Thursday, November 21

Susan Walakira Nawangwe On Living Purposefully and Winning At It

Who is Susan Walakira Nawangwe?

Susan is a passionate, self driven, hardworking woman who has ………..

been flipped by life several times, but is able to get back on the wheel and drive ahead every time.

What’s your backstory?

Susan is the CEO of Nasuz Fashion Store located at 2nd Floor, Garden City Mall in the heart of Kampala, dealing in high end ladies apparels, bags, shoes and accessories for corporate, casual and party/evening. Nasuz Fashion store was formally established 5 years ago.

Prior to this, she worked as the Director in charge of Finance and administration at St Barnabas College Migadde, a school jointly owned with her husband.

Before, she had worked with several multi-level marketing companies to make ends meet after leaving her banking career.

Susan gave her 9 youthful years to Centenary Bank.  She joined as a Personal Assistant to the Executive Director , later crossed to electronic Banking and she supervised PC and SMS banking operations at the time before her resignation 10 years ago.

Her contribution while at centenary bank included championing the growth and appreciation of electronic banking channels at the time. 

She designed the very first online banking application for microfinance deposit taking institutions in Uganda as part of her Master’s degree project.

Her academic qualifications include: Masters degree in IT from Makerere University, Bachelor of IT from the same university , Diploma in Computer Networking -Cisco Systems, a Diploma in Secretarial Studies among others.

Susan is passionate about empowering women to work hard without any social compromises to reach the apex of what they want to be in life.

She is married to Professor Barnabas Nawangwe, Vice Chancellor of Makerere University in Kampala and together they are blessed with 3 children, a son (18years), 2 daughters(14 and 12 years respectively).

She is a born again Christian and practices strong Christian values including integrity, self control, faithfulness etc.  She faithfully pays tithe for her business and supports charity initiatives.

The holidays are upon us amidst a unique time. How do you plan to celebrate this festive season?

Well, as a businesswoman, holidays mean business. This time of the year I plan it so critically; I ensure that we have sufficient stock especially party or evening wear.  Customers tend to buy more this season due to various end of year celebrations.  I have made 3 business trips from the second half of the year and even ordered for more online to ensure that there are no gaps.

On the family note, my husband relieves me during this time, he steps in for me to attend to our teenagers (children) knowing that mum is busy.  I only break off on 24th and resume on 27th December.  However, we normally have family holidays after New Year’s day.

How would you compare how you made merry as a child to how your children do it?

Hahahaha making merry as a child  meant eating ‘good’ food, having a full house, receiving new clothes, visiting relatives, participating in Sunday School Christmas Cantata to mention but a few.

 To our children, expectations have changed a lot.  To them everyday is like a merry making day: they eat whatever they want, they make choice of their presents, families are becoming smaller and smaller, having full houses is unheard of, Covid-19 has  even made it worse.  They interact more with gadgets than  making merry. Instead of visiting relatives they prefer going for family holidays.

Surely, I find them missing a lot in their childhood.  We had a real blast.

What is your view of celebrations?

I really want everyone to appreciate the reason for the season.  It’s Christ who was born.  I would rather do things that will put a smile on others .  For instance sharing that which God has blessed us with, with others.  It’s a round this time that amidst the busy schedule I take my children along to to visit orphanages and other less privileged, cut cake with them and carry for  them Christmas presents.  Seeing smiles on other people’s faces is enough celebration for me.

Also at Nasuz Fashion Store, it’s the time we prune out and bless communities with ladies apparel, shoes and bags .  To us, it’s what would Jesus do?

Your background is in IT, how did you get into it? Was this your childhood dream career?

Yes, my background is in IT. I had wanted to do IT after completion of a diploma in secretarial studies in 1998 but unfortunately it wasn’t offered in Uganda at the time.  I was a fast typer and I knew with the computer literacy I would even perform better.  I remember, I applied to the University of Waterloo in Canada in 2000, I was offered admission but unfortunately I was denied a Visa. I purposed that anytime IT was introduced at Makerere University,  I would be amongst the pioneers.  My dream came true in 2014 when I was among the pioneer students of Bachelor of Information Technology at Makerere University and later upgraded to Masters of IT at the same Institution.

