January 10, 2023

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Who is your mentor?

#OutToLunch Who is your mentor? By Denis Jjuuko It is usually a lonely treacherous journey for innovators especially those working in an industry that may not be established in a particular country. The lack of belief in an idea — the self-doubt that usually creeps in, wondering whether an idea would work. In Africa, the idea of venture capital is still new even though many people are investing in startups especially in the fintech sector. On a Saturday afternoon about a week ago, I was invited to listen to some innovators. All of them were from the informal sector with some of them having not even attended a single formal class in anything. What they lacked in formal education, they had it in ambition. I admired their courage given the grandeur of some ideas they are working on especially that they didn’t have financial resources or technical expertise to write home about. Uganda is actually full of these innovators. In Katwe and Kisenyi around Kampala, you will find lots of young people making all sorts of things — from wet welding machines, block making machines, popcorn machines, to automotive parts such as taxi seats, exhaust pipes and such other things. Many work in silos instead of working together. Many consider themselves the best and close the door to learning to improve their skills. Yet putting a product on market requires significant investments in research and development, developing the prototype, establishing the business case and then making the product itself. Many of our innovators in Katwe or Kisenyi don’t have resources for those stages. Many also don’t know whether those stages are necessary which many times leads to products that aren’t worth the printing cost of their price tag. A friend who is in the real estate sector wanted to expand his business. He thought he would be saving money by making the concrete blocks on site as he developed his properties. After reading a glossy ad in the classified section of a newspaper, he went to Katwe and bought a machine. It couldn’t make the blocks. The maker of the product didn’t want to hear of anything, for him the interest was only to make a sale. My friend is planning to sell it as scrap metal. I don’t think the innovator will stay in business for long, if other customers end up with similar experiences. In many countries that have been able to develop over the last few decades, their innovators have done so by partnering with others. In India, Maruti partnered with Japan’s Suzuki to develop the automotive industry. The Chinese have been doing the same, working with global brands to build their automotive industry. Now Chinese brands are increasingly dominating the market at least in China. Nike started by making its famous shoes in Japan and partnering with the Japanese as they built their capacity. For many years, they concentrated on shoes and only expanded into clothing and other areas later. So, the innovators need to ask themselves, what can they make on a product and then outsource the rest. To make a block making machine in Katwe, one doesn’t need to make everything. They can outsource some of the parts from others to make the final product. The automotive industry has mastered this. On average a car has 30,000 parts which are made by hundreds of companies stationed all over the world. So the guys in Katwe or Abayita Ababiri who are trying to make cars or those in Mbarara who want to make helicopters don’t necessarily need to make everything. They can buy parts from anywhere or most importantly make parts for others. They don’t have to do everything. These innovators also need business mentorship so they could holistically develop. If one can’t read or write like some of them in that innovators’ meeting, how will they sustainably develop their enterprises? In his autobiography, the late Bulayimu Muwanga Kibirige (BMK) talked about how he had to learn English when he realized that he needed to work with businesses and partners outside Uganda. He had to learn to read and communicate in English. The Science, Technology and Innovation secretariat which organized the meeting that I attended have started mentorship programs for these informal innovators and partnering them with others in the industry albeit with a bit of difficulty in getting such young people in the informal sector to appreciate systems. Skilling them and reorienting them is the right thing to do but this is needed across board. So if you are a young person, who is mentoring you? Anyway, have a great new year, won’t you? The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com internet

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Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Lessons from Messi: Success takes time

