Diana Mbabaali Miiro, a pioneering landscaping entrepreneur creating green spaces in Uganda — Lionesses of Africa

What inspired you to start your company?

I realized I could have more than what I already had and chose to go for it and exhale.

Why should anyone use your service or product?

KeyScapes creates green spaces in residences and mainly corporate offices which greatly improves the human mental health and improves productivity levels which translates into a high return on investment.

Tell us a little about your team

Our management team comprises of three leaders, one administrator, thirteen full time staff and on-call contract staff. The leadership team has one in charge of the operations, finance and the third marketing and PR,  together the leadership team has over 60 years of cross industry experience across different segments.

Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?

I do come from an entrepreneurial background. At the start of my career out of school in 1998 I opted to join the banking industry mainly because I wanted to wear heels, yes, heels, look posh and talk a lot of banking. In 2011, I went for an attachment with Barclays Bank Kenya, now ABSA. I realized almost all my colleagues then had side hustles that brought in a good side income on top of the salary. This side hustle business needed to be given a shot, which I did, only that it got to my head when I realized I could not be here and there. At least one thing suffers, so I quit formal employment and started the journey of self-employment in 2015. One and half years into this new world of self-employment, I hit rock bottom, actually I went past rock bottom and that’s a story for another day. But I picked  myself up gradually and sometime in 2017, with mentorship from Vital Voices, I changed the business strategy, introduced new product lines, and I have only looked forward since.