Meet the Interior Décor Duo Taking Kampala and Kigali By Storm

Brenda Ssali and Camilla Kabagyema are cousins who got together to work on interior décor opportunities that opened up for them. Neither of them originally had interior design in mind as a career choice, but formed an interior brand called Kwanzi Accents, based both in Kampala, Uganda and Kigali, Rwanda. The ladies are determined to have people’s houses glowing and showy and have been doing so for about 3 years now!

They sat down with me on Zoom and talked about their journeys and how they ended up doing interior design full time, pivoting from corporate jobs and the day-to-day processes of bringing client’s spaces to life.

What is your professional background?

Camilla: So my background was basically HR for the longest time, I think I did that for about 6 years after I finished school. I had always had a passion for interior design, coming from a mother who was designing homes, and her own home as well… I sort of picked interest off her, because we used to do things together. I’d go see where she buys her things, help her pick up stuff as well. She would even pick my brain as well so I got to like it although it wasn’t something I thought I was going to definitely do as a career. I’d even sit at her store and help out with her clients, so I picked interest there as well. Then when I did my own home, at the time I got married, I thought, “This is something I can venture into,” because I enjoyed it. I’d get people coming home and they would give compliments, and I started to think more about it. You know when you doubt yourself and you’re thinking “Really? This is what you think is nice?” but people actually love it. Then I eventually started to consider it.

Over time I really wanted to leave my job because I was frustrated, I wasn’t really happy then I got pregnant and had to go and deliver. So I had to leave and go to the States, and while I was there, Brenda was like, “You know what Camilla? Why don’t we start an interior design business?” Brenda had a passion for design as well. To me it was not a bad idea, so there and then I just decided to start interior design school and then start also supporting Brenda. She had pretty much already started doing projects. So I said let me do the course and then also I can join in and help out whenever I get back home. When I got back home, we sat down we started doing projects together, opportunities kept coming in and then we actually made it. I decided to make it. For me, it became like a proper permanent job at that time. Brenda was still working but she could also do on the side as well. So then we actually decided let’s start this whole thing and that’s how Kwanzi Accents started.

Brenda: I did Business Admin in school, and majored in Finance and Accounting. So I thought, naturally, I should end up in a bank. I always felt like banks are a good place to earn good money. And for me, it was always a goal to work in a multinational company. The first bank that hired me is we have worked for most of my life. But on in interior design, I’ve always known that I liked nice spaces, I’ve always thought that I have I have an eye for good things in a sense of spaces. I didn’t know that it was something I wanted to pursue or that it could even be a real business. And also like Camilla said, her mom was already in the business. I didn’t participate or anything like she did, but she managed to expose us to good things, let’s just say. Knowing good things gives you an idea. When you get into a bad space, you’re like, this is a bad thing, but I know good things. But then, pursuing it was more of someone came to my home when I had just gotten married and told me, “I think I see you in interior design,” I was like,  “no, not really.” Honestly I always thought it was a brain dead job, something I didn’t want to even consider at the time. I feel like a lot of people think about it that way, I feel like many people don’t take us seriously because they think “Oh, you’re just putting a pot here and painting that place and then you have something together,” which is not really what it is.

So when someone said that to me, I said, “I’m not going to overthink it.” But to be truthful, it planted a seed of, “What else is there about interior design that I can do?” So fast forward, I got bored with my bank job. Like yes, I was moving through the ranks and going up in management, but it felt like there was nothing new and I love a challenge. So I decided to pursue an interior design course, which I did. Along the way I realised there was a lot more to interior design. We got to talking with Cami from a perspective of she was leaving her job I’m like what are you going to do why don’t you try doing interior design, I just don’t think we should sit home, that kind of thing. So of course because her brain was already in it, it was an easy decision to say let’s start so we started, Kwanzi like that. 

What does the name Kwanzi mean? 

