40 Top Small startup side hustle ideas in Uganda today.

The cost of living, human necessities, and population are rising while little is done to match this. As a result, many unemployed youths are looking for something to do. In addition to the above, a lot of the youths are underpaid to the extent that they struggle to make ends meet. From this, there is search for good genuine small start-up side hustle ideas that can be adopted to earn a living.

Some side hustles will turn out to be an all effort and no pay, others can become good enough to be adopted full time. Here is a list of some small startup side hustle ideas out there that can help you earn a living and can later be made full-time ventures.

What is a side hustle/ Business?

A side business/ Hustle is anything you can do in addition to your main job to earn a living. It can be something you like doing but in the process earn some a living.

Why do you need a side hustle/ business?

There are many reasons why you need a side hustle/ business and some of them are discussed below.

• To keep you busy.
• To learn a new skill
• To work as a backup or plan B to your main job.
• To test your creativity.

For further insights on why you need a side hustle, you can use the link below.

Read more: Top 5 reasons why you need a side business.

These are the top small startup side hustle ideas.

Juice fruit making and selling.

this is the first on the list of small startup side hustle ideas. The climate is changing these days and it’s too hot. This has caused the demand for cold drinks to skyrocket such as natural juice, ice cream, and more. You can use this as an advantage by starting a juice-making business. You can make different types of juice or mix them for example mango, passion fruit, sugarcane, banana, watermelon, and more. Juice can be marketed and sold in different towns, restaurants, or at the front of a shop for good returns.

Action idea; lookout for a busy junction or place, start making and selling your juice there. Use a juice-making machine for making plenty of juice, and try scaling the idea to get good returns from the side hustle.

Rabbit rearing.

Gone are the days when rabbit rearing was for kids. I grew up in a society where only boys of age below 15 years would rear rabbits and it’s funny how am now writing about it as a good side hustle. Due to the health benefits of rabbit meat, its demand has gone up hence making rabbit rearing a worthy venture. It’s being adopted on hotel menus so fast and it’s worth investing in.

Action idea; To start rabbit rearing, all you need is a hutch from locally available materials and three rabbits for the start i.e. Two females and a male. The rabbits produce every month and grow so fast. In just one year, you can make six or seven figures from the side hustle.

Baking.

Baking has been a worthy venture since my childhood no wonder its on this list of small startup side hustle ideas. People prefer to chew as they travel. Baking, frying, and roasting different types of chewables is a good venture. Some of the eats you can deal in include daddies, groundnuts, hard corn, popcorn, cookies, crisps, and more. You can market and sell out your products to different consumers, retail shops, or small supermarkets for a living.

Action idea; Learn some baking skills specifically suited for a baking hustle that you choose. Later, locally market the goods you’ll have made. A case study can be daddies. Learn how to make daddies from any resource, make them, pack them and brand them. Later, sell them to earn from the side hustle.

Read also: 7 easy profitable baking businesses for you.

Poultry farming.

Poultry farming is one of the best small start hustles. This idea is broad and I’ll divide it into:

 Rearing broilers for meat.

Rearing broilers for meat is a good side hustle because they grow so fast, have a ready market from roadside roasters, and hotels. You can get returns in the shortest time possible (one month). In this idea, you have to start with at least 100 birds to benefit from economies of scale.

Action idea; To start chicken rearing, order the birds from your local suppliers in your area, rear them for a minimum of one month. Thereafter sell them off to profit from the hustle. Seek advice from a veterinary officer since birds need immunization and consider proper feeding for proper growth. Market the birds early enough before their maturity for maximum gains from the side hustle.

 Rearing local chicken for eggs and meat.

In some local societies, people prefer local chicken. They claim it is tasty compared to the exotics. Most local food restaurants and home consumers prefer local chicken hence the ready market for chicken.

Action idea; You can start this on a free-range system. You can consider any number of birds not exceeding 20 depending on your backyard. Chicken is left to multiply, grow, and mature. Later, they are sold off for returns.