#OutToLunch Lessons from Messi: Success takes time By Denis Jjuuko Lionel Messi wrote his name in history with heroic displays at the just concluded FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The tournament, a first of many, was the first to be held in the Arab world while Morocco became the first African country to compete in a semifinal. But the 2022 FIFA World Cup will always be remembered for the heroics of Lionel Messi, the maestro who stands taller than his body height suggests. The debate whether he was greater than Christian Ronaldo was ended on that Sunday — though it should have ended in 2014 when Messi guided Argentina to the final in Brazil. But on that night, he came short as Germany won it that day. The debate online now is whether he is greater than Diego Maradona or Pele even though the debate of who is the GOAT — greatest of all time — will never be won. Those who watched Pele will continue to believe he is the GOAT. Those who lived in Maradona’s time will name him as the GOAT. Before the match on Sunday, Messi said the final would be his last at the world cup. He is 35 years old and in 2026 when the next one is held, he will be 39. At 35, already in footballing terms, he is considered a pensioner (especially for an attacker). His ability to play at that age for more than 120 minutes shows how great he reserves his energies and how Argentina was able to construct a team around their soccer genius. Argentina and Messi understood that their captain wouldn’t be able to run with the ball from his own half and score wonder goals like he used to do especially for Barcelona. So, Messi many times milled around the half way line or deep in his own half where he made tricky passes to his fastest compatriots like Julian Alvarez like we saw against Croatia. At 35, Messi didn’t just show up and won the world cup. He started his quest to win it in 2006 and only won it at his fifth attempt in 2022, that is 16 years of waiting. Sixteen years of hard work — keeping his body in shape, changing his overall play so he can control the tempo of the game with his passes or incisive runs. His coach understood that his own destiny was also with Messi. Yet at 35, Messi still scored seven goals in the tournament, one short of golden ball winner, France’s Kylian Mbappe. At one stage, Messi actually quit the national team. Success was eluding him both in the Copa America (competition for South America) and the grandest of them all — the world cup. Being the skillful great player he is, he was being blamed at home by some sections of Argentina’s failure to win. Some people talked him out of it and he ended up winning the Copa America for the first time in 2021 and now the world cup. What do we learn from Messi’s win in Qatar? That success takes time. That the road to success is not always clear cut and many times one could even doubt themselves but if they keep knocking on doors, some will end up opening. In Qatar, Argentina actually lost its opening game against minnows Saudi Arabia and it looked like Messi’s dream was over. But Argentina was able to rise again. In the quarterfinals and again in the final on Sunday, Argentina actually lost 2-0 leads with a few minutes to go. Another player would have given up but Messi scored Argentina’s third goal on Sunday. France pegged them back to 3-3. Messi stood up and took the team’s first shot in the penalty shoot-out. That is leadership. Success doesn’t come on a sliver platter. But it also takes a lot of time. There will always be exceptions. Mbappe won a world cup as a key player in 2018 when he was under 20. But on a large scale and for most people, Messi inclusive, success comes after many failures. After many times of trying. That is the same in business or employment. Success comes with time. After many years or hours of toiling. After learning from experience. Young people either looking for a job or starting out in business today must think long term. Yet there are many people who want to quickly succeed which they try to do by cutting corners and ending up losing the platforms that would have led to their eventual success. If success is what you need, you may have to think like Messi. Not giving up. Trying at every opportunity presented and surrounding yourself with the right people. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

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Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Protecting electricity infrastructure is a national security issue

#OutToLunch Protecting electricity infrastructure is a national security issue By Denis Jjuuko A friend always prefers to support small businesses in his neighborhood near Kampala. He shops from the small shops and kiosks. Many times, he patronizes the small bar near his home. When a somewhat modern salon opened up in his neighborhood, he ditched the guys who had cut his hair for more than 10 years. So recently, as they were cutting his hair, electricity like it is becoming a norm these days, went off. He remained in his reclining chair for a while thinking that they are going to switch to a generator. He saw the barber unbothered and busy on his phone. When asked what was going on, the barber said they were waiting for the electricity to ‘return’ so they could continue working on him. The generator, the barber told him, had ‘died’ and the boss hadn’t repaired or replaced it. My friend has decided, in the meantime, to return to the barber he had abandoned in the name of supporting neighborhood small businesses. That is one loyal customer lost. His animated narration of this episode reminded me of the 1990s and noughties when load shedding in urban areas was the order of the day. The issue at the time was lack of electricity. We didn’t generate that much yet the demand was growing. The government and indeed the private sector spared no effort in addressing this challenge, investing significantly to generate 1,346 megawatts by 2021 according to the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA). And that is before Karuma with an estimated 600MW comes on line. Some sources say that of the 1,346MW we generate, the country only takes 800MW so electricity at the moment shouldn’t be a problem but it is. Of recent, we have seen increased vandalism of the towers through which bulk electricity is supplied to stations from which it further reaches the final consumer. The now consistent loadshedding or power failure isn’t blamed on insufficient electricity but vandalism of these high voltage lines. Small businesses are now not sure whether they will keep customers. Costs of running generators are so high. A small salon will need to invest in buying a generator and then fuel. The salon my friend was going to charged Shs8,000 for his haircut. If they run a generator for 30 minutes to cut his hair, how much money will they make off his head to be able to pay workers, rent and all the stuff required to run his operation? It won’t be much and if many people are running away from him, he will simply close. The few young people he employs will be back on the unemployment street. The municipality will miss revenue in form of a trading license, the property owner will lose a customer and eventually Uganda won’t be making money in form of taxes. The economy already strained by runaway inflation and effects of Covid-19 and Ebola pandemics will simply not be able to survive. Investors who want to set up large businesses that could employ many people will think twice as they keep an eye on their operation costs. If a business owner is going to operate a 100kva generator a few times a week, he may think of investing elsewhere so he doesn’t have to incur excessive costs in running his business. Uganda has put a lot of emphasis in kickstarting its automotive industry, a sector that is now in transition to electric vehicles. Electric vehicles use batteries which are charged by electricity. Some countries in Europe have even provided roadmaps to phase out internal combustion engine vehicles. In Kampala, boda bodas are increasingly switching to electric motorcycles. Already, electric buses are providing public services on the Kampala Northern Bypass and Uganda Airlines has electric buses too just like many hotels which are using electric golf carts in their operations. Kiira Motors’ vehicle plant in Jinja is nearing completion and installation of assembly lines is said to commence soon. Unreliable power distribution will push back these small achievements. Protecting our electricity supply and distribution lines can’t be the sole responsibility of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development. Protecting these installations should now be considered a national security issue. Our intelligence services need to show what they are made of by ensuring that they stop the people vandalizing high voltage lines before they even get near to the electric towers and poles. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

