Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Vol2.Issue3. March2010
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Techies vs Accountants 3
Idler’s Corner 14
The Cuddlers 16
SuperPower Nation 20
Techies vs Accountants
It’s an open secret that work is a popularity contest. Abrihet <Addis Ababa> points out that it comes with
To win it you have to work hard, be innovative, be con- the territory: “don’t expect someone to be nice all the
sistent or just kiss ass. The rewards are a promotion, time when everyone is bugging her for money, some
more pay, more benefits, transfer to a more lucrative of it based on very flimsy excuses. You don’t get a mo-
office, more power, less workload, bonus at the end of ments peace. The finance office should be restricted
the year, longer leave days, “business lunches”, out of like the IT room.” Iracema <Sao Luis> backs that up:
town workshops with eye-popping amounts of per- “if IT can have a restricted room that even the boss
diem, “consultative” meetings abroad and all crap doesn’t enter, why can’t we? We do get irascible when
like that . But there are two groups of people who you are counting huge sums of money and not even a
seem to be competing for the title of least popular at fraction of it is yours. The most you get is good work.”
the workplace. Erwin <Vienna> sniggers at the suggestion: “it’s the
finance role to count money and pay it out. Why the
The WorkZine editor notes that each issue has had a hell would they want a restricted room? This is a
complaint about IT people. Doreen <Nairobi > shud- modern age of cheques and e-banking. If they don’t
ders when you mention IT: “those think they are on how, we the IT people can show them how it’s done.”
top of the world. Just because they can switch on
a computer doesn’t make you royalty.” For Brenda Keba <Jinja > says the easiest way to deal with the
<withheld> its personal: “IT guys SUCK.They do not imperious IT people is to befriend them: “Why not
respect our privacy, they hack into our email and read make friends with the IT guy instead? I’m telling u,
our raunchy emails to our significant others.” For Er- people who have done that here know it pays!!! :)
nest, IT guys are beyond redemption as he shows in Peace!” And indeed, if you can’t beat them, then join
this joke: “What do you call 5000 #IT guys at the bot- them. The IT and finance departmenzzts are the key
tom of the ocean? A good start.” support departments in an organization, you can’t
do without them. So try to live with them, even if it
Micheal <Cape Town > decries finance: “the finance means swallowing your pride!!
department guys behave like they own the company.
That is MY money!” Akinola <Lagos> doesn’t really
care: “as long as my machine is working and my sal-
ary is paid promptly, they can dance with anybody
naked.” Don <fort portal > is an IT technician: “that
reputation is unfounded. People simply expect us to
be everywhere at the same time. They want us to re-
spond to every little thing that they could figure out
themselves. ”
Walk Beside Me
taking, we love people, customers even more, we enjoy
working with colleagues, we consult, and we are an-
swerable and accountable to our superiors. My ques-
tion then is, who drafted those little tree-like charts
where the MD is right at the top, and then there are
managers, then the abc’s? This whole idea of domi-
nance does not help the customer, employee, or proc-
esses. That little chart over there is a sweet reminder
of powers-that-be that they have actually ‘made’ it, as
they are nicely seated on some good location in this
‘tree’ that companies are so obsessed with. Then the
abc’s have to be reminded with each subsequent ap-
praisal on how to aim up there. Find a location on the
tree and aim at it.
Fired!
the least pay and whose minimum qualification
requirement is a 6 month certificate in “anything
relevant”. Wonder what that is. Anyway, given the
government’s reputation, you would be lucky to get
the job without bribing for it, and even luckier if
getting back from you are paid your April’s wages before Christmas.
the sack As such you dump all those options and turn to do-
ing small odd jobs while looking for the permanent
Ever been fired! Well, I haven’t had the misfortune thing. Since you have a little experience in what-
but if I did, I would probably sue my boss. Anyhow, ever odd stuff you were lucky to get employed to do
after several (read three) years of having a nice for three years, you have a little experience to aid
time at your workplace, the recession finally hits a few naïve people with more money than brains
your company and the most inefficient employees to seek better consultants to help them with their
are terminated. Only problem is, you are the only businesses. Together with a few people you studied
one that is fired! Maybe you should not have been with, you set up a quack Consulting Firm, that is
a smartass towards your boss’ secretary. Anyhow, mainly beefed up your friend’s resumes more than
here you are jobless, rent due, salary loan in ar- your own as they are certified professionals unlike
rears and the next best job available is paying you yourself. And with that you do all the donkey work
half what you earned. You are in need of a seri- since it is you without the 8-5 job and as such with
ous job connector, but to whom do you turn cause the time to run around looking for new clients and
the only money you have will last you at best two coming up with the crazy ideas to aid your current
weeks. clientele.
