Startup Story
Great writing is an art form and in Uganda, entrepreneur Jackee Batanda, founder of SuccessSpark Brand Ltd, is harnessing the power of words to educate and inform. She understands how storytelling can reach audiences and customers in a unique and personal way.
LoA chatted to the wonderful wordsmith, Jackee Batanda, to find out more this month.
What does your company do?
SuccessSpark Brand is an educational company specializing in writing, coaching, book writing, editing, and book marketing services. The company runs book writing masterclasses both in-person and online, destination creative writing retreats, editing, manuscript editing surgeries, book advisory and ghost writing services.
“I set up a company to help prospective writers plan their books, explore best publishing options, write the book, and publish.”
What inspired you to start your company?
In 2013, I noticed an avalanche of self-published books on the African market. People had important stories to share and were writing books. However, the quality of writing and books on the market was so poor. As a published writer, I had learnt many lessons along the way and wanted to share my knowledge and at the same time help people with legacy projects - book writing. So, I set up a company to help prospective writers plan their books, explore best publishing options, write the book, and publish. I wanted to help people use stories to change the narrative of the life around them and to inspire others. Steve Jobs said: “The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values, and agenda of an entire generation that is to come.” SuccessSpark Brand is helping writers do just that.
What makes your business, service or product special?
There are hardly any interventions on the market working with would-be authors to prepare and package their stories for the market. SuccessSpark Brand runs both online and in-person book writing classes to equip upcoming writers with the skills needed to get their idea to book form and to market. The classes cover writing, preparing for the target audience and market, book structure, alignment of mission and values, and aligning the book with a bigger cause, book production, and marketing. We also provide editing, manuscript editing surgeries and ghost-writing services. In addition to teaching writing skills, I take the clients through thinking about their proposed market, develop a marketing plan and a branding plan for their books. I get my clients to think about what they want to do with the book once it’s published and this helps them expand their thinking to why they really want to the book, whether it aligns with their mission and values, and how to get a good product at affordable prices.
“I get my clients to think about what they want to do with the book once it’s published.”
“I wanted to help people use stories to change the narrative of the life around them and to inspire others.”
Tell us a little about your team
Client Relations and Events Coordinator: Rachel Lawino is the client relations and events coordinator with SuccessSpark Brand. She brings a wealth of over seven years’ experience as a dedicated and knowledgeable client relations manager and lecturer in the banking and educational sector.
Social Media and Digital Imagery: Solomon Luzinda holds a diploma in Video Production and an advanced diploma in Multimedia from Lambeth College in the United Kingdom, and a Diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication from United Media Consultants and Trainers Kampala, Uganda.
Web and Graphics Design: Paul Sengooba is a graphics and web designer, and a technology enthusiast with skills in hardware and software management.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And, do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
In 2012, while living in South Africa, I attended several entrepreneurial seminars run by Success Resources. One of the speakers said, "people are willing to pay for what you know." As a writer, I was never sure about how to monetize my skills and these seminars were eye-openers. When I returned to Uganda, I registered a company, but it only became functional in 2015. When I shared the idea with a few writer friends, they said, no one would pay for the classes. Most creative initiatives in Uganda are underwritten by donor funding so no one saw a need for this service. I followed my gut instinct and with the words of one of my business mentors who had said, " when the teacher is ready, the student will appear. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." I was ready to share my skills and started advertising online. Since then, I have worked with 300 writers and 20 students have gone on to publish books or are in the process. It has been an interesting journey since my first sale. I am always tweaking my programmes to address client needs.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
I plan to increase student enrollment and teaching faculty.
Expand the retreat centre from the quaint Blue Marble writers’ house and construct a writing eco-lodge located on 10 acres of land near the River Nile to accommodate more retreats.
Set up the first franchise in another African country to replicate the same process in Uganda.
Run destination writing retreats in the other five African countries.
Set up an online bookshop promoting works of our clients.
“I am happy when students invite me to their book launches, or talk of their books selling out in the bookstores. It shows me that there is a real market for the books they are writing.”
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
I am happy that I turned my idea into reality and I am writing with several writers to bring new stories to the market. I am happy when students invite me to their book launches, or talk of their books selling out in the bookstores. It shows me that there is a real market for the books they are writing. I am happy to be part of the process that is birthing new stories.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Mark Zuckerberg said: “Ideas do not come out fully formed. You just have to start.” There will never be a right time to start. Just do it. Run with your idea. Register and make your company a legal entity and then start marketing. It is all about consistency. You will learn along the way and tweak your business as you move along. Your first clients will be strangers and do not take it personal that family and friends do not invest in your product. They will be the late adaptors. Always remember your first followers: the ones that take a chance on you and show you that your idea is bankable. When I held my first destination writers retreat, it was a room of strangers that turned up. I locked the price for those early followers to that cost. So while the retreat prices have been revised, anyone from the first programme that returns for any destination retreat stay at the price they paid in 2015. That is my way of saying thank you to them for believing in my dream and making it possible for me to grow.
Find out more
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | EMAIL jbatanda@gmail.com / info@successspark.co
More about the founder
Jackee Budesta Batanda is a Ugandan writer and Senior Managing Partner with SuccessSpark Brand Ltd, an educational company specializing in writing coaching, book writing, editing, and book marketing services. She has completed work on a collection of short stories, Not that Kind of Mad, and is at work on a novel. Jackee was inspired to start the company after seeing an influx of poorly written memoirs, autobiographies and biographies from African social and business leaders flooding the market. She set up SuccessSpark Brand to provide a variety of writing services to help 'would be' authors bring new stories to the market. As an extension of this, she is completing the construction of a writers' house, The Blue Marble, to provide a safe, intellectual space for writers.
In 2019, Jackee was named among top 40 under 40 inspirational Ugandans and was the 2018/2019 continental winner- training and education category at the Women in Business and Government awarded in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is a contributor in the New Daughters of Africa anthology, a seminal body of work that captures voices of 200 women of African descent. The Africa Regional winner of the 2003 Commonwealth short story Competition, her stories have been performed on the BBC World Service, BBC3, and radio stations throughout the commonwealth as well as appearing in various international anthologies. She has written for publications including the New York Times, The Boston Globe, Guardian (UK), The Mail & Guardian, The Sunday Times and Sunday Independent (SA), and Aljazeera Magazine. She was the recipient of a 2010 Uganda Young Achievers Award, shortlisted for the 2012 Trust Women Journalist Award and named by the Times (London) in 2012 as one of twenty women shaping the future of Africa. She was named among 39 writers under 40 from Sub-Saharan Africa likely to shape the future of African literature. She has run writing workshops in the US, UK, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Malawi.
Why LoA loves it….
The world needs people who can use the power of words to enrich lives, to inform, and to educate, and Jackee Batanda is doing just that. She is incubating and nurturing creative storytelling talent for the future, empowering a new generation of writers who can tell the stories that need to be told. Her passion and commitment to this noble art form is really inspirational, and there will be successful writers and book authors of the future who will be able to look back and reflect on the influence she has had on their lives and work. — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo of Lionesses of Africa