January 9, 2023 – Prime Time Communications

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch The future of work – salon masseuse

#OutToLunch The future of work – salon masseuse By Denis Jjuuko The male salon business has evolved especially in urban centres. Although salons always existed at least in Kampala, they were for the rich and upper class. Some mothers owned a pair of scissors and did the job at home to mainly their children. As children grew, the mothers relegated the job to the children to cut each other’s hair. The men who couldn’t afford a proper salon always visited some barber under a mango tree who had a manual hair clipper and one would pray, the graduated tax collector didn’t show up in the middle of the haircut. Many men were left with hair half done, the barber preferring to run whenever the graduated tax collector showed up. Rain was another problem but at least, unlike today, that was predictable. With improvements in technology, modern salons started being set up with electric hair clippers, fancy chairs, and warm water to wash the head after a hair cut. Some new ‘innovation’ is now taking place in Kampala’s salons for men. After most likely a male barber has cut your hair, he beckons you to a tub where a mostly stunningly beautiful young woman would wash your head after which they would smear some oil and other stuff all over your face and neck and sometimes chest. If you are wearing a short-sleeved shirt, your arms may also not be spared. If you go for a pedicure, the thighs will also be smeared. They will proceed to give you what they call a massage, which though most times is just touching. I am told some weak men moan as a result of some form of pleasure out of this exercise but I am yet to confirm this. A friend who set up a salon recently about 20km out of Kampala’s central business district hired one of these ‘masseuses’ from the city. Her customers who are mainly male have since followed her — they drive 20km to have her delicate fingers all over their necks, shoulders and I think chests. In some salons, they first request whether they give you the ‘massage’ or they simply apply after-shave gels. In other salons, you simply realize you are being ‘massaged’ and your head being almost touched by some breasts made obviously bigger by some push-up bras. All this is done in the name of providing an unforgettable customer experience. Whereas it used to take men about 30 minutes in a salon, these days it could take upwards of two hours! This reminds me of a newspaper article I read sometime back written by a popular Kampala physician whose leg was amputated after undergoing a massage by an unqualified masseuse. The masseuse touched veins she wasn’t meant to leading to an illness. The physician traveled to India and returned without one of his legs. Are the salon masseuses qualified to turn around our necks or we may end up with all sorts of illnesses? Since I am told men enjoy these salon ‘massages’, there is need to ensure that the ‘masseuses’ offering them aren’t just beautiful women rather qualified ones to offer the service. They should have a certificate from an accredited institution to offer such training. So since salon massaging is becoming increasingly popular, this could be the future of work for a lot of our unemployed people. The home salon is long dead especially in urban areas and salons are opened up almost every day. As Kampala expands, there will be need for more salons in the new upcoming residential areas for the middle class. The service fake masseuses are offering in salons is a technical one which like we saw with the physician could lead to severe health consequences. A new profession has already been started without albeit the necessary qualification. If we can work on regulation as a country, there will be need for qualified people to work as salon masseuses. Also professionalizing this ‘profession’ will ensure that the salon masseuses aren’t offering something close to one sided foreplay and remain within what is acceptable in a public place. Customers will appreciate a professional touch as well because massages which are properly done have some health benefits. So if you are looking for a career, this is something you may think of. The writer is a Communication and Visibility Consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

January 9, 2023

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunchA guide on surviving a World Cup in November-December