Note: Chicken rearing on free-range is risky as the chicken is exposed to diseases. Therefore one should consider restricted free-range and feeding as the number grows.

Rearing layers for eggs.

There is high demand for eggs today that can’t be fully satisfied by local chicken. An idea to rear layers is profitable given the ready market. The biggest challenge with layers is that it takes time to get returns and they require a lot of capital compared to locals and broilers.

Action idea; Consider starting with 100 birds from your local chick supplier. Rear them until they start laying for returns. Note: layers are sensitive to noise, dust, change in the environment, and more. visit your veterinary personnel for clarity on handling the birds.

Quail rearing.

Quails are a special type of bird whose eggs are used as herbal medicine. Quails are reared just like layers but the difference is that they are more profitable. As a layer’s egg goes for 500 Uganda shillings, a quail’s goes for 1000 Uganda shillings. You can do the math if you are to start with 100 quails that lay for 7 months in their lifetime.

Action idea; Consider quail rearing on a small scale. You can get your breeding stock from your local suppliers or contact us for more information.

Read aloso; 6 businesses you can start with a smartphone.

Wine making.

Wine is an alcoholic drink made from different fruits such as bananas, grapes, and more. The demand for wine is increasing due to the popularity of parties, wedding ceremonies, bars, and drinking places. The idea is to use the popularity of these to your advantage.

Action idea;  Consider acquiring skills required in wine making from an expert. Later, make wine, pack, and brand it. sell it out to profit from the side hustle.

Making crafts.

Anyone can start a craft making business as a side hustle. The crafts business is broad and includes jewelry such as handbags, earrings, art and crafts, photography, and more. This industry is tricky as it may require a lot of skill and spare time. Additionally, not all craft businesses shall make money and so one needs to make market research especially in the area where he/ she is to start it. Some of the crafts businesses that make money include jewelry, art, and photography.

Gardening.

Gardening is one of the main sources of income for any economy. The biggest percentage of food that feeds the masses is produced locally. This makes gardening a worthwhile hustle. To profit, the demand of the crop to be dealt in is very important.

Action idea;  look out for a crop with high demand and take it on for example greens like Nakati. They are good for our health hence high demand, take a short time to mature, and are easy to grow. You may consider planting nakati in your backyard and later selling it off in the different marketplaces to earn from the side hustle. There are many more crops to grow though I used this as an example.

Read also: 10 easy profitable gardening businesses you can do.

Mushroom growing.

Traditionally, mushrooms are got from the wild especially in Africa. Thanks to research. Nowadays, they can be grown. Given the different nutrients and they being considered as health foods, their demand has risen and traditional supply can’t sustain. It’s from this that mushroom growing thrives as a worthwhile side hustle.

Action idea; You can start mushroom growing by acquiring the skills from an agricultural center in your area and thereafter implement the venture.

Nursery for trees and flowers.

Nowadays, different governments are advising citizens to plant trees to counter climate change. This you can use to your advantage by raising trees in a nursery for a living. Remember, these calls by environmentalists and governments shall become louder with time. This is an advantage as you will continuously profit from the side hustle

Action idea; To start a nursery, you need to find out the highly demanded tree species and flowers in your area. Further, acquire necessary skills from an expert on raising trees and start.

Read also; 9 top roadside businesses in Uganda.

Car washing and parking.

Cars are becoming so common now days increasing the demand for parking space and maintenance (washing). Most of the many cars are personal cars whose owners always want them clean. you can start a washing bay in town or its outskirts to provide this service as a side hustle.

Action idea; Get accessible space in town or its outskirts where you can do the washing or parking. The other requirements are minor such as a water pump if required. You can read our complete blogpost about how to start a car washing business for ideas on fow to start.

Hairdressing and saloons.

You can take on this side hustle in an open and accessible place. It involves all you can do to put the client’s hair in order. Your clients shall be children, men, and women. Hairdressing is one of the side hustles that require skill and experience. Remember you encourage a customer to come again when you give them a good service.

Action idea; Do a course in this to gain the necessary skills or employ an expert and learn from them. You can look out for contracts from schools and daycares for work.

