As a waiter, at Pap Café, Katabazi then used to earn about Shs100,000 (about $28). Given his desire to be self-employed someday, he developed a savings culture. He had to rely on his salary and tips from the customers he served. Thanks to his expertise, he later got a better paying job at Kampala Serena Hotel which almost tripled what he was earning at Café Pap.
Katabazi would supplement his savings with trainings he carried out after partnering with several hotels and restaurants countrywide to train their staff on how to brew coffee-using the expertise he got from UCDA and Café Pap.
“I would negotiate with the hotels which would pay me for training and supervising their staff for about two months,” he said.
The savings he got from these trainings permitted him to pursue his dream of becoming independent. That is how he started ‘Volcano Coffee’.