Brenda: We picked Kwanzi because first of all in Western Uganda, kwanzi translates to a bead.  Beads, at least in the olden times, were always a symbol of beauty. Why specifically Kwanzi – because you know like how beads are an accent to what you put on, they are an accessory. It is not the main attire, right? So in my mind it was Kwanzi – beads because they are beautiful but also because they are that accent of what you’re wearing. Yes so that’s why it was Kwanzi Accents.

What are your favourite kind of projects? 

Camilla: I would say the favourite projects for us would mainly be projects where people allow us be. Where you get your opportunity to do so much more and exert yourself a lot more and can be as creative as you can be. We’ve gotten a few and those that we’ve gotten as a few have actually been very exciting because then you’re given room to you know, do a lot more and be able to show what you’re capable of doing.

Is there any one project that you can pinpoint? 

Brenda: Let me see, like one from a project we’ve not yet put up on social media, but there is a project in Kiira. The client allowed us to drive the scheme of the project, they gave us some leeway to think. You will never find 100% a client who says, “Go do what you want.” But when you have a client who gives you a big percentage of space and room to do something, it’s good. And that’s one project I can speak to where we had the opportunity to pick up on the skirting, the door colours, the the aluminium colour, and then the paint colours in the house. I feel that that was somebody who gave us quite a big space to be creative. Yeah, so that’s one project I can pick out. 

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Camilla: There’s also one which is already done. It was done in the past and it was also basically a client who initially even took long to engage an interior designer, she had heard of us, but then she had taken long to engage just because she sort of thought she would do it on her own. But then, along the way, she was like, “No, you know what, let me let me engage an interior designer,” so she contacted us. When she got to sit down and go to hear the ideas and you know, what we are capable of doing? She was like, “Oh, okay, I didn’t know that was possible.” And she’s like, “You know what? You do your thing.” So the only thing was you had to kind of engage and show her “Okay, this is what I’m picking. This is going to go here, this is going to go there” and she’d give the go ahead. I was so happy with that client, because we usually get clients who want to reuse their furniture, or maybe re upholstery it or something. And then you can see that the furniture doesn’t really work, but with her she would be willing to start afresh. So we went and bought furniture and you know, change the drapery, did her kitchen fittings, her bathroom fittings and basically got the place you know, to look different from what it was before. In the end she was happy with the results. 

What makes you guys different from other interior designers? 

Brenda: I think that’s what really differentiates us is we try to professionalise the business to the extent that we feel we have set processes in place. Processes like, we try to make scheduled visits, and then we try to show you step after step what we are trying to do, and then we go through contracts and agreements as well, which I find that most people don’t try to do. What we are trying to do to is create processes that make a customer’s experience easier. You want to create clarity of mind. Number two, the dynamic aspect we bring to it; there are designers who have a set style, we try to play in all styles and that’s not something you’ll find common with many of the interior designers.

Camilla: The other thing is we try so hard to see our projects from beginning to the end. And sometimes we also try to go that extra mile for our clients as well. We sort of treat our clients like they are family. And along the way they get to feel that way. That’s what we always want them to feel, you know, we’re not just here to make money. We support you. Even sometimes they come to us, after the projects are done, and we’re able to help them with other things, you know, and that’s because both our relationship together. Then also we like to follow up with our clients to know, “Okay, fine, this was done, but is everything going okay? Are you settled in well? Are you having any issues?” Things like that.

And then also, we don’t just look at whatever opportunity comes up as an opportunity to make money – no. We also want to make sure it’s something that is possible for us as well. Otherwise we’d just be taking on any project, just because we want money. If we’re not able to do something, we try to advise where we can or sometimes we even try to give business to other interior designers, sometimes we’ll refer them to our suppliers if it’s something small that they’re looking for, that just doesn’t really need us to be involved, you know, as opposed to just turning them away and being like, “No, we can’t work with you” 

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What has been your proudest moment as interior designers? 

Brenda: Something as simple as walking out on my job has been, like a proudest moment. It’s really easy to get stuck in a rut because you’re being paid well but being able to walk away and have that courage has been my proudest moment. But also knowing that we own something, leave aside the money even; it’s knowing that we are making a mark and we own this thing. I’m yet to see more but these have been my proudest moments.