Bee keeping.

Bee keeping one of the top side hustle ideas. It’s easy to do and doesn’t require a lot of time as the bees only need supervision once in a while. A small portion of land for placing the hives in a less busy place is required. There is a ready market locally and internationally for bee products such as honey, beeswax, bee venom, and more.

Action idea; Beekeeping requires very small resources for the start. You can make the hives yourself if you have carpentry skills or buy some from your carpenter. You can start with two or three hives.

Cleaning and laundry services.

This is a scalable side hustle that depends on your available resources and how you plan to take it on. As a small startup, you can consider moving around getting clothes, washing them, and charging your clients to earn a living. With more capital, you can consider starting up a more standard hustle. It can comprise of an office where clients deliver the laundry and a cleaning section. Try to employ some skilled labour and machinery to ease work.

Read also: 10 profitable businesses for a stay home mother.

Dairy in urban areas.

Milk is one of the highly consumed farm products. It’s consumed by babies as main food and by elders as breakfast or evening tea. It has very high demand especially in urban areas due to the high population.

Action idea; You can get milk from the producing areas at a cheaper price and sell it at your dairy in the urban areas for a profit. Starting a diary may require a lot of capital for rent and stock. With a small capital, you can choose to sell milk in a mini diary or at the roadside especially in the morning and evening when demand is high.

Tailoring.

 The era of buggy readymade clothes especially suits is gone. Nowadays, everyone wants to make a custom-tailored suit based on their likes and preference. You can use this to your advantage by starting a tailoring shop. Th you can do in spare time as a side hustle or full-time job.

Action idea; This idea is one of the many that require a lot of skill. To implement it, consider doing a course in tailoring and design or learn the skills at your tailor and later start your own.

Blogging.

This involves expressing yourself online on a given topic that belongs to a particular niche. If your content is interesting or adds value to the readers, it can attract more visitors or traffic and you can earn good money from monetizing your blog.

Read also: 20 profitable business ideas for a student.

Website development and graphics design.

This involves the creation of online sites for different organizations and businesses. These help organizations, businesses, and more to sell their products online and generally extend their influence. This side hustle has potential especially in developing countries given that digital marketing is picking up and most businesses don’t have these online platforms. This requires some skills which you can learn online or from an expert.

Drop shipping and mini-importation/ exportation.

Dropshipping is a retail method where an online store doesn’t actually keep the products it sells in stock. When they receive an order, they make it from the main supplier and instead ship it directly to the customer. It’s easy to start as you only need an online store and requires minimal time and capital.

Importation involves bringing in foreign products in a given country while exportation is the reverse. This mainly relies on price differences or the lack of a given product in one of the countries. You can start exportation of importation on a small scale and pocket the price difference.

Become a mobile money or bank agent.

Mobile money service is the major method of money transfer today, especially on the African continent. You can easily transfer money from one part of the world to another today given the advancement in banking and mobile money technology. You can use this to your advantage by starting mobile money or bank agent service.

Action idea; Startup one of these at a busy junction in your area. It’s always a good idea to have all the mobile money services and an agent of all banks. This idea requires some good startup capital.

Read also; How to start a mobile money business with a smartphone.

Mini stationery.

Efforts to encourage girl child education and education as a whole especially on the African continent have increased the number of people going to school nowadays. Remember most of you reading this post are educated and you did use stationary in your journey. Starting stationery can make you a fortune and get you the money you didn’t expect.

Action idea; Start a mini stationery in school, university, or any institution neighborhood. In addition to other stationery like books, consider printing services, typing, and binding as you can get good money from these too.

Read also: 10 profitable livestock business ideas for you.

Become a healthcare products agent.

People shall look out for health care products to solve their health complications. Given the fact that they are desperate to get well, you can earn some good money from them for providing them a solution. A lot of healthcare companies making natural healthcare products are around. You can become an agent of one of them.

