Lilian Nakigozi was born and bred in Katanga, an urban slum in Uganda which is home to approximately 20,000 people. Life in the slums is usually not easy with the majority of occupants living in houses made of mud, wood, and those lucky in brick-made houses. This is worsened by environmental pollution in their surroundings that often leads to contamination of surface and groundwater, ecosystem degradation, soil pollution as well as emission of greenhouse gasses.
Having been raised solely by her mother in a family of nine siblings, Nakigozi would see her mother work extra hard to feed them. Getting food on the table was a challenge and this contributed to the death of her younger sister. These experiences influenced her to have an ambition of changing the lives of urban slum dwellers when an adult; this she does today by offering them an alternative source of income through vertical farming to promote food and nutrition security.
Vertical farming is the practice of growing crops in a vertical manner on top of each other instead of horizontal which is used by many especially in areas where land is vast. Vertical farming leads to proper utilization of space and higher crop yields. One can practice vertical farming even in their home balconies as long as there are good conditions to nurture the crop.
In 2018 Lilian started Women Smiles Uganda, a social enterprise formed by like-minded young female social entrepreneurs with the aim of educating women on vertical farming because of inadequate land availability in urban areas to practice farming. They also manufacture vertical gardens and sell them affordably to women, especially those in urban slums of Kampala where there is hardly any land to grow crops.
