It takes incredible amounts of guts, courage and self-belief for one to quit a posh, full-time and well-paying job and start a project whose future is not guaranteed. And this is the plunge and personal risk that Diana Mbabaali Miiro took in 2015 when she left Barclays Bank, now ABSA Bank, as head of service management, to set up KeyScapes Limited – a greening and environmental outfit.
When she was growing up, Miiro wanted to join the banking industry and true to form, at the completion of schooling in 1998, she landed her dream job at ABSA. “I wanted to wear heels, yes, heels, look posh and talk a lot [about] banking,” she says as she casts her mind back.
Face of green and sustainable spaces
Miiro says when she worked at ABSA bank at the time; most of her colleagues had side hustles from which they generated handsome income. She also wanted to jump to the bandwagon but felt hers was, and still is a noble mission that warranted a full-time commitment. Miiro is not only passionate but has become a proud ambassador of a growing global movement towards greener and sustainable environment.
Healthy natural lifestyles
KeyScapes Limited is a Ugandan based company specialising in landscaping, potted plants artistries and gardening supplies. An ardent gardener, Miiro’s mission is to encourage Ugandans to live a healthy natural lifestyle, growing their own food organically in the small spaces of their backyards. To achieve these objectives, Miiro created a community social responsibility vehicle under the Backyard Gardeners Uganda, a forum she founded on social media platforms.
Key issues translating into ROI
One of the other key goals for KeyScapes Limited, which Miiro incorporated in 2016, is to facilitate job creation including enhancing indoor and outdoor green spaces. The offerings range from, among others, supplying and maintaining indoor and outdoor plants to landscape design with a view to providing beautiful and sustainable spaces in the environment. Furthermore, says Miiro, KeySpaces Limited creates green spaces in residences and mainly corporate offices which greatly improves the human mental health and improves productivity levels which translate into a high return on investment. “We are the main plant maintenance contractor to many prestigious government institutions, banks, hotels, offices, and residential properties. All of our plants are put through a health and safety assurance test, prior to delivery to our customers,” says Miiro.
Prioritising natural resources
Our design philosophy, she adds, is to provide a healthy, comfortable, beautiful and sustainable environment. Our work is inspired by unique customer-driven designs that are not only beautiful but also efficient. Miiro says they prioritise the use of natural resources because of their inherent depth and enduring qualities. “We are a company totally dedicated to environmental ethos, and shall ensure the continuation of a safe, clean and healthy ecosystem,” says Miiro, adding, KeySpaces Limited also has solid business processes that are geared towards promoting sustainable and green environment.
Expanding footprint
Miiro’s enormous passion for greener issues and her entrepreneurial prowess helped entrench KeySpaces Limited’s footprint in her region with potential to expand further into other neighbouring Eastern African countries. She has also won some accolades including being:
- Vital Voices Fellow
- Vital Voices Leadership Journey
- Cited as female future programme graduate and
- an Academy for Women Entrepreneurs Mentor.
Overcoming the odds
But her journey to set up KeySpaced Limited and to drive the green environment awareness has not been without some hurdles. Soon after she left her job at ABSA bank, things went awry as she tried to navigate the challenges that go with her new status of being self-employed. But she dug deep and persevered until she got up on her feet again to this day.
“One and half years into this new world of self-employment, I hit rock bottom, actually I went past rock bottom and that’s a story for another day. But I picked myself up gradually and sometime in 2017, with mentorship from Vital Voices, I changed the business strategy, introduced new product lines, and I have only looked forward since,” concludes Miiro. Available statistics show that most small enterprises collapse within one year after they were found and the fact that hers still exists to this day speak of her incredible business acumen and staying power.
