Story of Resilience Series: Meet Aguto Magor, CEO of Agutex Limited

When young Aguto Magor, the CEO of

Agutex Limited

, returned to South Sudan from Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya in 2013, he was determined to give his life a meaningful change. Unlike in Kakuma where he experienced many constraints to work and/or run a profitable business due to the challenges of refugee living, in Juba, Aguto felt liberated to take on new opportunities for self-reliance.

To get started, Aguto embarked on a number of menial construction jobs to meet his immediate upkeep needs while saving little towards starting a small business. After working for three years as a junior construction worker on a meagre salary, he was able to save just enough to buy a printer, with which he provided a for pay printing services to supplement his income.

Although his printing business took off well, it soon faced growing competition as new printing companies began to mushroom around the location of his business. As a result, his business' revenue began to fall, and he struggled to stay afloat in light of rising overhead expenditures. Immediately, Aguto realized a need to change the course. So, he decided to diversify his business by embarking on sourcing, processing, and distributing foods. His flagship line of food was lalob, a locally processed food derived from Heglig tree (thöu). While the focus on local food processing was a noble approach, his business hit a cul de sac due to limited access to global markets to export some of the produce.

Aguto decided to diversify his business further. He noticed an unmet need in the transportation industry. Many young South Sudanese professionals need affordable ways to get around in the capital Juba. Aguto ventured into the auto business, with a specific focus on small fuel-efficient cars as cheap mobility options within the city. This line of business became successful.

Currently, Agutex Limited has diversified into providing car services, selling apparels, shoes, Kitchenwares, etc. The company has created full-time employment for five South Sudanese and continues to engage in corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Despite security challenges in the country, Aguto acknowledges that those living there cannot postpone their need for goods and services. He noted that local production of many essential goods and services is underdeveloped. Currently, almost 90% of essential goods and services consumed in the country are imported from neighbouring countries, such as Uganda and Kenya. These imported goods and services tend to be expensive. Also, as a result of limited border restrictions due to Covid-19, the supply chain is disrupted, and many vulnerable South Sudanese are severely affected.

Aguto’s message to South Sudanese youths in the country is to embrace entrepreneurship as a way to create jobs for themselves and others. He acknowledges many endemic barriers to entrepreneurship in South Sudan, such as lack of Startup capital and business mentors/coaches, financial illiteracy, among others. However, he believes that some of these barriers can be tackled through resource pooling, and entrepreneurial collaboration.

Introducing South Sudan Stories of Resilience

South Sudan burst onto the global scene in 2011 as the world’s newest country. There was so much hope and excitement among South Sudanese and friends of South Sudan for the prospects of the country, particularly after the exhausting 20+ years of civil war. For the international and humanitarian community who had stood for and with the victims of the war, the birth of the country was a success story. Millions of internally and externally displaced persons went back to their homes to start anew. Aid flow, either in form of Official Development Assistance (ODA), emergency relief, and remittances from South Sudanese in diaspora snowballed to help build capacity for South Sudanese communities in the country and to set the country on a path of development.  

 

Unfortunately, in 2013, South Sudan went into a political crisis, all the positivity around the country’s future went into abyss, and the world abandoned South Sudan.

 

Currently, every major country on earth, including Canada, the United States, Australia, China, the United Kingdom, and countries within the European Union, has a travel advisory against travelling to South Sudan, not due to COVID-19 pandemic, but due to armed conflicts, crime, and violence.

 

For instance, Canada’s travel advisory against going to South Sudan does not even cite COVID-19. The primary reasons for avoiding all travels to South Sudan is due to armed conflicts, inter-ethnic violence and high levels of violent crime

 

The United States’ long-standing travel advisory to South Sudan explicitly advices against travel to South Sudan due to crime, kidnapping, and armed conflict, was only recently modified to include COVID-19.

 

The United Kingdom’s Department of The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) advises against all travel to South Sudan and has put in place contingency plans for UK nationals that could be caught up in crisis situations in the country.

 

The Australian government has also issued advice level 4 warning against all travels to South Sudan, including the national capital Juba, due to instability and ongoing conflict.

 

As a result of these travel restrictions, South Sudan is cut off from the rest of the world, and we hear very little about the country. This has severe socio-economic implications on ordinary people who are cut off from access to benefits of international cooperation and social solidarity.

 

South Sudan Stories of Resilience (3SR) aims to give the world one more opportunity to hear about the country by highlighting the stories of ordinary South Sudanese who are kicking ass despite the country’s global isolation.

We will be posting one story of resilience per week on our social media platforms. If you want to stay engaged and inspired, please like and follow our pages: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & LinkedIn.