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By BigEyeUg Team Media personality and entrepreneur Anna Talia Oze has made an emotional appeal to the government following the recent floods that wreaked havoc in downtown Kampala, leaving several traders counting losses. In a heartfelt post shared on her social platforms, Anna revealed that her small-scale business — a cottage manufacturing venture that produces undergarments — was among those severely affected. She described the incident as both emotionally and financially devastating, saying she had lost millions of shillings in stock and supplies. “I haven’t been myself since Friday. The floods swept through and left me broken emotionally and financially,” she wrote. “As a small cottage manufacturer producing undergarments and supplying dozens of bayilibi (vendors who take and sell on commission), I’ve lost millions.” Anna highlighted that her loss represents only a fraction of the tragedy experienced by thousands of small traders, bayilibi, and sub-renters who operate in downtown arcades — calling them “the unsung backbone of Uganda’s informal economy.” She expressed frustration that these small players often go unnoticed despite driving much of the country’s economic activity. “We are the ones who make things happen quietly, without recognition, without security, and now… without hope,” she lamented. The media personality, whose real name is Annet Nambooze, said many entrepreneurs like her started their businesses from scratch, with no grants or family wealth, relying only on small loans and personal sacrifice. “Many of us built our dreams from scratch — no grants, no inheritance — just faith, sweat, and small loans that now hang around our necks like heavy stones,” she shared. Anna Talia Oze called on the Minister of Disaster Preparedness, Hon. Lillian Aber, the Prime Minister, and President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to extend relief and recovery support to small-scale traders, not just large business owners. “Please, look beyond the big shop owners. There’s a whole ecosystem of silent hustlers who have lost everything,” she appealed. She concluded by urging the government to consider the plight of Uganda’s informal traders, noting that although they may be small in scale, they remain the “heartbeat of downtown Uganda.”
