Victorious Education Services

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Victorious Education Services started in 1999 as a Kindergarten with about 30 (thirty) children and 3 (three) staff Members. In a three bed roomed house with 30 chairs and no table with personal savings of about UgShs 1,000,000. (one million). We have now grown into one of the biggest and best education institution with over 350 members of staff and about 4000 pupils.
Victorious Education Services (VES) is a God fearing institution that is dedicated to train a wholesome person. The Institution provides a range of services including Daycare, Kindergarten, Primary school education and transportation of pupils. School programmes are designed to build a foundation for a child’s cognitive and physiological development so as to enhance their capability to learn and interact with more complex concepts in their academic life and thereafter.
In 2003 victorious Kindergarten became a Limited Company. The Institution has four campuses in Kampala and One campus in Mukono is a fully fledged boarding school. Victorious Education Services (VES) turned 17 years this year 2016. The Campuses located in Kampala provide nonresidential academic services at kindergarten and primary school level.
The school envisages to expand it’s coverage to other regions of Uganda and Neighboring countries in the future.

Through the classes we discovered that there is no excuse for not impacting the nation. We then embarked on the following;

  1. Thinking widely on how to impact lives.
  2. Putting in place systems, leadership structures and policies in our organization.
  3. Placing people rightly.
  4. We discovered a leader has to be a reader, researcher and implementer.
  5. Joining networks and this has enabled us to get technical support, information and assistance in our areas of need.
  6. Focus on our niche, the mountain of education which is our core business.
  7. Adhering to our core values-Value based system.
  8. Community transformation-we have held a lot of community engagements that have brought about transformation in the communities where we work.
  9. Embracing technology.

Milestones

Year Award Awarding Institution
 2007 Acquisition of Victorious Lane because of improving the lane from murram road to tarmac Rubaga KCCA
 2012 Investor of the year award – medium category 2nd runners up medium category UIA
 2012 MTN Business Training Module Winner Planning, Sticking to plans and implementing MTN
 2012 MTN Business Sticking to the Strategic Plan Module Training module winner-staff retention and motivation MTN
 2014 World Savers Excellence Awards – Winner Education Award – Female Personality World Savers Excellence Awards
 2014 Top 100 Mid-sized company 2012/2013/2014
 2014 Woman Entrepreneur of the Year UIA
 2014 Mbiire Award for Woman Entrepreneur of the Year UWEAL
 2014 Rotary Club of Rubaga Good Community and Education work in Rubaga Division Rotary Club, Rubaga
 2015 Uganda Development Bank Award for Net worth and outstanding achievements UDB
 2015 Africa’s most influential women in Business and Government country and regional winner in Education CEO Global Awards
 2015 HIT Awards – Christian Business of the Year Heavenly Inpired Triump Awards
 2015 Consumers Preference Award – The Best Kindergarten, Day Care , Nursery and Play School Consumer’s Preference Award 2015 Uganda
 2015 MTN Women in Business Awards – MTN SME CEO of the year MTN
 2015 INT Award for outstanding transformational leadership Institute for National Transformation
 2015 Best employer of the year NSSF – Bakuli Branch
 2016 Golden jubilee medal for contribution in the education sector, International Women’s Day H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, The President of Uganda
 2016 Uganda Revenue Authority Certificate of appreciation of continues voluntary compliance and partnership URA

 

Why the success?

  • The power of having plans and implementing them.
  • Evaluating every activity that we do and our terms, departments, year and
    staff.
  • Embracing Technology.
  • Continuous Learning and improvement.
  • School, Staff, Parental Engagement.
  • Training Staff on a regular basis.
  • Constant evaluation of the service rendered from all stakeholders.
  • Care for the children.
  • Values & Virtues based on Godly Principles.
  • Hard work.

Challenges

  • Being everything, bursar, teacher, makeshift nurse, and others.
  • Working environment was not conducive.
  • Lack of buy in from Financial institutions .
  • Lack of security.
  • In the initial days when I was a sole proprietor ( Gender).
  • Accessing information from already established schools was a nightmare, they never saw
    value in me.
  • In Uganda, we rarely believe in ourselves, it is assumed that people with a different color
    are the ones that can thrive.
  • Attitude towards work is a very big challenge, most people do not appreciate work.
  • Perception that parents had towards nursery teachers (this affected fees payments).
  • Mindset that all people who work in a kindergarten are school drop outs.
  • Looking at education as a call and not a business.
  • Lack of the saving and investment culture.

Future Plans

  • Growing Victorious Education Services into all the five Divisions of Kampala, expanding
    to other districts and later outside the country.
  • Establishing a secondary school
  • Establishing a skills institute and finally a university.
  • Construction of a stadium in Victorious Primary Boarding school-Mukono to
    host most of the sports activities.
  • Construction of modern swimming pools in the school premises.
  • Accessing loans to construct the school with low interest
  • Partnerships
  • Exchange programmes.
  • Establishing a demonstration farm that will include several agricultural projects
    such as mushroom growing, poultry and fish farming. That will feed our
    schools.
  • Construction of decent teachers’ quarters.

As a result of following the INT principles our business has doubled growing to a rate of 50%. The number of staff we employ has increased by 40%. We have received several awards since 2010. We are so grateful to God and to INT.

We are Victorious because God is able.

Imagine Me

Joan Mugenzi

Joan Mugenzi is part of the INT alumni (third intake, 2010).  While on the programme, Joan sought ways to translate her gift of encouragement into a platform that could be used by many.  She was attached to the education sphere of influence, but kept on saying what her focus was on was not what the Education sphere was about.  None of the other spheres seemed to respond to her calling, although she enjoyed all the class discussions, and she picked a key message – to be a No-Excuse leader.

When the time for graduation came, Joan did not sign the pledge form because she was not ready to simply sign a document for which she had many unanswered questions about what next?

One thing was clear to her though, she is called to encourage people, and support them to nurture their dreams.

In 2014, through discussions on social media, Joan was able to revisit her passion.  She developed a methodology called Imagine Me, which is a step by step process that enables participants reflectively develop practical steps and actions towards the achievement of their dreams.  She has been running this programme since May 2014 under a company she founded, Imagine Me Africa ( www.imaginemeafrica.com).

Joan is a life strategist, offering both motivational training and coaching that enables individuals translate their ideas into reality.  She is a certified trainer of International Success Coach, Jack Canfield, and at the moment the only one in East Africa certified to teach Canfield’s Success Principles.

Most recently, Joan partnered with a team to start a wellness company, Juice Secrets, which is applying the Imagine Me methodology for its business development and growth.

Joan ended her contract with World Vision International (East Africa Region) on September 30th, 2016, where she worked as the Regional Advisor, Community Health Systems to focus on her passion.

Joan ended her contract with World Vision International (East Africa Region) on September 30th, 2016, where she worked as the Regional Advisor, Community Health Systems to focus on her passion.

She holds a Masters in Public Health Leadership from Uganda Christian University, Mukono, a Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism and Media Management from Uganda Management Institute and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Makerere University.

She is a Fellow of the Makerere University School of Public Health/Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and an alumni of the US International Visitors Leadership Programme.

Joan Mugenzi, Life strategist, motivational trainer and coach.

Joan can be reached on 0772460976/0755000909 or email: joanmugenzi@gmail.com/info@imaginemeafrica.com.