Episode 108: Mugagga Kiyimba Regenpreneur Startup Story - Changing Community Challenges into Solutions

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• StorySeed:  Marketing and Message Course for regenerative entrepreneurs: Learn to start, build, and scale your business by building the skills that allow you to effectively market your impact-driven enterprise.
• Resource Commons and Community Forum: An open community of regenerative entrepreneurs creating change through the business they start, build, and grow.

Just like last month, we have another special bonus episode sharing the startup story of an impactful regenerative entrepreneur. This time we are talking to Mugagga Kiyimba from Uganda about how he started the Treasure Foundation. Join us as we dive into the life of a true community leader who empowers everyone around him. We’ll talk about looking at problems as opportunities, finding the strength to overcome and persist, being in-tune with your community to create solutions, and much, much more. If you enjoy today’s episode, please review us on Apple podcast or follow us on your preferred podcast platform.

Episode Show Notes:

• The Treasure Foundation: The organization Mugagga helped found and is now the Executive Director of.
• Mugagga is active on LinkedIn: Keep in touch and follow what the Treasure Foundation and Mugagga are up to on LinkedIn as he is responsive and active on there
• Also available over email: He mentioned you can also reach him directly my email if you’d like to partner or volunteer with the Treasure Foundation
• Heal the World by Michael Jackson: Early on in the interview Mugagga shares a song that helps inspire his work
• Zambogo Junior School: The school he first helped transform, creating a food forest for children and educators to learn to grow healthy, nutritious food
• Looking at problems as opportunities: Several times in Mugagga’s story we see how he found opportunity in the problems he and his community faced.
• Starting with Seeds and giving back wealth: seeds are a power pact resource and Mugagga uses them to help youth in his area plant nutritional food and give back the additional seeds to a seed bank for future plantings.
• Marie-Pierre Bilodeau connection: Mugagga and I share a good friend, MP, who we have had on the show a few times and he mentions her in the episode. MP is a rockstar community builder herself and you can check out her episodes in the link provided
• Being in tune with community to create solutions: This is a theme that stands out throughout his story and something we can all learn from as regenerative entrepreneurs
• Training students to become soil entrepreneurs: I thought it was awesome to see that Mugagga taught children who were at risk of dropping out of school how to become soil entrepreneurs. I feel we could use many more soil entrepreneurs in the world.
• Microlending: If you’re new to the concept, it is an amazing tool to help regions that are struggling from climate disaster, war, social unrest, poverty, or hunger. Give it a Google search if you’re interested in knowing more. Studies have shown that micro-loans actually have a much lower default rate than traditional bank loans.
• Lesson learned when loosing three quarters of their lending potential: Mugagga learned some important lessons when he lent three quarters of his micro-funds to one person in need.
  • Have a clear WHY for the actions in your business
  • Don’t act on passion alone
  • Use sound business practices when operating your business finances
• Best way to work on our dreams is to start: A strong piece of advice Mugagga gives at the end of the interview.
• Never giving up on healing the world: His final take away he hopes you take from his story is to never give up and keep your determination despite setbacks.

Guest Bio:

Mugagga Kiyimba - LinkedIn Profile

Mugagga is the founder of the Treasure Foundation that teaches and supports local communities in Uganda. His foundation creates regenerative impact by deeply engaging with the local communities they serve. Mugagga helps turn a community’s struggles into opportunities by teaching simple principles of health and wealth and supporting community members to take ownership of both. The Treasure Foundation has implemented seed saving and soil building programs for the youth, a microfinancing institution that funds regenerative business activities for the unemployed and underfed, and food forestry programs that grow and teach others to grow nutrient dense food for their families and community. He is a community leader, educator, and regenerative entrepreneur who values the life and vitality of each individual, helping everyone to find the treasure within themselves.

Host Bio:

Joshua Prieto - LinkedIn Profile

Josh is the co-founder and CEO of Seeds of Tao an education and incubation company for regenerative entrepreneurs. If you ask him the purpose of SoT, he’ll tell you it is to create paths to a more inclusive, fair, and balanced economy. He feels a special kind of entrepreneur is the key to that path. In the past he has felt discouraged, disappointed, and confused by the extractive and degenerative practices of the businesses he has helped during his career as an entrepreneur and marketing strategist. When he found the regenerative and permaculture movement he realized that if entrepreneurs used regenerative principles and practices in their business our economy and culture would change from an extractive, degenerative one to a consciously regenerative one. Today he focuses on building up and increasing the number of regenerative entrepreneurs through open education services and incubator programs. He would absolutely love it if you joined him in his efforts.