Singer Maureen Nantume opens up on her failed business ventures

• Maureen Nantume revealed she has tried multiple businesses — a butcher, clothing shop, wig sales, and tent rentals — but all failed.

• She lost money to friends, workers, and even police officers who took advantage of her.

• The singer says she has learned from the experiences and is now focusing on her music career.

Band singer Maureen Nantume has opened up about her struggles with several businesses she tried to start in a bid to diversify her sources of income — all of which ended in disappointment.

Speaking in a recent interview, Nantume revealed that despite her fame, she has not been lucky when it comes to business.

“I started a butcher, but it failed and the butcher ran away with everything,” she said.

After that, the singer tried her luck in the clothing business. She rented a shop at Avema Mall in Kampala and entrusted a friend to manage it, but things didn’t go as planned.

“I paid for a shop at Avema Mall. I put my friend there to work, but every evening she would call me saying she wanted to go home. I was sub-renting because the room for me alone was too expensive. Eventually, I couldn’t make money and had to close,” she narrated.

According to Nantume, she handed over the clothes to the same friend to keep for her since they were many, but the friend disappeared with them.

“After that, I tried selling wigs, but the lady I put in charge told me I had bought fake ones. I gave her money to go and buy original wigs, but I ended up leaving everything to her because they weren’t selling,” she added.

Nantume later ventured into the tent rental business, but that too went sour after she was scammed by people who pretended to hire her tents for an event.

“One day, I rented out the tents, but they got stolen. The people who took them pretended they had a function, but they didn’t,” she said.

She reported the case at Kibuye Police Station, but instead of help, she was extorted by some officers.

“The officer in charge told me to pay him 350,000 shillings, which I did. He later said the tents had been found in Gulu but needed 700,000 shillings to be brought back. I paid that too, but I never saw the tents again,” she said.

After spending the whole day at the station with no results, Nantume tried following up, only to be told that the officer she had given the money to had finished his shift. Another officer demanded 500,000 shillings more for delivery, and that’s when she decided to give up.

Frustrated but strong, the singer said she has since focused on her music career and learned a lesson about whom to trust.

“I think business just isn’t my thing,” Nantume concluded with a laugh.