Entrepreneurship – Prime Time Communications

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch Entrepreneurs/self-employed people need to take leave too to revitalize their body and brain

#OutToLunch Entrepreneurs/self-employed people need to take leave too to revitalize their body and brain By Denis Jjuuko In formal organisations, employees take leave which is about one cumulative working month in a year. A working month is about 21 days. It helps them to reenergize themselves by having a break from the work routines. In many such organisations, employees don’t work on public holidays and even weekends for some. In some countries like Germany, I have read that laws even exist that allow workers to ignore emails that come in after working hours. That an employee won’t be panelized for not responding to work emails that come in late in the evening or too early in the morning. With the advent of smartphones where one literally moves with the office wherever they are, employees could spend most hours of the day working thereby not having enough time to spend with their families and/or relax. Relaxed employees work better than those who are on the verge of a breakdown due to tiredness. I am told of an organization in Kampala which has automated its office systems to go off at exactly 7.00pm. Workers are supposed to leave work at 5.00pm but they left some extra hours for people to finalize whatever they were doing. However, at 7.00pm, lights, air conditioning systems and computers shutdown so workers can go and be somewhere else. Although leave days are common in formalized organisations, it is not the case for many of Uganda’s entrepreneurs. Many consultants and researchers I know move around with their laptops logging in at every slight opportunity they have. They put in long hours at work and even longer ones at home in order to beat deadlines for either submitting proposals or preparing drafts for client approval. There are no public holidays or weekend offs. For those who run other type of businesses like shops, they open every single day and late in the night. If you go downtown in Kampala, you will find the ladies who run eating places are ready to serve Katogo for breakfast at 6.00am, wondering what time they had to wake up. They do this almost every single day and stay open to serve Kampala workers evening tea and porridge. Many times, there is no maternity leave for these people. Somebody gives birth today and in a few days, they are back at work with their babies! Should self-employed people in Uganda take leave like those in formal jobs? Absolutely. I know for most self-employed Ugandans how hard this can be. When they don’t open the shops, they don’t eat. They need to keep open to make the rent and pay all the bills. So they work every single day. But for many, the reason they work every day is due to lack of systems in place. Many entrepreneurs/self-employed people do every little thing themselves. They are the cashier, store keeper, accountant, procurement officer, director, every role you know in the business. It is one of the reasons that our businesses don’t survive the death of the founder. Nobody else knows anything about the business. This means that the entrepreneur/self-employed person can’t take a few days off without collapsing the business. Formalizing businesses means hiring more staff and even consultants or temporary workers to ease the workload of operating the business. In the short term it looks costly but in the long run, it enables an entrepreneur/self-employed person to focus on stuff they are good at and be able to take a break to revitalize their bodies. That way businesses grow. Entrepreneurs, like most people, are only good at a few things and that is where in many cases the focus should be. Every entrepreneur for example is not necessarily a good manager. So when an entrepreneur/self-employed person identifies what they are good at, they can concentrate on that and let other people focus on other aspects of the business. This can only work where it is intentional by the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs don’t necessarily have to be the CEOs. So since Ugandans love starting businesses, thinking of processes that can enable one to concentrate on what they are good at is key but also enables one to take a few days off every once in a while, spend time with loved ones, or revitalize the body and the brain. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

May 4, 2022

News

#OutToLunch Opportunities for entrepreneurs as demand for wood doubles

By Denis Jjuuko The biggest source of energy in Uganda is said to be wood, which many households use for cooking and sometimes even lighting. Some of the households which may not use wood as we may know it, use charcoal, a byproduct of wood. A joint statement by Uganda Bureau of Statistics and the World Bank Group released last week painted a very grim picture for our country. “Uganda could run out of forests outside of gazetted protected areas by 2025, if the current rate of depletion, driven by population growth, urbanization, and poor management of natural resources is not checked,” the statement read in part before offering an opportunity for entrepreneurs. “Demand for wood is projected to more than double between 2015 and 2040,” it said. There will be demand for wood in the country, which may not be available around after 2025 given our rate of depletion. I highly doubt that the current rate of depletion will be checked in the next few years. So if you invested in a wood business today, in about five years or so, you will be smiling to the bank. You could plant fast-growing trees that will be ready for harvesting starting 2025 to meet the demand for wood as many people including high-income earners still need wood or its byproducts. I have heard many say that they can’t imagine eating Matooke that isn’t cooked on firewood or traditional charcoal and in many urban homes of the wealthy, there is an ‘outside kitchen’ where firewood is used. Apparently, they argue, Matooke cooked on LPG or even electricity doesn’t taste as nice. Schools and prisons depend a lot on firewood to cook their food while some modern hotels use firewood to lit up the sauna and such other facilities. However, they don’t have to as they produce enough raw materials for biogas, which is another opportunity for entrepreneurs. Homes, schools, prisons, hotels, and even offices create a lot of organic waste that can be turned into biogas, which can light up our homes and provide a source of energy for cooking. This would actually check the rate at which forests are being depleted. Entrepreneurs can invest in modern systems where households and other facilities mentioned can sort waste and use it for biogas. We love Matooke in this country, which creates a lot of waste which can feed the plants for biogas and then create the fertilizers that can be used in the gardens. But also, studies show that about 40% of the food that is cooked is not eaten. Just observe at functions how much food people pile on their plates and then look at the workers as they collect the plates after people have eaten. This food is usually thrown away yet it can provide the energy we need to wean ourselves off firewood. There is also human waste from which biogas can easily be created. However, there is stigma about it. One of the so-called modern schools in this country whose alumni boast about it at any opportunity they get once installed a good biogas system so it could cut down on its costs spent on wood. The biogas system once complete started providing the energy needed to cook the students’ meals. The students went on strike that they can’t imagine they are eating food being cooked using ‘pupu.’ To quell the strike, the school promised to return to the old ways of cooking — using firewood. The students celebrated. They had won. So for biogas and alternative sources of energy to work, there is a need for awareness campaigns so people get to know that there are more ways to cook food than solely depending on firewood. This is the work of the government and I have heard that the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development is launching a pilot campaign in Kampala, Jinja, Mbale, Masaka, and Mbarara with support from UNDP to promote the use of organic waste as sources of energy. If this campaign kicks off, then entrepreneurs can start to position themselves to install affordable systems so that electricity is generated. Uganda has also been building its capacity in electricity generation over the years. Isimba and Karuma dams as well as others under construction should be making electricity affordable for households and businesses to use to cook food. Of course, there is a lot of investment needed in distribution but electricity in homes should be affordable enough for people to use for cooking so that we can reduce the strain we are currently exerting on the forests. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

December 9, 2020