Matovu’s passion for watching movies led him into the video library business

Since his childhood days in Mukono, Eddie Matovu, 32, has always been a movie enthusiast. As a youngster growing up, Matovu remembers being fascinated by action movies like Strike Commando, No Retreat No Surrender, China O’Brien and others.

“I used to go with my older brother to a make-shift video hall in Mukono town where we would watch movies for nearly the entire day,” he says.

His passion for movies often landed him into trouble with his parents who feared that he would pick bad habits from the movie halls like drug taking.

On one occasion, he says he received strokes of lashes from his father after he disappeared from home to go and watch movies.

“He beat me up so badly but that did not kill my love for movies. I only became more careful,” Matovu says.

Today he is a proud owner of Eddie’s Video Library in Kyaliwajjala, a business that he links to his passion for movies.

He opened the business in 2015 after trying his hand at several businesses that did not succeed.

“I used to sell I sold secondhand clothes but after some time I realized that my life was stuck. I was not progressing,” says the senior four drop out.

Matovu then decided to venture into the video library business which so far has not been bad.

“I started with Shs 1 million. I used 200,000 to pay rent of two months and the rest I went and bought DVDs and blank CDs from town which I started with,” he says.

Today, his library has a collection of more than 5,000 movies ranging from action movies, comedies, animations and TV series.

His biggest clients are females, he says. On a very good day, Matovu says he makes about Shs 200,000 but on average he makes at least 80,000 per day. This translates into Shs 2.4 million a month. When he removes operational costs, he remains with a net of at least Shs 1.5 million.

“It is this money that has enabled me to buy a small plot of land in Ssonde, Namugongo and to look after my young family,” he says.

Challenges

Yet business has not been smooth.

The fact that internet connectivity has widened and data has become cheap has become an existential threat to Matovu’s business.

“Today so many people stream movies because there is available cheap internet. Others subscribe to plats like Netflix, which show some of the movies we stock,” he says.

Matovu also believes that some local TVs which show movies have eaten into their market as some of his would-be customers prefer to watch the movies from home.

In addition, he has to navigate several business licenses which are a requirement for his kind of business.

Advice to young people

Matovu advises young people to be persistent in the face of challenges.

“Nothing comes easy in life but sometimes when you persist you succeed,” he says.

Matovu advises the youth to keep off drugs and bad company that may derail their dreams.

He says many young people have various skills and talents which they fail to exploit due to bad influences.

“Young people should know that life is what you make it. If you decide to abuse drugs, that is the life you have chosen which is not good. If you decide to work hard and be focused, you will reap big out of life,” he says.