John K. Abimanyi
24 February 2008
They can be found in every almost every corner of the country, but almost all boda bodas that whiz past us on the roads have once been 'residents' of Ndeeba
Every town has a distinctive feature that makes it stand out from the rest and Ndeeba certainly meets that standard. From 1993, when B.M.K (U) Ltd initialised its motorcycle sales, Ndeeba has been the leading motorcycle sales station in Uganda; pouring millions of the boda bodas onto the roads that we now see.
It is the benchmark in motorcycle sales that other suburbs like Katwe, try to meet and emulate. You will look on in awe at so many boda bodas lying, standing, and whizzing by endlessly once you are in Ndeeba.
It sits on the western end of the Ugandan capital; on the road between the scrap and metal that is Katwe, and the swamps that are Nateete. As you commence your descent into the suburb from the Katwe end, a crowd of shops, a market stocked with tribes of bananas and other fruits, chicken cages, and timber businesses on either side of the road, greets and ushers you in.
These, save for the timber, disappear as you walk past the signpost signalling your arrival in Ndeeba. Large wooden and jagged shacks housing carpentry and lumber works take over, airing out sharp and gnashing sounds from their grating sawmills.
Varieties of trucks and pick-ups surround and coil around the sawdust-covered roadside and on into the shacks where they either offload or fill up. A wide range of ready furniture is erected outside for display, with some resting on electricity wires.
The trucks standing by the roadside continue as a string of hardwares replaces the wood and timber trade. The line of hardwares is occasionally punctuated by a few metal workshops displaying their window and doorframes.
And then the boda bodas start, lined up together in neat rows and columns, like primary school pupils attending an assembly in front of their headmaster. The boda bodas are paraded between the front of buildings and just off the road for display.
Shops by the tens, one after another, each with their brand of boda bodas, stand by the roadside from here on. The sale points are a buzz of activity, with blue or green overall-dressed staff working their hands back and forth a bearing or fitting a motorcycle into place. As you walk further on through this suburb, you are left in wonder at the never-ending motorcycle sale points lined up.
They seem to go on for ages except for the occasional garages. Not all boda boda, are new; in fact, most are not. "Majority of the boda bodas that are imported into Ndeeba from Japan especially, are second hand," says Mohammed Semugenyi, a sales person at Sunflower Trading International Limited. While some of the second hand boda bodas on display look their antonym, some are visibly wrecked, with rusting exhaust pipes, torn and worn seats, and missing driving, or is it, riding mirrors.
Assembly points
The boda boda trade has escalated to new technological heights for Uganda. It was thus surprising to find a series of motorcycle assembly points in the town. Auto Dealers Ltd is one of the assembling houses in Ndeeba.
The firm assembles mainly Indian imported motorcycles that include the TVS and the Bajaj. Henry Kitata, a technician at the firm, says that "the Indian motorcycles are cheap and easily marketable and yet they are imported as different parts not the bodas you see on the roads. We then have to assemble them ourselves." He however reassured that the assembling of the motorcycles here does not make them any costlier. The TVS and Bajaj boda bodas cost Shs2.4m.
Other motorbike assembly points in Ndeeba include Dura Motors, who assemble the Chinese Senke and Dayun, bodabodas. These can also be got for a price ranging from Shs1.7m to Shs2m.
The assembling of motorcycles is not new. Barnabus Mukusu of Dura Motors says that he's been assembling motorcycles for over four years now. Quniqui motorcycles are also assembled in here.
According to Ismail Seviri of B.M.K (U) Limited, the bodaboda traces its routes way back to the mid 90s when the Suzuki 80 c.c. and the Yamaha Mate 50 c.c. made their entrance to the Ugandan scene. And what an impression they have left. To this day, these very brands are still heavy weight in the boda boda business despite introduction of other varieties.
Locally known as the 'kigege', the Suzuki 80 c.c. is petite, with slender wheels, and has a basket right under the nose of its headlight. Kinene, a bodaboda rider and owner of one for over 10 years in Kireka, relays that its basket feature made it very popular with passengers because it offered a resting place for their luggage. He also attributed their success to their durability and user friendliness. The Mate has a wider, but shorter wheel, and are usually coloured in red.
Later models of these brands, like the 90 c.c. for Suzuki, later came up but as Semugenyi put it, they did not match the impact made by the former. In the late 90s, the entrance of the clutch featured Suzuki 90 c.c., paved way for other bigger than usual motorcycles to join the bodaboda business.
Since then, the YB6, Honda Super cab, TVS, Senke, and Dayun, to mention but a few, have joined and settled well in boda boda business.
"The TVS especially has been popular with many buyers", says Kitata. He adds that it is because clients, especially those interested in using them for boda boda business, are attracted by its low fuel consumption. Some radio commercials put its consumption at 50kms for every litre but none of the sales men contacted could confirm it.
Good business
Over the years, bodaboda business has proved a profitable venture for many and more boda bodas are being purchased by the day. A boda boda cyclist along Kampala Road, said that he earns between Shs50,000 to Shs65,000 Ugandan shillings a day.
What he gives to his boss however depends on how his pockets are doing but it ranges from Shs30,000 to Shs40,000. Motorcycle dealers, B.M.K, who pioneered this motorcycle craze, have now developed their self-named brand. Seviri revealed that the company has been selling these brands for five years now. They are manufactured by a sister company in Japan.
The BMK motorcycle is in two brands; the BMK 100 and the BMK 125.
Apart from the boda boda, there are other breeds of motorcycles on sale in Ndeeba. The little scooter and Vesper, the heightened bikes that are common with electricity and water personnel, and on to the giant wheeled ones that you see in the movies.
The growth and spread of boda boda businesses in Ndeeba is attributed to the success of the pioneer firms. "Many people started selling motorcycles after realising the progress and that BMK and Big Ways Limited had made", says Fazil Lubega, a native of the area.
Ndeeba is an altogether motor town. Car and motorcycle spare part shops plus a series of garages for both cars and motorcycles compliment the various motorcycle sale points.
Wherever there isn't a motorcycle shop, there is a spares shop concerned with motorcycles or a six-some of boys washing an empty trailer. It is dotted with men dressed in oil soaked over-alls.
There is almost no room for any other businesses because motor-related enterprises have dominated the whole tract. A couple of hotels, groceries, and banks are the other only surviving businesses in this world of motor life. They however look terribly out of place as there are more motorcycle shops in Ndeeba than groceries, and any other businesses, combined.
Occasionally, a high flying rider on a gigantic 250 c.c. Motorbike roars past leaving your ears to bear the deafening bullet like sounds.
Ndeeba appears to have constant clouds of dust hanging in the sky. The air breathed in feels stuffed and coupled with the heat and sounds of metals clashing against each other, makes up an irritable feeling. The sight of masses and heaps of metal thrown and littered around the site give it an artificial look.
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