It takes guts and passion for someone with all qualifications to leave a job and venture into the unpredictable world of business, with all its rigours. That is exactly what Liban Mugabo did in 2015 when he, together with his sister, founded Safe Gas. Today, Safe Gas is one of the most popular Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) brands in Rwanda but it hasn’t been a journey without bumps along the way. The New Times’ Linda M. Kagire had an interview with Mugabo on different aspects of life and how he chose to leave well-paying jobs to venture into business. Excerpts below. Briefly tell us, who is Liban Mugabo? I was born in Kenya and grew up in Nairobi until my teenage years when we relocated to Rwanda. I have two siblings -a brother and sister, and we were raised by our mother who sacrificed so much for herself so that we can be who we are today. I owe everything to her. She passed away in January 2020. I went to school in Rwanda, Singapore and America. I have a Master’s in Public Policy with a focus on Economics. Tell us a bit about your professional background, your work experience before you ventured into business? I did many small jobs prior to graduation. I worked as a waiter, pump attendant, sales person etc. All these experiences were useful when I started working as an analyst at OTF Group, a strategy and policy advisory firm upon graduation at what used to be Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). I later joined the Clinton Foundation before joining the Government of Rwanda. It has been quite frankly, an exceptional journey. What prompted you to take a leap of faith to leave comfortable jobs and go into business? I have always believed in the power of business to transform societies. If you look closely, it is the abilities of businesses big or small that shape the course of history. Of course, government too is important, but only as far as creating a conducive environment is concerned. I believed that through business, I would make my contribution to Rwanda’s development agenda. Furthermore, I have always been fascinated with factories. As a young kid, I always wanted to build and create things. Through our cylinder manufacturing factory, I am able to do this. The impact is immense in our society. Briefly tell us a bit about Safe Gas? How did Safe Gas come about? Was this your first business? Safe Gas is an importer, marketer and distributor of cooking gas (LPG). We started Safe Gas in 2015 with my sister. I give her all the credit since it was her idea. Prior to Safe Gas, we had a logistics company, which we still do. Logistics to me is very important, since as a landlocked country, moving people and goods from point-to-point is extremely important. You cannot go wrong with logistics. How did you manage the transition from being employed to being self-employed? It is tough in the beginning. Overnight, you have the burden of building a team, selling products, and raising money to make all work. It is not easy at all. It is a challenge and quite frankly not for everyone. Personally, I fully enjoy this and given the choice again, I would do it all over again. What have been the challenges so far? The biggest challenge has been scaling up. It is not easy at all. We are fortunate our sector is at its infancy and we have demand pressures. It is booming. This is the good news. The bad news is that it requires so much capital. But as you know very well, raising capital is so difficult. What would you tell a young person looking to follow your path? I would tell them that it will not be easy at all. It is like when someone sees a baby that is born and we all kiss and squeeze the cheeks saying how cute they are. But only the mother knows the journey (pregnancy period) - the morning sickness, the sleepless nights, the backaches, the nausea, the mood swings etc. Business too is like that. We all see only captains of the industry giving motivational speeches and in boardrooms. But this is half the picture. It is quite tough. But if done well, it could be extremely rewarding. Do you see yourself taking up a job again? No. I hope I never have to. But in life, everything is possible. The challenge of capital or access to finance remains a crucial one as you mentioned. How have you managed so far? We are still struggling with this. By the way, this is the single biggest hurdle to entrepreneurship. Our banks are not supportive at all, unless you have a collateral. Access to finance should be the preoccupation of every concerned government official. We need low interest loans, guarantee funds etc. I actually call our commercial banks, collateral banks. They don’t lend to a project unless you have a collateral regardless of its viability. It is unfortunate. What does the future hold for you? Only God knows! But we hope to grow our business beyond Rwanda and the region. We are super excited by the opportunities this country and its leadership has offered us- from raising us, educating us to now these amazing opportunities of building truly transformative businesses. Safe Gas has the niche of making non-explosive gas cylinders
