The Founder Lens🔎
Every founder has a story worth seeing.👀
Building a venture is rarely a straight line. There are ideas that evolve, experiments that don’t go as planned, lessons learned, small wins, setbacks, and moments that shape how we build.
The Founder Lens brings these stories to life by giving members of the Rootical community a chance to share their experiences whether they are actively building, exploring what’s next, or simply taking a different path in their journey.🌱
The goal is: To learn from one another.
How It Works⚙️
For each edition, two community members are paired and given a set of guiding questions to reflect on and answer. The questions open up honest conversations around their experiences, lessons, challenges, growth, and the moments that have shaped their journey.💡
Their reflections are then shared with the wider Rootical community, giving everyone a chance to look through their Founder Lens and take something meaningful from their experience.
Think of it as picking a leaf from someone else’s journey a lesson, an idea, a mistake to avoid, a new perspective, or simply the encouragement to keep going.🔄
Because not every lesson comes from a success story. Sometimes, the most valuable things we learn come from what didn’t work, what changed, and what someone is still figuring out.
When founders share, the whole community grows.🧠
Welcome to The Founder Lens a space to see, share, and learn from the journeys within our community.⚡
Five years from today what will make you proud of this season?
Joan Anyait🍃
Founder - Ecovein
“Five years from today, I will be proud to have transformed Ecovein Uganda’s vision into a reality by pioneering a shared-value business model that strengthens partnerships with cooperatives and creates mutual value for all involved. I will look back at securing our first joint investment partnership as a defining milestone that laid a strong foundation for regenerative growth, deeper collaboration, and a model that can continue creating lasting value for both the business and the cooperatives we work with.”
Charles Emong🍃
Founder - Farmtorch
“Five years from today, I will be proud to have transformed Ecovein Uganda’s vision into a reality by pioneering a shared-value business model that strengthens partnerships with cooperatives and creates mutual value for all involved. I will look back at securing our first joint investment partnership as a defining milestone that laid a strong foundation for regenerative growth, deeper collaboration, and a model that can continue creating lasting value for both the business and the cooperatives we work with.”
What small moment recently reminded you why you started?
Fahadi Musaazi🍃
Founder - Clear Farm Sol
“Recently, I had an interaction with one of the community leaders where I work, who appreciated the contribution of Clear Farm Solutions to community development. He then shared something that stayed with me:
“In less than a year, my bananas are already flowering.”
It was a small moment, but it reminded me why I started. Seeing farmers benefit from clean banana plantlets of their preferred local varieties, combined with proper agronomy, shows that the work can make a real difference.
My goal has always been to help farming communities access clean planting material while building the knowledge to grow it successfully. Today, we are bringing that vision closer by producing clean banana plantlets within the farming community, together with farmers and for the varieties they prefer.”
Orisa Raphael Jawino🍃
Founder–CEO GSS City (Ug)
“A recent conversation with smallholder farmers reminded me why I started. Hearing about their resilience and determination despite limited access to markets reinforced my belief that real transformation is not just about increasing production. It is about creating systems that give farmers greater access to opportunities, strengthen their livelihoods, and build a sense of dignity and prosperity. Their experiences continue to shape the work I do and remind me of the bigger picture. That is the vision behind GSS-City.”
What failure made you question whether you are supposed to be a founder?
Juliet Akumu🍃
Founder - Regen Forest Chicken
“Being broke and unable to push things forward made me question so many things, including whether I could continue as a founder. A lot of what comes with building a business requires money from transport to move around and look for clients to following up, making connections, and keeping things moving.
Limited resources made me question whether I could continue as a founder. Thanks to Rootical’s financial support, I was able to keep moving forward, even when things felt uncertain. It reminded me that sometimes, the right support at the right time can make the difference between giving up and taking the next step.”
Napio Ruth Esther🍃
Dellucy Food Processing Hub (U)LTD
“For a while, my business wasn’t growing the way I wanted, particularly in capital and sales. Looking back, I realised I wasn’t fully committed to the founder’s journey because I treated the business more like a side hustle. As a result, it lacked the focus and structure needed to grow.
Through Rootical’s seminars and trainings, I learnt to manage my business finances and sales better, while separating business money from my personal expenses. These changes helped me become more intentional about how I ran and grew the business.
Slowly, I started seeing a brighter future ahead. Today, I have a clearer vision for my business and feel more confident that I am on the right track in my journey as a founder.”
Do you ever feel trapped by the identity of a founder?
Bwengye Duncan🍃
Founder - Xavisi
“Yes, I sometimes feel trapped by the identity of a founder. It has become more than what I do; it is often who people think I am. The ambition, resilience, and constant problem-solving are rewarding, but they also come with pressure to always have the answers, keep pushing, and never slow down even through financial struggles, personal loss, and setbacks.
Because I care deeply about building technology that solves real problems in Africa, my mind rarely switches off. I can easily tie my self-worth to the success or failure of my ventures.
But I’m learning that being a founder is only one part of who I am. I want to create lasting impact without losing the person behind the mission. I want to be a founder, but also a good friend, teacher, family man, politician, lover or simply a normal guy who gets to live and enjoy life.
Founder is not all I can be.”
Jonathan Odongo Otule🍃
Co-founder- Regraze
“Yes, I’ve come to understand that a startup is built twice first through the founder, then through the product.
The process of building a business often builds you faster than it builds the business itself. It pushes you to develop resilience, discipline, self-awareness, and the ability to navigate uncertainty.
Before scaling a company, I believe you first have to define and strengthen the founder behind it. Enduring ventures begin when the founder is willing to grow alongside the vision.”
What uncomfortable conversation are you avoiding?