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Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Protecting electricity infrastructure is a national security issue

By Denis Jjuuko A musician who is becoming increasingly famous in the country was recently hired to perform at an event somewhere in Kampala. The musician turned up on time with a copy of their songs in the order in which they wanted to sing over them. As the DJ played the music, the musician waltzed around the huge marquee tent with a microphone, asked the guests to stand up and dance and then moved from one table to another asking the guests to sing! Some guests were happy to take selfies while other recorded on their phones. The DJ played a minute or so of each song. After about 10 minutes, the musician gave some ‘speech’ of how they love everyone and thanked the organizers for the opportunity and hurriedly walked out for perhaps another engagement. The musician didn’t seem interested in their job! If you attend events in Uganda, you have seen such acts by musicians termed as performances. These miming acts are really common. Even many musicians when they are launching their songs, they do the same. Walk on stage dressed like Batman, Square Pants, or an astronaut and claim to perform. Give some monologue on alleged haters and then the show is done. I don’t know how far these ‘performances’ which are really miming acts will develop the industry and make it competitive on the global stage. There are musicians who everyone knows can dance but at their shows they just walk around the stage as if they are pastors preaching the word of God. I think this is limiting the growth of the industry. There is even one musician who is rumored to have tried to do that when invited to perform in another country and was booed off stage. An opportunity lost for yet another show. However, many times when some foreign musicians come to perform here, they arrive a few days before. Do rehearsals and go through every detail. They even try to learn a Luganda word so they can endear themselves to the fans. When you attend some of these shows, you feel it is worth the money. You know there was a performance not some miming act and asking the audience to sing. One could argue that such shows are expensive to organize, put several musicians together and all that but if you are invited to perform at a wedding, at least put in some effort, don’t just walk around miming. If you attend some comedy shows, be sure to hear the same joke that you earlier watched on Instagram or YouTube being repeated all the time which is plagiarism. But it isn’t just musicians and comedians. Today, there are so many people who call themselves social media influencers. They simply get a phone, record something many times bizarre and post on TikTok or Facebook Reels so they could get a huge following which they hope to sell to advertisers. And some manage actually to do so but whether it is sustainable is too early to tell. The creative economy has enormous potential to uplift many young people out of poverty and catapult many people to a stage we can’t even begin to imagine but there is need to put our acts together because if an account is to stand out, there will be need for originality and creativity. I think one of the reasons we are failing on creativity and originality is because everyone wants to do their little thing. Everyone wants to open their own account and create content which leads to simply copying or fizzling out. Yet for a channel to be successful, there is need for people working as teams. If you look at the most famous YouTubers or TikTokers, they have teams behind them. Marketing, scripting, choreographers, make-up artists, fashion gurus, production, and media among others. We need to replicate that. Can the market afford them? I believe so. People will pay for premium content or a nice show. I don’t know whether the Jazz Safari makes money or not but when you attend their events, you feel the worth of your money. And the events always sell out. Most of their musicians actually perform. They don’t just walk around one hand holding a mic and another in the pocket. Can’t a musician invited to sing at a dinner perform? I believe they can if they put in the effort. Those performances would actually attract more people even on the social media channels thereby leading to more acts and even online advertising. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

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