By Jude Katende

Changing the face of Ugandan garages can in reality be a steep hill to climb. But we also know that nothing is impossible. If you are a mechanic and do not want to change with change, change will gradually change you. Who knew that one day, some 100 plus Ugandan mechanics could be on the same WhatsApp forum and share knowledge? That they can share information and cooperate instead of competing.

Time and again, we in the automotive industry as stakeholders have grown up seeing auto mechanics and their garages as dirty and problematic. That has since changed because not all auto mechanics are dishonest and have dirty garages. I have been to a number of very clean garages with honest people.

One such garage is Duke’s Garage in Naalya along Namugongo road, the fourth turn off on your left from the Northern Bypass. About 2km from the Northern Bypass is Duke’s Garage, a clean workshop with well-trained mechanics.

I say well-trained because Paul Kaganzi, the owner, says they have weekly trainings and go through daily routines of how to run the garage, how to deal with clients, how to handle a job card and much more that you may not see at other similar garages.

Kaganzi is also the interim President of the recently launched National Auto Garage Owners Association (NAGOA). Kaganzi outlined the association’s main objectives as being: To promote good work ethics and standards in the auto garages, protect the environment, promote road safety, shared resource such as health and professional insurance, shared training and tooling, shared facilities like recovery vehicles.

Networking and cooperation, collective advocacy and engagement with the regulator, getting access to jointly negotiated business opportunities, affordable legal aid, credibility and recognition for being a member of NAGOA, benefiting from NAGOA special projects such as training, garage software, garage location and garage management systems. So, as it is, it is difficult to separate Kaganzi of Duke’s Garage and Kaganzi, the NAGOA President.

Kaganzi says as garage owners, they like sharing work and retraining or up skilling. “Working with like-minded garage owners, our work will be built organically. We need true garage owners, trained and motivated technicians. We recognise that in order to revamp and improve the image of the Ugandan auto garage industry, we need to do self-regulation,” he explains.

He asks pertinent questions: “How do we conduct ourselves, are our places clean, do we have clean toilets, where do we pour our used oil, are our garages secure?”

Kaganzi stresses that NAGOA is not a government agency but welcomes government projects such as the inspection of vehicles where certified garages can play a role. “We visit different members’ garages weekly and hold formal meetings where we learn from each other and share tips on how to improve our garage services, standards and business. We also discuss our plans and achievements. We want to prosper together. If one garage owner has a challenge with a particular vehicle or sourcing of a spare part, he can post on our whatsapp forum where he will quickly get multiple offers of help. We are eliminating the culture of unhealthy competition. We work together and are going to train, certify and regulate our member garage technicians. It is beneficial to complement each other and not compete against each other,” Kaganzi observes.

He notes that they will as an association solicit for insurance policies to benefit garage owners and their staff. With group negotiated business garage owners will see tangible benefits.

He says they are willing to trade honestly, ethically, professionally and change the face of the industry so that people look at garages as helpers with good customer care.

“We have started formal registration. We want to grow together and we will formally launch NAGOA in March 2025. We have an inaugural leadership team, which I head, and will soon hold elections where members can vote in the new leadership Kaganzi explains.

He adds, “We hold weekly internal training sessions conducted by qualified mechanics, mechanical engineers and professional administrators in different fields amongst ourselves. Our last two meetings for garage owners were about use of the job card system and how to handle customers.”

“These trainings will change mind set and improve our service delivery by making our businesses customer centred. Soon we shall start training our member garage administrative and technical staff at a dedicated NAGOA garage training institute.”

Apart from NAGOA work, Kaganzi explains what his garage is all about.  “At Duke’s Garage, we work on all brands of cars in general. We do not specialise because these days, cars share similar technology, tooling and know how required to fix them. You will find particular car parts or component manufacturers supplying parts for Japanese and European made cars.

“Our technicians are competent, qualified and well behaved mechanics. Duke’s Garage is open Monday to Saturday 8 – 6pm. We also train intern (student) automotive mechanics seconded from tertiary institutions” Kaganzi notes.

Kaganzi is a qualified automotive mechanic, administrator, trainer and vehicle consultant with over 30 years’ experience in the industry. He joins a group of likeminded garage owners in NAGOA who recognise the important role of the garage industry to Uganda’s road safety, economic growth and environmental protection.  Kaganzi and his colleagues at NAGOA want to promote integrity, professionalism, best practice and modern garage services in Uganda.