Nalubwama Caroline🍃
Co-Founder- YieldRoute Africa
“The uncomfortable conversation I’m sometimes hesitant to have is challenging the status quo in agriculture. Transforming the sector means having honest conversations with farmers about practices we have become familiar with, but that may no longer be sustainable for the future.
Those conversations can be difficult because they challenge long-held beliefs and ways of working. But I’m learning that avoiding them doesn’t move us forward. If we want to build a more resilient and sustainable agricultural sector, we have to be willing to question what isn’t working, listen to farmers, and explore better ways of doing things.
The conversations may be uncomfortable, but they are necessary if we want to create lasting impact.”
Akello Clare🍃
Founder - Kitchen Heaven
“The uncomfortable conversation I’m sometimes avoiding is why some businesses remain small. It’s easy to blame rejection, difficult customers, or limited opportunities, but sometimes the real challenge is our own inconsistency and fear of trying again after a “no.”
We also need to have honest conversations about finances, publicity, and building businesses that can survive without us.
I’m learning that avoidance is more damaging than rejection. Growth means getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. If one out of ten doors opens, that is still progress.
The goal is to build sustainable structures, understand the numbers, stay consistent, and reset without quitting.”
What sacrifice has someone in your family made for your dream?
Ignatius Okore🍃
Founder & E.D YESRUD Uganda,
“My father made one of the biggest sacrifices for my dream. At the time, he was a primary school teacher and couldn’t afford to even buy himself a mobile phone because he used the little resources he had to keep my elder sister and me in school.
When I shared my vision with him, instead of questioning it, he believed in me and did everything he could to make it possible. His sacrifice went beyond financial support he gave me the opportunity to dream, pursue my vision, and believe that it was possible.
A lot of what I am building today stands on the sacrifices he made yesterday.”
Omoding George🍃
Founder- GrainGuard
“My mother gave me the room to become. There were countless conversations where I spoke for far too long about ideas that existed only in my head, and she listened anyway.
She gave me the freedom to dream, explore, and figure things out without constantly pushing me toward the safer or more predictable path. Her patience and belief in me may not always have looked like a sacrifice, but it gave me something invaluable the space to become the person I am still growing into.
Sometimes, the greatest sacrifice is simply believing in someone before they have anything to show for it.”
What kind of leader do you hope your team remembers?
Daniel Chavo Kisekka🍃
Founder & CEO - Veridian Bioharvest
I hope my team remembers me as a values-driven leader, guided by integrity, respect, and accountability. A teammate once told me that I quietly work to “save other people’s days,” and that stayed with me.
I want to be remembered as a servant leader — someone who listened, cleared obstacles, prioritised the foundational things that help people do their best work, and created space for others to succeed.
For me, leadership is not about being the person with all the answers or taking all the credit. It is about helping others win, even when no one is watching.
Oreb Rubahimbya🍃
Founder- Regenera Wallet
I hope my team remembers me as a leader who knew when to serve and when to adapt. I believe in combining servant leadership with adaptive leadership — servant leadership when working with agents, where listening, supporting, and removing barriers are essential, and adaptive leadership when working with the wider team, where circumstances require flexibility, learning, and the ability to respond to change.
Ultimately, I want to be remembered as someone who understood that different people and situations need different kinds of leadership, while remaining grounded in respect, accountability, and a commitment to helping others succeed.
What impact do you hope your venture creates beyond profits?
Asasira Brenda Kakungulu🍃
Founder- Green Spark
Beyond profits, I hope to show that businesses can be a force for solving real challenges in their communities while creating meaningful value for others. For me, success is not only about how much a business grows financially, but also about the lives it touches and the change it contributes to.
By improving access to nutritious food and creating better and more reliable markets for agroecology producers, we can help farmers earn better livelihoods while making healthier food more accessible to communities. In doing so, we can build stronger local food systems that benefit both producers and consumers.
Ultimately, I want to demonstrate that business and impact can grow together — creating healthier communities, stronger livelihoods, and a more regenerative future for all.
Chebet Diana 🍃
Founder & CEO -Seed Trust
I hope to make quality seed more accessible to farmers while strengthening local farmer networks and reducing dependence on unreliable suppliers. Access to good seed is an important first step, but I believe the bigger opportunity is to build a system where farmers are not simply recipients of planting materials, but active participants in shaping the food system.
By working more closely with farmers, strengthening local production, and creating stronger networks for sharing knowledge and resources, we can improve both productivity and confidence. Beyond better harvests, the goal is to create more opportunity, resilience, and ownership — helping farmers have greater control over what they grow, how they grow it, and the future of the food system they are part of.
What small change in nutrition has made a change in your energy?
Abu Musuuza🍃
Director Uganda- Rootical
What made the biggest difference for me was combining a higher-protein diet with consistency in movement. I cut out most carbohydrates and committed to running or walking 3km every day for 100 days. It wasn’t always easy to stay consistent, especially on days when I didn’t feel motivated, but having a clear goal helped me keep going.
Over time, I noticed a real difference in my energy levels, discipline, and overall routine. The experience taught me that meaningful change doesn’t always come from doing something extreme, but from making intentional choices and sticking with them long enough to become part of your lifestyle.
Innocent Ociti🍃
Founder - Ecologic
One small change that has made a big difference in my energy is keeping my diet consistent and protein-heavy, mainly with pork, eggs, and plenty of yogurt. Having meals that keep me full and my energy steady throughout the day has helped me feel more focused and productive.
I also enjoy cooking, which makes the change much easier to maintain. Rather than seeing it as a strict routine, I’ve found a way of eating that I genuinely enjoy and can stick with. Sometimes, the biggest changes come from finding simple habits that work for you and making them part of your everyday life.