By Denis Jjuuko Every four years, almost everyone’s attention is focused on what is generally considered the world’s premier sporting event. Thirty-two national teams from around the world compete for the ultimate prize of becoming world champions or at least to show up and have that recorded in history. Somebody posted on social media that his work colleague in Canada had said he was attending the World Cup in Qatar whether he was granted leave or not. You have also probably watched a clip where a groom realized that a soccer game coincided with his wedding and he wondered whether anyone would be interested in replacing him so he could not miss the match! That is how crazy fans take soccer and much more the grandest of them all — the FIFA World Cup. I remember the Japan and South Korea tournament which was screened during working hours in East African time. Employers knowing how distracted their workers would be ended up installing TV screens in offices and allowed staff 90 minutes or so to catch the game. People worked to beat deadlines so they could not miss the Original Ronaldo or Michel Ballack do their thing! But this year’s World Cup is strange. Because it is in Qatar, the tournament was shifted from the traditional western summer months of June and July to November and December when the temperatures in the hosting country are calmer. This means that the festive season this time round has come earlier than usual for soccer fans. Yet the whole world is facing unprecedented inflation levels. A tournament at the end of the year that ushers in the Christmas period means spending for most people. Here are some ideas of how one could mitigate the lack of money that is associated with January. Bet what you can lose There is already a lot of talk on which national team will lift the 18-gold carat trophy. If there is something about soccer that makes it so loved all over the world, it is its unpredictability. Again in 2002, many put their money on reigning champions France who lined up the most complete squad on paper. They exited the tournament without scoring a single goal and ended up marauded by minnows like Senegal. This year, Saudi Arabia beat Lionel Messi’s Argentina and Germany, who have won the title four times were beaten by the Japanese. Football doesn’t respect reputations. Betting companies will be enticing you with all sorts of ads. Bet only what you can lose. Don’t commit suicide because of a football game, supporting a team in whose country they won’t even grant you a 10-day tourist visa! Only carry money you intend to spend Soccer is better watched with peers arguing, analyzing, and offering all sorts of unsolicited advice to coaches who won’t hear them. There is nothing as interesting as trolling fans of a losing team especially one that was swaggering as pre-tournament favourites. In that excitement, people tend to dispense with all forms of frugality, spending on people they don’t even know. Don’t let the excitement of your favourite player scoring a potential goal of the tournament make you buy a round of drinks for whoever is in the bar. So, if you are the excitable type, carry only money you intend to spend. You may have to disconnect your mobile money from your bank account during this period where you have unfiltered access to all your annual savings. That way you spend only what you carried. Also, you may have to leave your credit/debit card at home so you are not attempted to spend beyond your budget. Pay school fees for next term early Many Ugandans cry of money in January. Because offices close early for the festive season, people who are usually paid by the end of the month all of a sudden are paid in mid-December and yet the next pay is always by the end of January. Ugandans usually joke that this is the longest month in the calendar yet like many other months, January is just 31 days. School fees is usually around the corner, making many people spend sleepless nights. One way to avoid such a scenario is to pay the school fees using the December salary before it is spent on soccer and then the festive season. If you are serving a mortgage, pay the January installment in December. Also, pay your landlord if you are renting. That way, you don’t have to call everyone for bailouts. Pay yourself Lastly, life is for living. The World Cup comes once every four years. Have fun, cheer your favourite team. Pay yourself. It has been a tough year and still is! The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

January 9, 2023

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Beg the Americans for Ebola vaccine formula so Matugga factory can make them

#OutToLunch Beg the Americans for Ebola vaccine formula so Matugga factory can make them By Denis Jjuuko In 2019, as Kasese was recovering from an Ebola outbreak that had put the region to a standstill, I visited a few health centres and even families who had lost relatives to the disease. The effects of Ebola on the families and communities were still evident. There is no need to emphasize how dangerous this disease is. I noticed that what had really worked in Kasese is how the community reacted to washing their hands. As we drove through the hilly terrain, washing stations were in place almost everywhere. Select health centres had received solar powered chlorine generators capable of producing at least 30 litres of chlorine at a concentration of 0.5 percent every six hours which when diluted to 0.6 percent would make 270 litres. Chlorine concentrated at a certain level is effective in fighting Ebola. It is also cheap to make compared to JIK and such other detergents. The generators had been donated by UNICEF and its partners. If one had an event, they would alert the health centre in time and have chlorine reserved for them. Nobody attended an event without washing their hands and having their temperatures taken. Kasese is located in the mountainous Rwenzori region with a porous border through which people slip through into Uganda from the Democratic Republic of Congo. This was before lockdowns became an epidemiological standard measure to control the spread of diseases. Yet Ebola was contained to a few cases. Everyone was vigilant. People ensured their hands were washed; their body temperatures taken. A year later in 2020, COVID-19 struck. We claimed that as a country we had Ebola experience and therefore we would do well to control the disease. We locked down schools for the longest period in the world according to some accounts. Washing hands and sanitizers were put in place and temperatures were taken. However, we seem to have learnt nothing from Ebola outbreaks in Kasese and even COVID-19. In Kampala since the outbreak of COVID-19, standard operating procedures have been relegated to the back corner. There is no enforced washing of hands while entering public spaces. No body temperatures are being taken. What happened to all the temp guns that had been acquired? What lessons do we learn from the Ebola outbreaks that we have had to deal with? What lessons did we learn from COVID-19? Today, many sanitizer dispensers in public places are either dry or non-functional. Wash stations have been sent to the store or sold as scrap metal. Everyone is on their own. Yet Ebola is spreading to other towns with cases being reported in as far places as Jinja from the Mubende/Kassanda epicenters. The lockdown of these two districts have proved to be ineffective since the diseases continues to spread. The Ministry of Education says schools should close early before the term was scheduled to. This comes at the time when most of these children sat at home for nearly two years. Statistics from some civil society claim that many teenage girls ended up pregnant and their lives have changed forever. The majority of these are looking at a bleak future. I may be wrong but I don’t remember schools being closed in Kasese before due to Ebola. What we learnt in previous outbreaks should be informing the decisions we make today in fighting the disease and that can’t be just lockdowns. Effective use of chlorine among other measures saved Kasese before. It can save the country again. But as the continent we should also work hard to find long term solutions. Ebola has been around for more than 50 years. Uganda is in the zone where frequent outbreaks occur but the vaccines which have been licensed by the World Health Organization are not anywhere near those who need them. We had to wait for the benevolence of the United States for a few dozes for health workers. We need to continuously work on building our capacity to develop and manufacture the vaccines. COVID-19 taught us of “vaccine racism” and therefore we can’t be relying on the west all the time. The vaccine factory in Matugga that was launched recently is a good start but the real work is in developing the vaccine and then scaling up its production. For Ebola, as it spreads across the country at levels we haven’t seen before, it is high time we begged the Americans for the formula so that the Matugga factory can produce them. But before that, let us ensure everyone washes their hands! The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