Action idea; Look out for a healthcare company around you, visit their office and ask them about membership. Most of these companies have that as their sales strategy. They will warmly welcome you and offer you products to sell with minimum capital.

Brick making.

This is gold in developing countries. There is high demand for construction materials as the countries are in the development phase. Brick making is a labour intensive hustle, so the young energetic men and women can try this out. You can also employ someone to do it for you.

Action idea; Look out for land near a river with clay and start your brick laying side hustle. Brick laying doesn’t require a lot of skill and it’s less hectic during the dry season as bricks easily dry.

Piggery.

A pig is nicknamed the animal of the nation simply because of its high demand both in urban and rural areas. Doing this side hustle on a small scale requires very little space and minimal capital to start.

Action idea; As a small startup you can consider putting up this side hustle in your backyard. You’ll need a pigsty to shelter the pigs and 2 to 4 piglets for the start. Depending on your capital, you can increase or decrease the number of piglets to start with.

Note: High costs are incurred in feeding pigs therefore choose a number that you can sustain.

Food retail shop or store.

This is one of the most profitable but undermined business ventures. This venture is least affected by prevailing conditions as people have to eat. People, restaurants, schools, and all bodies that deal with people shall be your target market. minimal startup capital is required.

Action idea; Depending on your startup capital, consider renting a stall in your nearby market or a room beside the town. With good capital, you can contact institutions and request to be their supplier of local food like rice, beans, posho and more.

Candle making.

Candles are used for lighting in places where there is no power or when power is off. This side hustle has been negatively affected by the extension of power to villages where candles could be used, the introduction of other lighting sources like solar energy, and consistency in power supply in most areas. Nevertheless, You can still start the side hustle to avail candles when power is off, in churches and other places where candles are used

Action idea; You can start this side hustle at home and do it in your spare time. It requires very little skill which can be acquired from an expert.

Drug shop or clinic.

This is one of the most profitable side hustles simply because everyone wants to be healthy. Drugs can be got cheaply, thanks to all bodies that ensure that human drugs are available to everyone at an affordable price. The bad news is there are many regulations around health care by the governments. Individuals working in these units are required to be Qualified personnel. If this is not your profession, then you should try employing a qualified person.

Action idea; You can start a clinic or drug shop in a town or trading center where they are not available or they are few. This venture doesn’t require a lot of capital investment especially if it’s on a small scale.

Note, You should register your clinic or drug shop following the law in your area

Dog breeding and training.

This is not indigenous to the African continent but has been adopted highly due to the demand for exotic dog breeds especially by the rich who prefer adorable dogs.

Action idea; You can start with two dogs per breed that are highly demanded in your area. This can be done in your backyard. Note; this side hustle requires flexibility especially when selling the puppies and a lot of marketing.

Brokerage.

This is a multi-million side hustle idea that requires very little capital investment. The idea is to bring buyers and sellers together and earn a commission for that or sell someone’s good at an additional price and pocket the price difference. This can be done on many products ranging from vehicles, land, properties, electronics, and more.

Action idea; Register with online selling companies such as Jiji Uganda where you can do the marketing to catch possible buyers. Take the buyer to the product owner and if they buy, you can earn a commission of the difference in price as agreed.

Restaurants and specific meat joints or butchers.

The fact that people will always eat can be exploited in many different ways. These two are just some of the many. Restaurants to provide breakfast, lunch, and supper to people can be a good idea to bag some money. Butchers to provide people with pork, beef, goat meat, and rabbit meat can earn you a fortune. In addition, these can be roasted especially the latter and people eat or takeaway. The choice in what to deal in is yours. Try to consider the one with high demand in your area.

WIFI business and internet bundle retailing.

This is one of the side hustles that is picking up especially in developing countries. Internet is a resource that is used in education, entertainment, and almost all the sectors require data in one way or another. Internet bundles in different countries are expensive due to many reasons and so, you can exploit this.

Action idea; Start a WIFI business in one of the urban centers where most people have devices that use the internet. A University can be a good place to start this as many students require data. I. In addition to this, you can do data retailing especially if you have social capital.

