got started on her dream, I don’t think that getting things in a different order is going to matter too much!

The meeting yesterday confirmed that the decision of the dragons last week in awarding her the winning pot was the right one - I’m looking forward to returning next visit and seeing how the business is going.