There are several web based organizations that With the little revenue you get from your “consult-
have made it a point to post the latest jobs and ing” you are able to finish your professional qualifi-
vacancies available to those looking for employ- cation studies and before you know it [probably 18
ment. Unfortunately, they do not promise a swift or so months] you are a certified professional who
response and if you are lucky you will get a call owns his own firm and earning his own paper, and
from them in 6 months, long after you have been lots of it. And all you had to do was to talk ill to
jailed for failing to settle your loans and dues. that loud mouthed secretary for you to get out of
the Rat-Race and join the Money Autobahn!
You may also look into the newspaper dailies which
usually also boast of having several thousand jobs.
Upon looking at two dailies, you discover half the Rafayili
jobs being advertised are government jobs with
Walk Beside Me
some sanity to employment and as hard to come buy as they are, props that there is even one.
So now is very much not the time for HRs to sit back with staff personnel on this tree and think things are OK. Not at
all, there is need to breed a healthy respect for individuals to thrive and as they thrive so does the Company grow. Not
to chop off their wings, cram them under a boss in a thick canopy, and watch from afar. Even the bosses need to be held
accountable, they need to be pruned as well, not for them to sit back and watch how well they are faring on the tree,
when the base, which is supporting the customer, is gasping for air.
I believe Companies ought to take a good, hard look at how they manage People (not Human resources). We actually
need to graduate from Human resource management mentality to People Management, and you do not need to look far
to see the difference. One system is really human, while the other is stuck on the dear old shelves, in HR manuals that
still carry tree drawings, practice psychology, and still refer to some as under others.
There you have it. Society has a strong inertia to the past. A few companies are slowly but steadily tearing down age old
organizational structures and rearranging the organization around the customer. And there are many others ventur-
ing into the obscure to yield value for the customer, and not just feed into the egos of the elitists who adore the tags.
Their Business cards do not carry titles, and neither do the email signatures, but I bet you, they have plenty of duties to
execute without their egos being deflated.
And one thing for sure: responses like ‘that’s the way we’ve always worked’ will not count as much of a defense.
Ronald Rwakigumba
Business
having conversations about the WZ. should not put me in a situation where
We organised a shareholders meeting I have to compromise any values that I
and unfortunately, only Abid showed believe to be essential to my definition
up. The idea for this here zine is to of self and that just as it takes care of
evolve into a profitable business and I me, I should be willing to dedicate my
hear such is its appeal that WZ shares time to it and even find pleasure in do-
are in high demand. (oba on which ing so. Essentially, I am always looking
stock market?)
Cost Structure I want to know what the big plan is, whether it
fits me and my purposes. Which brings us to
What are the most important costs inherent in our business model? the business plan, the most essential bit when
Which Key Resources are most expensive?
Which Key Activities are most expensive? you’re starting a business.
is your business more:
Cost Driven (leanest cost structure, low price value proposition, maximum automation, extensive outsourcing)
Value Driven ( focused on value creation, premium value proposition)
sample characteristics:
Fixed Costs (salaries, rents, utilities)
Many people are prone to the mistake of think-
Variable costs
Economies of scale
Economies of scope
ing that some generic plan out there will fit your
business idea and if you’re going into some-
thing as basic as hunting, then you’re probably
right. Most business ideas however need a plan
that comes from those that dreamt it up in the
first place. Of course, there are many lessons to
www.businessmodelgeneration.com
The Open Business
Day Month Year
On:
Designed by:
No.