Roadside business.

 Most Roadside businesses require very little startup capital and so if you have limited capital, this is one of the ideas for you. they include.

• Roadside chicken roasting
• Roadside bicycle and motorcycle repair
• Chapati and Rolex making
• roadside evening restaurants and more

There are many more businesses that fall under this category. Some are listed here and many of these listed can still be adopted as roadside businesses especially on a small scale. You can look at these ideas, learn the required skills, and start.

Read also: Top roadside businesses in Uganda.

Automobile spare parts shop.

This is a good small startup side-hustle idea. Most people have vehicles, motorcycles, and bicycles for transport. You can provide spare parts to these different automobiles as a side hustle. This side hustle should be coupled with repair and automobile servicing services mainly to provide a ready market for spare parts.

Action idea: You can start a motorcycle spare parts shop in a strategic place on a small scale. Start with the parts that are highly demanded or those that wear out regularly to increase your sales such as motorcycle tyres, engine oil, brake pads, and more. A side hustle dealing in bicycles spare parts is a cheaper one. Having skills and expertise in fixing these parts onto bicycles and motorcycles is a better deal as you benefit twice.

Goat rearing.

Goats are African indigenous animals whose meat is liked by populations and is preferred to beef. They are roasted on roadsides for travelers, at functions, and prepared in restaurants and hotels as source. Goat rearing requires some patience as goats take a longer time to mature and give birth to fewer kids than rabbits and pigs.

Action idea; The capital and land requirement for goat rearing depend on the scale of your business. Over ten goats can sufficiently feed on an acre of land without external feed support. You can consider starting this idea in upcountry or your village.

Dairy farming.

Milk is the main food for babies. This makes dealing in milk production and sale a profitable and worthwhile side hustle. This venture requires some good startup capital and a lot of land.

Action idea; Start dairy farming on a small scale. You can start with one or two pregnant 80% pure Friesian heifers. On a small scale, this venture can be done in your backyard on a zero-grazing. Dairy cows require up to two acres per head of grown hay for complete feeding without external sources. you can look out for elephant grass and banana peelings as supplements to hay. 80% pure Friesians can produce up to 30 liters of milk per day if we’ll feed for over 10 months in a year. You can do the math for your rewards.

Note: Get Friesians from a good source and always seek help and guidance from your veterinary officer.

Agricultural supply shop.

Agriculture is the backbone of every nation, especially on the African continent. People, the government, and organizations that are involved in agricultural activities highly demand supplies such as equipment, seeds, agricultural chemicals, and more. You can exploit this by starting up an agricultural supply shop.

Action idea; People from different villages ride or drive miles to major towns to shop for agricultural supplies. You can solve this by delivering agricultural supplies or starting up one in the trading centers that lack.

Tree product retailing.

Tree products are highly used especially in the construction industry which is booming in African countries. Highly demanded tree products include offcuts, tree poles, timber, and more. These tree products are sold off cheaply in source areas. You can buy them at wholesale prices cheaply in production areas and sell them off at a profit in towns.

Action idea; Look for the supply of these products especially lumber companies. Buy them at wholesale prices and sell them off in towns for a profit. The site where you sell them should be accessible and with loading and offloading space.

Transportation of goods and people.

Of late, a lot of money is involved in the transport industry due to the increased movement of people and goods. You can invest in this industry to get a share of this money. There are a lot of investment opportunities that you can take on.

Carpentry and metal workshop.

These produce supplies to the booming construction industry. There is a lot o be done in this sector and demand for those products grows with population. The products include beds, chairs and many more. These require some skills to do and so you can take a short course or learn from an expert.

Action idea; You can start a mini small-scale workshop in your backyard. Make highly demanded household products such as beds, cupboards, and more. Products from this venture can be sold online on platforms like Jumia, Jiji, and more.

Conclusion.

There are many more businesses you can start as side hustles that I’ve not suggested. Feel free to suggest some of those in the comment box to help a friend who wishes to grow their monetary muscle.

Feel free to contact us for more information on any idea.

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