Street Park

Small and Medium businesses in Uganda face challenges of growth which  include; inadequate collateral to secure loans, information opaqueness, low level technical and management skills, competition and inability to afford long term financing.

First, we are proposing the operation of a retail mall (Street Park; 80 refitted shipping containers outlets) along with an integrated set of strategies that contribute to achieve successful business development for SMEs, marketing and public relations tactics, along with community development.  We also hope to contribute to urbanization of Kampala suburbs through utilizing affordable construction techniques and strategic partnerships.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) contribute to economic development, innovation, wealth creation of the global economy. In Uganda, they are spread across all sectors and contribute over 2.5 million jobs and 20% of the gross domestic product (GDP). Therefore by supporting their growth, we shall be strategically addressing global problems of poverty, unemployment, income inequality, among others. 

One of the causes of business failure in Uganda is that most young entrepreneurs are ill-equipped to manage commercial enterprises beyond the one person start-up phase. The challenges facing SMEs owners that we can respond to include; cash flow difficulties, information opaqueness, low level technical and management skills, lack of professionalism and competition.

With a survival rate of 50%, it means that 1 in every 2 Ugandan businesses that starts fails – usually within 3 years. Globally, there is still a low participation of SMEs in the global value chains. The low participation is associated with the barriers of integration that most of these SMEs face. 

The failure of SMEs derives economic problems such as unemployment, poverty, income inequality, and recessions. This is majorly because they contribute largely to the global economy. In most OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) economies, SMEs account for 95% of all firms, around two-thirds of total employment, and over half of business sector value-added. In Uganda, they are the engine of growth for the economic development, innovation, wealth creation of Uganda. They account for 90% of the private sector, 20% GDP and employ over 2.5 million people. 

Street Park is a commercial retail mall with public/event space built using refitted shipping containers for SMEs to implement profitable concepts at affordable rates in prime locations. Street Park will be operated along with an integrated set of strategies that contribute to achieve business development for SMEs, marketing and public relations tactics, along with community development through a local partnership with Mabadiliko Changemakers (MCM). 

MCM has dedicated her resources in the last 4 years to the development of individuals, groups and organisations in Uganda. MCM is composed of a team of experienced individuals with vast expertise in strategic planning, grant implementation, financial technology, business development and engineering.  

MCM has implemented capacity strengthening programs of structures, systems and processes within an organizational development framework sponsored by donors such as American Cancer Society in local NGOs in Uganda. Their learnings have given them enormous experience in developing C-level Executives, organizational teams, businesses and systems that are affordable and sustainable in the transformation of grass root organisations.

We want to use Street Park as an effective physical platform that supports SMEs to implement profitable concepts in prime locations. By setting up in prime locations, SMEs will have an opportunity to test out their products/services in better performing markets with middle/high income earners. The team at MCM will work jointly with the businesses to strengthen their systems, processes and structures to support their growth and development immediately they sign up as Street Park tenants.

We held interviews with SMEs owners in the different sectors who expressed that inadequate collateral to secure loans, low level technical and management skills, and competition were key challenges faced currently. Following these interviews, we designed a concept mall using refitted containers, which will be set up as container mall in a prime location of Kampala. We are looking to utilize our low construction cost advantage to offer low rents, and Street Park’s unique architecture and events strategy to provide its differentiation strategy over competitors in the market. 

The businesses will be chosen to complement one another to reduce on competition within the location, with professional business planning and organisational development alongside to strengthen their brand, their systems, marketing and customer services.

Our solution provides a modern, innovative, low-cost eco-friendly environment for businesses to develop in.  In addition, we will support and incubate their companies, strengthening their infrastructure from their financial management system to their branding and marketing.  For the customer, we will be offering a unique set of outlets, both retail and food with excellent customer service and a range of events that with draw a wide range of audiences to the mall. 

Street Park presents itself as an innovative sustainable solution that prioritizes the support and growth of SMEs while creating jobs for many unemployed youth in Uganda.

Street Park has been designed to be cost effective. By recycling old shipping containers, we will save at least 30% of the construction costs that would be incurred if we were using brick and mortar. 