Iteration:
Further Reading:
Subscription Fees Customer segment dependent Real-time-Market
Lending/Renting/Leasing Volume dependent
Licensing
Brokerage fees
Advertising
Open Business
Business Model Alchemist
100Open
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Business
Daring to Dare
Its 1.25pm on a warm Saturday afternoon. Our
chat is scheduled for 2.00pm. When he finds out I
am at the venue, he gets there by 1.35pm.
Mark Andrew Karamira Karyegesa is just 23 years of
age. He is co-owner and co-founder of two companies.
Dial-A-Service Uganda and Maika. He is the chief execu-
tive at Dial–A–Service and general manager at Maika .
“How does it feel to be your own boss?” He laughs. “People say I am lucky but it’s not luck. I work hard and
long hours. It’s more of a responsibility than anything else. To your employees, to your customers, to those
who support you and above all to yourself. It does feel good to be your own boss but the advantages of those
will come later. I want to leave my own legacy. Of course I want to also live in the comfort I dream of . I want
to make a difference in whatever way I can.”
Running two start-up businesses is not as rosy it may seem. There have been days when he has felt like
giving up. “There was a point when I felt like shutting down DAS. Things were not moving but thankfully I
hang in there and right now we are doing the help-line for Uganda Lotto. ” Numerous challenges have lined
the path, most surprising of which has been his age. “People lose interest in what I am saying sometimes
when they get to know my age. That’s stupid!! Let them listen to me and judge what I am saying for its merit
not my age. ” He has to overcome different obstacles like cash flows, unfriendly work hours, quality employ-
ees. Yet through it all, there is rock solid support.
He thanks his parents for the unwavering support and his peers for setting both bad and good examples.
“There are some people I look at and I pray that I don’t become like them. Others I see and I strive to du-
plicate.” What maxim do you live by? Karamira answers with this interesting experience: “My grandfather
taught me that life is one big school and every experience whether good or bad is a new lesson.”
Abid Were
ugrugbyfanzone www.ugrugbyfanzone.com
Merchandise
Blogs
tor for my success in life has digressed to how well I
A moment when external forces are spoofing the corporate LAN, a moment when our cli-
ent data is one click away from corruption, a moment when number one is about to make
a fatal error of judgment and enter a shoddy merger, a moment when I am about to hook
up my system to a wrong adapter plug, a moment when the marketing guy is about to
shift the decimal point by one position to the left and before you know it the fundamen-
tal weakness of our little perfect world is exposed. Which is its single point of failure, the
fact that its stability is dependent on the faultless functioning of its male architects even
through the inevitable mental blackout. It’s the moment we start a world war, the mo-
ment we kill Jesus, the moment we invade Troy, the moment we celebrate Amin’s ascent
to power, the moment we buy into Socialism, the moment we bomb Hiroshima and Na-
gasaki and before we know it five million Jews are dead and a million Tutsi have perished.
Our political activism, our renaissance and newly found faith is simply a symptom of the
anomaly of our construction. It is simply the moment when a random error occurs simul-
taneously within us due to the common internal design flaw that is our hunger for more.
And because men rule the world the contingency that is women folk can sometimes be
overridden because in their perfect functioning they sometimes simultaneously desert
man folk and when that occurs history is made for better or for worse. Its because for
several cycles a minute the male creature is preoccupied with taking and we are in a con-
stant fantasy of acquiring more and as long as we aren’t held back by the possibility of ro-
mance we are raging bulls on the brink of anarchy. So, thank God for Sir Tim Berners Lee,
for Bill gates, for Steve Jobs for Larry Ellison and all the eccentric nerds at Silicon valley
and Bangalore who make the internet possible because at exactly five minutes to midday
Head Quarters momentarily stopped as the fundamental anomaly paralyzed the male
brain wave and every man thought of more and the contingency was overridden because
the women were congregating in bathrooms too far away to mitigate the malfunction.
However, thanks to internet streaming when we thought of more we thought of a bikini
clad Beyonce Knowles and not revolution, we thought of Halle Berry in monster’s ball and
not a hydrogen bomb, we thought of semi nude pics of Megan Fox and not a Biological
weapon. Because of the incredible invention of the computer network we no longer need
women in the flesh because they inhabit our minds in glorious continuum of Gucci bath-
ing suits. Therefore no war was begun, no revolution ensued and no bomb was detonated
but rather a breathless turmoil of mpeg downloads and flash video clips.