January 9, 2023

News

#OutToLunch Ugandan businesses should join Centenary in Malawi

#OutToLunch Ugandan businesses should join Centenary in Malawi By Denis Jjuuko In the early 1983, the Catholic Church in Uganda set up a scheme that targeted the majority of Ugandans — folks in rural areas, the majority of which were unbanked. Ten years later, the scheme turned into a commercial bank that still largely caters for the same target market. Centenary Bank has evolved to the behemoth that it is today with millions of customers and nearly 100 branches countrywide. But that is not news to anybody reading this. What could be news is a story that for some reason has gone largely unnoticed. Centenary has acquired another bank in Malawi, signaling the start of a new phase in its life. We must note that Centenary isn’t the first indigenous local bank or business to venture out of the country. Greenland Bank, in its short-lived life had opened in Zambia and Tanzania. The BMK Group also owns a hotel (Hotel Africana Lusaka) in Zambia among other business. The Mandela Group owns four branches of Café Javas or CJs in Nairobi. There could be other Ugandan brands operating in the region. But Centenary, with Shs5.5 trillion in assets is the biggest of them all to operate outside the confines of Uganda’s borders. This is good for the country and many brands with the means should think of doing so. For some time, we have been spectators in the regional market. We have watched Kenyan brands expand and grow their assets in the region even in countries like South Sudan and Rwanda that we helped pacify. As we have argued before, as we build roads and even deploy boots on the ground in the western jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo, our businesspeople should be setting up companies there. Africa has been described as the next frontier, with a population of 1.4 billion people, majority of whom are young and ready to provide the labour force required for big businesses. Ugandan businesses should not just be watching and sending congratulatory messages to Centenary, they should be following up to set up businesses in Malawi. Malawi is politically stable having survived the thuggery of Kamuzu Banda. The rule of law seems to be established with even the supreme court brave enough to overturn a presidential election. What businesses are viable in Malawi? Almost everything. It is a virgin market with even some of its printing done in the dim lit corridors of Nasser Road according to some accounts. Malawi’s growth and development strategy outlines education, energy, agriculture, health and tourism as the sectors it is banking on to become an industrialized country by 2063. With a Ugandan bank now taking centre stage in the country’s financial sector, Ugandan businesses have a brand that can easily access them credit. Centenary can simply do due diligence here and lend to a business that would like to expand in Malawi. But the businesses here shouldn’t be in a rush. It has taken Centenary a whopping 39 years and an asset base of trillions to make its first move beyond its Ugandan comfort zone. They have experience in dealing with the rural poor and have enough resources to take on risks. They have an ownership model that has proved successful, using the structures and loyalty that people have with the Catholic church to provide a springboard for their success. It is this model they are somewhat basing on as the church is also its partner in Malawi. Structures are important and a Ugandan brand without such structures wouldn’t be able to succeed in another market. We have seen of recent some very sad news where a brand previously thought to be successful collapsing within a year of the founder’s death. Newspapers have been advertising the company’s assets for forced sale (including those of the children who had assumed directorships). By establishing structures, companies would be able to scale at home and even abroad. I don’t think there is still an employee or even a non-executive director that was part of Centenary’s founding in 1983 that is still involved. The company has been able to grow beyond its founders. The current managers and non-executive directors I am sure are aware that they won’t have to die in their offices unless if they suffer sudden death. They will have to hand over the company to its next leaders for further growth. That is a key lesson for all Ugandan companies. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

January 9, 2023