Differentiation strategy; Street Park will stand out as Uganda's First container mall with an integrated public/events space. We believe this pioneering status will be attaractive to our youthful customers. 

Our marketing strategy focuses on what our consumers go to a mall for: an authentic, in-person brand experience. According to Retail Touchpoints, most consumers want unique services and products, localized assortments, and optimal pricing. We will work with the businesses to set out to make such customer offers available and known to the market.

Other strategies we plan to use include; targeting traditional and social media, leveraging influencer marketing, and pitching our unique mall concept to local bloggers. Local bloggers have a strong influence on mid and high earners in Kampala and how they spend their disposable income.

Street Park is largely powered by the use of low cost construction techniques that is to say, the use of recycled shipping containers. By recycling old shipping containers, we will save at least 30% of the construction costs that would be incurred if we were using brick and mortar. 

Our solution is also eco-friendly. It is estimated that reusing a single 40' container upcycles about 3500kg of steel and saves about 8000 kWh that would otherwise be needed to melt it down.

Street Park also has mid-term and long term opportunity of transforming into an e-commerce retail platform that supports business-2-business(B2B) and business-2-customer (B2C) transactions. 

Street Park's development was benchmarked on proven similar concepts implemented around the world both in developed and developing countries. For instance, we studied the concept of Boxpark (in London) which was the world’s first pop-up mall – fusing the concepts of the modern street food market and placing local and global brands side by side, to create a unique shopping and dining destination. Entirely constructed out of refitted shipping containers, Boxpark utilises a unique position in being able to offer affordable and flexible conditions for lifestyle brands, cafes, restaurants and galleries to trade and succeed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNJ3r_XJpc0&list=PLsUYjQMaEWI5mRp23PE_bXL2Gt85ZtuLn&index=15&t=8s

In South Africa, the concept has been applied and proven to work through the 27Boxes development.https://www.bigboxcontainers.co.za/blog/from-spaza-shops-to-shopping-malls 

In Kampala, the use of single shipping containers and kiosks as refitted shops is a common retail trend downtown and in the suburbs. The idea however of setting them up aesthetically (like Boxpark or 27Boxes) in a prime location together under one roof side by side with an accompanying events space is the actual value-added innovation.

At full occupancy, Street Park will be a platform that hosts a maximum of 80 SME brands.  However, in phase 1 (year 1) we plan for the construction 30 outlets. We have factored in an assumption of 10% vacancy by end of year 1 thus leaving an estimated 27 SME brands to work with. 

The average number of people each SME employs is between 2-5 employees in Uganda today. Therefore we estimate to foster the creation of between 84 -165 jobs in year 1 alone (including 30 jobs created within Street Park). 

Then By year 5,  we estimate that Street Park will be operating at full occupancy and that all SMEs will have undergone tremendous growth requiring at least 5 workers each hence leading to a total number of 400 jobs created within the SMEs and at least 50 jobs within Street Park itself.  

Our immediate goal is;

1.  To finance the phase1 construction and one-year operationalisation of Street Park in Kampala. 

Our mid-term goals are;

1.  To ensure the successful growth of our tenants (small businesses). 
2. To build a strong brand as a distinct destination for shopping, dinning and entertainment for customers. 
3. To achieve completion of construction by year 3. 
4. To achieve a modest initial gross profit margin by year 2, increasing that by at least 3% per year.
5. To achieve at least 90% occupancy of the total construction (80 outlets) by year 4.

Our long term goal is;

1. To expand Street Park into other developing countries in Africa.

Financial Barriers

Street Park needs start-up capital 682,000 Dollars to;

1. To acquire a 25 year land lease in a prime location of Kampala.The land is estimated to be 82decimals, https://goo.gl/maps/CpKmfZEYiV2TF9rR7 and can suitably accomodate our project. 
2. To support phase 1 construction costs and operational costs.

Political barriers

Street Park needs to acquire good will and support from the relevant authorities in Kampala to access all necessary subsidies that can help reduce the cost of the project and importantly the growth of the SMEs.