Then you dipped your hand into fashion..

Yes, it was a hard decision at the time.  I offered my 9 youthful years to the Banking Career, I was an experienced high performer but I had to quit at the prime of my career due to career stagnation and I refused to comprise as woman. I also realized that my husband and I were very busy and we had no time for our young family.  I had to bow out of the corporate career and ventured into self employment. I decided to pursue fashion because that’s where my passion was.

Your fashion business has grown from strength to strength. What have been the key aspects that have made it possible for you to succeed?

Yes by the grace of God, my fashion business has grown from grass to grace.  From boot sales  to owning 2 stores at an upscale mall and the best is yet to come.

I would gladly share the key aspects that have enabled me to succeed including:

1.  Humility- remembering that God exalts the humble and He desists the proud. I serve my customers on my knees, I give them all the attention they need while at my store and give them a personalized touch.  This customer massage brings them back and they refer more people to my store.

2.  Investing my time and resources in something I am very passionate about.  Since childhood I adored fashion and I dressed like it.  When an opportunity came, I gave it my full participation not leaving it to other people to run.

3.  Not despising small beginnings.  From boot sales, I graduated to a dungeon store 5 years ago to an upscale store a couple of years ago. In August this year Nasuz Fashion Store has expanded to a double space at the same upscale location.

4.  Pray about every decision you make, God will guide you in making the right decision. Including every decision I make, I have enquired from God, at times it involves prolonged prayer and fasting seasons .  This has helped me to make right decisions.  Let God be at the center of your passion.  Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.

5.  Celebrating achievements with others.  For instance, at Nasuz we share with communities, we don’t have sales, instead we prune out stock and support charity and as the Bible says in Proverbs 10:25- The generous soul will be made rich, And he who waters will also be watered himself.

6:  Balancing time:- for family, time for myself, time for business and time for God.  We all have 24 hours a day and the way we spend it makes us succeed.  Taking good care of ourselves gives more health to our business and family.

7.  Paying tithe faithfully.  At Nasuz Fashion Store, we return tithe on a daily and this has seen our business grow from strength to strengthen

8.  Making good networks.  This really helped me in attracting the right clientele to my business.

9.  Living your brand in whatever your passionate about.  As our Nasuz slogan goes- at Nasuz, we don’t do fashion we are fashion.

The pandemic affected businesses in a myriad of ways. What was your own experience?

Surprisingly, to us, the pandemic was a blessing in disguise.  While others businesses unfortunately closed, ours remained open by the grace of God and for some reason we got more clients than before.  That’s how we managed to open up Nasuz 2 in September this year.

In your experience, what stops women from achieving their dreams? What can they do to get on the path?

I think it’s the mind set, some people fear to venture into the future of the unknown.  Also some people look at others as the source of their success instead of putting their trust in God who gives us strength to leap to heights.

Women need to believe in themselves and lift up their faith in God and He will water their passions.

How do you balance it all – life, family and work?

It’s not easy but it’s by the grace of God who makes everything possible.  It goes back to balancing our 24 hours.  For instance my first hour (midnight to 1am  is dedicated to God, 1am to 7:00am sleep, 7:00am -9am is my me time; working out and preparation my daily snack, 10:00am -6:00pm work, 7:00pm -11:00pm is family time, 11:00pm -12:00am a power nap before my devotion time ).  Learning how to balance your time keeps everything in check.

If you had to go back in time, what would you tell your 14-year-old self?

Oh my I wish- I would tell her to focus on priorities!  Time is limited every second counts.

What, in your opinion, defines a stellar woman?

A stellar woman is a balanced phenomenon woman- Proverbs 31:10-31

What’s your life mantra?

With God all things are possible

Where do we see Susan in the next 5-10 years?

I see Susan’s cup overflowing and opening her heart and hands to the world to bring glory to God.  I look forward to living significant footprints and helping many as may come my way.

Please leave the Stellar Woman magazine readers a celebratory message.

Merry Christmas and Happy Thanksgiving to you all.  Remember you are an apple of God’s eye.  He will see you through in whatever you lay your hands on.  Just focus and believe.  God bless you all

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