diff --git a/mmpy_bot/bot.py b/mmpy_bot/bot.py
index 0eb60082..7e3c352d 100644
--- a/mmpy_bot/bot.py
+++ b/mmpy_bot/bot.py
@@ -76,18 +76,25 @@ def init_plugins(self):
     def _load_plugins(plugin):
         logger.info('loading plugin "%s"', plugin)
         path_name = None
+        # try to load root package as module first
+        PluginsManager._load_module(plugin)
+        # load modules in this plugin package
         for mod in plugin.split('.'):
             if path_name is not None:
                 path_name = [path_name]
             _, path_name, _ = imp.find_module(mod, path_name)
         for py_file in glob('{}/[!_]*.py'.format(path_name)):
             module = '.'.join((plugin, os.path.split(py_file)[-1][:-3]))
-            try:
-                _module = importlib.import_module(module)
-                if hasattr(_module, 'on_init'):
-                    _module.on_init()
-            except Exception as err:
-                logger.exception(err)
+            PluginsManager._load_module(module)
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _load_module(module):
+        try:
+            _module = importlib.import_module(module)
+            if hasattr(_module, 'on_init'):
+                _module.on_init()
+        except Exception as err:
+            logger.exception(err)
 
     def get_plugins(self, category, text):
         has_matching_plugin = False