Camilla: I think also just having people trusting you to do the work it’s also a proud moment because someone can literally hand over their home and let you do the magic. Someone is believing in me out of everyone else and wants me to do my thing. Also the other thing that maybe without say would make us very proud is just seeing our clients happy at the end of the day. You do something with all your heart, cause we really exert ourselves and it hurts if someone at the end is like “I don’t like this, I hate your work”. When you see people actually acknowledging that they’ve seen the effort you’ve put in, than the the number of times you go to their sites and they’re happy at the end of it when they see the big picture? That makes us very proud. 

How would you describe your personal design vibe? 

Brenda: My style is purely contemporary, minimalist. I’m all about clean lines and contemporary modern kind of feel. I love neutral colours, and things like that.

Camilla: Personally, I’m a rustic person, I think even from that clock in the background. You know, like, I’m very woody woody type of person. 

How do you guys work as a team?

Brenda: So I think that, first of all, no matter what type of business you do, you’ll always have some sort of difference in opinions, right? And I think we try to be as reasonable as we can towards each other, at least from what we’ve done in the last three, four years. Sometimes you have to move away from the emotion and go to the logic behind the thing that you’re doing. For example, if I’m saying, “Let’s push this type of clock, or push this type of style, I have to give a reason and logic why I’m doing the way I’m doing it. I have to sell it to Camilla for how to buy it.  If she doesn’t buy it we then reach a stalemate and fail to do it. For me, it’s always been that simple. Also, I think the other thing that helps is, which I find, contrary to what many people say, is Camilla and I already have a relationship, in a sense that yes, she’s my cousin, but I prefer someone I’m familiar to. We always know we’ll have to come back to the same base of understanding, I think that also keeps you grounded, even as you’re making your decisions. Even as you go about arguments or push and pull about something. If you think beyond the logic, it comes down to what is the bigger picture. 

But also above that we have processes and processes which guide us to a certain place. So we should never be debating things like fees, we should never be debating things like what style are we going for in this? In this sense? We understand. So that’s why processes are there. But also, I think, 

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Camilla: You see, at the end of the day, we treat this as a partnership. And it’s more like I would like Brenda to know what I’m doing. We need to discuss a project and and just for her to get also to understand because yes, it’s she works there, I work here. But you’ll be surprised that we we know what each one is doing. We also help each other out; it could be on that design. So we have to sit down and know this is the design we’re going for, this is the look, the scheme, the colours; we have to come back on a round table and say this is it, this is what you’re going to do. It’s more like also a way of saying I don’t want to do something, even if I know it will come out, without consulting the other partner. So at the end of the day, it’s like, you’re a team, we always have to involve each other at every step of the way. 

Brenda: Yeah, there’s one other thing I wanted to add. You see, being in different markets, Camilla naturally will meet a client first time in Kigali. So she knows the client more. Well, that helps, especially with pivoting to the project, she will take my opinion, we’ll share ideas. But usually I depend on her to know and understand the client because she’s the one who’s met the client. Same thing with me, when I’m in Kampala, I’m the one meeting the clients, but I will pick up the phone and say, “Look, this is what has happened. This is the person I’ve met. This is what they said. What do you think?” When I get puzzled, I’ll pick up the phone and say “What do you think?” And then somehow we end up meeting up the projects by the decisions and discussions and having a final decision.

So Brenda deals with like the Kampala clients, and then Camilla handles Rwanda?

Brenda: Actually, it’s not precise here. So what happens is this, Camilla sometimes will come and she meets a client. And if she picks up the bond faster when she’s here or something, she can lead on that project. It just happens that since we started, we’ve had this whole COVID thing happening. So she’s not there all the time. I’m not going to Kigali. So if it was that we were under normal circumstances whoever meets the client should ideally lead the project.

Get more information by emailing info@kwanziaccents.com or follow their Instagram here.

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