Umaru Kaye (born 1995), known professionally as Director Sozo, is a Ugandan entrepreneur and social media personality. He is the founder of Sozo Property Consultants Limited, a real estate brokerage firm based in Kampala, Uganda.
Early life and education
Kaye was born in Bweyogerere, Wakiso District, Uganda. After his father's death when Kaye was 10 years old, he engaged in street vending to support his family. He attended numerous schools, including St. Augustine Secondary School and Bweyogerere Standard High School, but did not complete formal education due to financial constraints.
Career
Real estate business
Kaye began working in real estate brokerage in 2013. In 2020, he founded Sozo Property Consultants Limited, focusing on property sales and rentals in Kampala. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he shifted operations online, expanding services to address household goods shortages identified through client interactions.
Online presence
Under the alias "Director Sozo," Kaye creates comedic skits and entrepreneurial advice videos on social media platforms (YouTube, TikTok (928.2K+ followers, Facebook (230k Followers). His content targets business challenges in Uganda, leveraging grassroots experiences to discuss adaptability and market gaps.
Director Sozo: Embodying Informal-Formal Innovation
Umaru Kaye (Director Sozo), a Ugandan entrepreneur, exemplifies this synergy:
• Informal Roots → Formal Pivot: Began as a street hawker, later founding Sozo Property Consultants by identifying gaps in household goods access during brokerage work. His COVID-19 digital shift (moving operations online) mirrors informal traders’ adaptive tactics
• Digital Ecosystem Building: Uses social media (@DirectorSozo) to blend comedy with business education—echoing informal oral knowledge-sharing traditions while scaling reach via formal tech platforms .
• Policy Alignment: Advocates for financial inclusion tools like DFCU’s Mobi Loan, which targets informal SMEs with collateral-free credit—addressing barriers he once faced .
His trajectory underscores how informal resilience fuels scalable formal ventures, aligning with Africa’s broader innovation ecosystem
Personal life
Kaye became a born-again Christian in 2007. He is married and has children
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