Mark Abraham <the writer is an IT download manager of specific items. Do you want his
number?>
Blogs
You would think that most guys know these things but apparently I am wrong. And so,
in an effort to save you and your victims I present a few tips.
If you are a guy, you like this girl and you’re in a bar cradling a beer when said girl walks
in,
1. Don’t steal a kiss when she offers a hug. Even if it’s from her cheeks. It is just
weird.
If 3 hours later, she walks into the same bar where you happen to be, again, and your
blood alcohol level has increased in direct proportion to the amount of time passed,
2. Do not run and hug her. You smell bad, ok? The cologne is finished. OVER. Now it
is just sweat and smoke from your cigarettes. Horses smell better.
3. If you ask her to dance and she says no, leave her alone. Do not, I repeat DO NOT,
grab her hand and begin pulling her or grab her shoulders and begin shaking her shoul-
ders in dancing movements. It is not funny. It is only annoying. You are pissing her off.
4. Do not declare your undying affection for her while squeezing her scalp in one
huge palm after you shoved her head into your armpit in misdirected move to
your mouth so she could hear you better when you are shouting.
5. Do not hit on her cousin.
6. Do not hit on her other cousin.
7. Do not follow her around the club.
8. Do not attempt deep conversation on why she does not like you back in the
club.
9. When you finally piss her off and she snaps at you, do not attempt to kiss her.
10. When she sees you and runs for the bathroom do not wait outside the bath
room door until she comes out.
11. Do not tell her what she thinks and then get pissed off when she disagrees
with you.
12. When you hug her and you catch her holding a make believe gun to her head
to her laughing friend behind you in the mirror on the wall, take a hint
13. If every time you want to have a conversation with her, she happens to be in
the middle of her beefiest male friends or crazy violent girl friends, take a hint
Basically if you like a girl and you are drunk, you’re ruining your chances by attempting
to talk to her so just stay away. Smile and retreat. Unless she likes you back, then obvi-
ously none of this applies.
Yvonne K. Zabu
The Idler’s Corner
Apparently I have a signature style!! if he wished.
Cool!! I always start with “I don’t know what to
write…” someone was complaining about that, mbu, By the way, if you are laughing for some reason
but seriously, have you actually read the hmm, er, right now, it is not because of this article, it’s be-
“articles” I think is the right word, barely. How many cause when you got here, you expected to laugh,
times have you actually managed to make some- and hey presto!!(jeers anyone?) Ah, the beauty of
thing out of them? the human brain, mind, whatever controls that,
Apparently every great writer has something to com- could be the adrenals for all I care, I mean, that
municate, wonder what my message would be… would certainly explain why some people’s mouths
are constantly running… unfortunately not away.
Ever thought of competing in one of these reality
show thingies where they judge you not according to Yikes, but six hundred is a tough limit, um, uh,
your skill but… nah, boring. aha!! He he, that made sense!! I did say I was just
typing, did I not? I’m not in the mood to complain
So here I am, just sitting at my pc and typing, and of today, that sucks, I mean, I want to complain,
course hoping fervently that what I do write actually but I can’t. (on a side note, well, not really a side
does make some sense, well, not really, but at least note, more of an aside, or whatever they call these
pretending to…. Otherwise I’d just be writing “ram- things…. (you know, the problem of writing like I
alama bang bang…” (good song by the way… I mean, do is that you’re constantly, well, I’m constantly
really, I have good taste, sue me), for some reason it losing track of what I want to say, memory of a
won’t leave my head especially that beat, you know, goldfish our dear Editor would call it, but then
the ding-ding ding-ding, ding-ding ding-ding… ok, again someone already made off with that yellow
clearly music was not meant to be communicated on (I mean yellow, not gold (yay, six nested brackets,
paper, I’ll think of something, use canvas instead, or way cool, this is starting to look like code, I only
parchment or even better, maybe get our dear editor need to add in parentheses and stuff like that
to attach the song to the WZ when he’s mailing it, (um, what exactly are parentheses?(oh, six now,
oh, wait, that would be piracy of some sort, huh? nested brackets I mean, and of course I’ve com-
pletely forgotten that point I was trying to avoid
How about, ok, yeah, I could just write out the lyr- making(JACKPOT ))))) cup, yellow cup, that’s what I
ics, not that that would make much sense without was talking about, not a trophy, a yellow cup) I re-
the beat… anyone out there know sheet music? You ally don’t remember the point I was trying to make
could show me how to write it… and then of course here, but seven nested brackets, again, yay!! So
teach all the worthy readers how to read it, come to what if I don’t remember what each bracket is for?
