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| Some of the boys here ... |
"Contenass" as code named today was originally "containers" the name most likely derived from the nature of housing of the bar that is based at Bukoto white flats, the bar is in a small 20 foot container and has fairly basic services mainly serving alcoholic beverages, getting service there may sometimes weigh ten kilo’s of stone - one may have to raise their voice to get service and sometimes walk to the sleeping bar attendant to seek their attention, the place comes with some advantages though making it easier and easier for patrons to access credit during the bad times of the month!
The bar had its pros especially the toilets that would ensure that the girls do not bother joining the boys when boys wanted to be boys, have their peace and gossip about gadgets, cars, money, fashion among others – the boys only gossiped about girls when they got drank because it was a tricky subject some of them were our sisters... and it seemed the subject of girls was also boring I think ;-)! The cons my oh my, sometimes there would be a ban on credit, sitting on the lawn sometime with very few people around I would ask Adyeri why some people are not present – she would bellow back “anti temu sasula sente zange”
Some of the memorable days of the group were Monday evenings when boys would come from all walks of life from employees of corporate organisations - “co-operatos”, self employees (disguised unemployment) to business men and investors. All thirsty for a pint of chilled Adyeri beer ... If she was in a good mood she would sneak in the bill and serve you with the chilled beer – but if the mood was bad, she would announce to the 30 strong boys that you owe her!!! The fun of it all is when the “shells” would kick off with some key orators hitting hard at a selected target for that Monday!
Many of the co-operatos would be hit at for their attitude, dress and over association with their employers and sometimes they would hit back when many wanted to associate with them for freebies especially the beer and airtime sellers as well as the special one for deliveries from abroad... The disguised unemployed were more a quieter lot hiding under disguised purportedly serious business negotiations including potential imports of large machinery (many times used Japanese cars), they quietly envied the co-operatos ha ha! While the co-operatos thought the disguised gentlemen had “arrived”...
Most of the business men were struggling start ups and were short tempered, however it was quickly noted that it was indeed a nightmare to set up a business and make it an operational unit ... A unique group were the professionals especially the learned Doctors, Lawyers and Accountants, they commanded some degree of respect and usually represented undisputable facts – where they were considered authorities. These people would flourish on Monday and Friday discussions and if stray “birds” were among the boys some of them would look the most intelligent, smart and interesting for the strays...
House keeping – in my simple understanding a business is that entity that has systems, procedures and people in place to run it even when the entrepreneur has decided to take his family to South Coast Mombasa for a week long holiday.
None of the boys seemed to have this kind of entity so in essence they mostly related with the first two parts of livelihood, although many had already engaged brokers and investment advisors to invest their “dimes” in some stock exchange, real estate or small shop somewhere.
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| This was Ongaria's do I think ... |
Some activities still bind this interesting group together like the historical “Inno-Nite” which is now joined by 8198 smart hmmmnnn... The Speaker continues to promote it religiously especially to those who have some lose cash, of course the mailing list remains the most significant place of aboard...
The nerve wrecking jokes though hard hitting have in the long run led to growth among many, boys turned men building their confidence, social skills, networking, ventures and many started investing in changing the face of the world, men now run security, child entertainment, bar & restaurant, consulting, commercial farms, legal, finance and IT among others...
Men like Mr. Katarikawe can now provide security services to any of the men who would like to secure themselves from the evil meaning characters of this planet. The security can further be backed up by IT supported tools like CCTV, Biometrics and various sensory gadgets – this is a business that has evolved into a real one to-date Mr. Katarikawe can afford a week long holiday in South Coast Mombasa!
Men like Mr. Kaheru and his partner Mr. Banage, he was not really fully a Contenass boy but a very close participant, have grown businesses from a small IT firm to an influential communications services provider http://www.smsmedia.ug/ moving away from providing only entertainment such as ringtones to chat, registration, alert, knowledge and many more services. Mr. Kaheru being a fast mover has further taken off time to invest in business convergence and intelligence consulting an area he moved into long before the Telecoms, IT firms and other fast moving industries saw it! I guess they have taken many holidays around the world already! His partner now experiments with various cars he loves to drive :-)
Another business to emerge with astute boldness was http://scoobydoos.wordpress.com/ - I am proud to have worked with this one especially in its formative stages and have watched it change the face of entertainment in Uganda rolling out in Gulu and Arua to show the children and parents in Uganda what good entertainment is made of, Dr. Rukaka partnering with Ms. Byarugaba have successfully built a business and can now holiday in Zanzibar for a week if they like, talking about professionals this Dr. Is one that was hard to dispute when you ventured into the subject of human medicine and African politics he still goes on with research in these areas and makes very interesting reading!
And the men continue to emerge more recently we have seen a potentially large exporter of vegetables come up http://www.nilefreshproduce.com/ to focus with which the entrepreneur behind this project has worked is amazing and may teach each of us one or two things – identify your niche and hit hardest into it, most of his knowledge and skills acquired through experience have put him above average in his endeavours. Mr. Kwesiga may easily be dismissed for his jokes which can be quite lethal and undesirable, however he has proved to move mini mountains for now – he will be able to holiday you know where...
Emerging men like Mr. Ongaria setting up a state of the art communication bureau in Ntinda is not to be ignored having set up over 16 Internet ready computers compatible with voice and other tools it has become the preferred business centre in Ntinda and he runs it remotely – I am soon to register the name in my mind!
There of course the consulting firms like http://asili4u.wordpress.com, Mr. Turyagenda’s (who has also started reaping the benefits of commercial farming) and Mr. Kaggwa’s Legal firms, More men continue to emerge next time we shall look at the new start ups including the investment clubs like Richwoods, Entertainment places like The Baala and Junction among others. For now I will show you the art and crafts sold at KEMARU’s enjoy viewing
We shall soon experience a new form of cohesion between the men leading to formation of new value centres and interest lines...
A new Contenass in the formation...