We are actively engaging in resource mobilisation actions to raise start-up capital for the project. We have so far already engaged prospective investors, financial institutions and local partners to secure some potential funding however with the disruptions of COVID-19, our progress has slowed.

We are hoping to utilise SOLVE as a potential partner to help us with the resource mobilisation and to refine our idea to reach greater impact.

We are actively engaging  Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) management to ensure that Street Park fits within the strategic planning for the development of Kampala City.

Full time staff - 1 

The project is spearheaded by the Co-founder Tusiime Albert who serves currently on a full-time basis. 

Part-time staff- 5

The project is also supported by a group of part-time consultants from various fields of expertise. Our partime team currently consists of an experienced engineer, an architect, business development analyst, a logistics and procurement expert and finally a certified accountant.

Our team is well positioned to deliver the project because we yield great passion and a wealth of experience in Engineering, business development, grant implementation, project management, architecture, Urban planning and business coaching.

Tusiime Albert (Co-founder)- Civil engineer with over 4 years experience in grant implementation and management. He has worked with local grass root organisations and spearheaded  their transformation. He has served as a board member and has vast experience in board governance and good leadership skills. He is passionate about social impact change. https://www.linkedin.com/in/tusiime84/

Eng. Namutete Andrew-12 yrs experience in structural design and project management https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-namutete-67b1473b/

Architect Stuart Sebombo- 7yrs in project design and implementation. https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuart-sebombo-74140524/

Sheilah Asaba- 6 years in construction management, procurement and logistics.

Brian Birungi- Certified Accountant.https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-birungi-acca-4220b565/  

Daniel Opio- Business Development officer https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-opio-aa24b92a/

We are working with Madiliko ChangeMakers. They are a Ugandan local organisation with good skills in supporting the growth and transformation of grass root organisations/ businesses. In the past they have worked with big donors to implement capacity building programs in Uganda.Their team has experienced individuals with vast expertise in strategic planning, grant implementation, financial technology, business development and engineering.

Zena Bernaccra- https://www.linkedin.com/in/zenabernacca/ 

Manjit Kaur- https://www.linkedin.com/in/manjit-kaur-04b9a05/.

1. Summary of Business model. Please follow the link to view https://drive.google.com/file/...

Street Park is looking to raise intial investment capital (Approximately 682,000 US Dollars) to;

1. To acquire a land lease of the site location.
2. To cover the construction costs for phase 1 (30 Outlets).
3. To cover the first annual operational costs.

Our revenue will be generated through the following patterns;  

1. Fixed long term rental payments 
2. Flexible rental payments
3. Business revenue earnings
4. Revenue from social media advertising
5. Others (income generated from space hired for events) 

Our financial projections indicate that Street Park should be able to meet her operational costs by year 2. 

Solve provides a unique opportunity to for us to access funding and exposure to refine our project. We are confident that Solve has over the years proven self as an effective platform that; shapes world leaders and projects, links projects to seed capital and facilitates growth of impact ideas.

We also realise that Solve gives our company leaders an opportunity to build strong relations and networks through a direct interactions with business coaches, mentors, fellow entrepreneurs and impact investors.

Ultimately, we are looking for positive traction for our idea. We are convinced that our successful participation in Solve should demonstrate the validity of our impact solution (approach) to the entire World as large. 

We are looking for long term financial partners interested in positively impacting the growth of small businesses.  

As mentioned above, our immediate goal will be to finance the phase1 construction and one-year operationalisation of Street Park in Kampala. The start-up capital will provide a good foundation for Street Park to develop her core team and structure her mid term and long term sustainability. 

Our mid-term goals are;

1.  To ensure the successful growth of our tenants (small businesses). 
2. To build a strong brand as a distinct destination for shopping, dinning and entertainment for customers. 
3. To achieve completion of construction by year 3. 
4. To achieve a modest initial gross profit margin by year 2, increasing that by at least 3% per year.
5. To achieve at least 90% occupancy of the total construction (80 outlets) by year 4.

Our long term goal is;

1. To expand Street Park into other developing countries in Africa.

We would like to partner with organisations looking to solve the same dimension of the Challenge. We are also looking to benefit from all potential intiatives on this platform that offer support for such projects like Street Park.