think of it, might just be easier to deal with the law- I have made six hundred after all)
suit that comes with the piracy… If you really are asking “six hundred what?” by the
way, you really need to read a bit more, my stuff
Mish mash, you know some people who won’t take especially, the bad part is, it almost never makes
no for an answer? Ok, this is where I would usu- sense, the good part is, it never makes sense, yep
ally tell some kind of funny or sad story about some that was me advertising myself, wonder why I’m
poor sop that would make you giggle or jeer, but, eh, doing that… hmmm
Nothing comes to mind, seriously, nothing, nothing And for my one, my only, my beautiful proud hunt-
nothing. ress, come closer, let me whisper it…
You know that everytime I’m writing a flash of the Brian B Coutinho
last thingy thing I wrote comes to mind? I mean,
right now it was with the nothing, nothing nothing…
Abid would probably tell you where that came from,
A’LEVEL RESULTS family will at least have two ‘people persons’. So
when I am woken up with a phone call that the last
Even after four years, I’m still affected.
born has excelled and even made it into the news-
In my family, we are all assumed to be bright.
papers, you cannot begin to imagine the trauma. The
But we know better. Some of us are the ‘bright’
loss of hope, the re-beginning of self pity, the..the..
of having the potential to open up your own
the.. please allow me go dry my eyes while I try to
company in your field of study, and the rest, it’s
digest the issue at hand!
for doing what you love and what you consider
to be your calling, being a people person, and
Sara AKelly <the writer is still suffering from night-
hoping that gets you to the top.
mares of her A’Level results>
The Cuddlers
You’re standing there; that song comes on, the beat slowly takes you over, you start tapping your
feet. You tap your feet some more; then you hear your favourite part, your body moves to the rhythm,
your hands form a guitar and start strumming it. Your hands form drumsticks and start hitting;
your hands form the saxophone and start gearing it, your hand forms a microphone and you mime
all the high notes and incredulous growls.
Slowly you build up to the all conquering
song finale, the crowd goes wild, you take
a bow and the crowd shouts even more.
You are the star. You are THE CUDDLERS,
air banders!!!.
The Cuddlers prefer to look at this as a hobby rather than a career and even though they meet regu-
larly to play some songs, they have actually never played any venue…not that it bothers them. They
believe with time the air banding theme that they have pioneered will catch up in Kampala.
Their name is in tribute to every ones instinct to embrace something true in this case, music that
moves the soul. the band includes members who play different instruments like drums, guitars,
piano, trumpet as well as lead and back up vocals.
Playlist
law school due to plagiarism. It was also shown that
he had copied several campaign speeches, notably
those of British Labour leader Neil Kinnock and Sen-
ator Robert F. Kennedy.
7. Micheal Bolton was accused by the Isley 9.Dead Prez feat. Common & Last Poets - Panthers
Brothers of plagiarizing their song “Love is won- (Dub Floyd Screamixx Produced by J. Dilla R.I.P.)
derful thing” Isley brothers won and were awarded
$5.4M 10.Akir - Politricks
11.Asheru - Revolution
8. William Shakespeare is thought to have lib- 12.Common - Nag Champa (Produced by J. Dilla
erally sprinkled his work with ideas snagged from R.I.P.) (Flashback)
fellow playwrights. As one critic put it, however, “If 13.Method Man feat. Lauren Hill & CL Smooth -
this is plagiarism, perhaps we need more of it.” They Say (Dub Floyd Screamixx 14.The Roots feat.
Maimouna Yousef - It Don’t Feel Right
9. Cold Play : The British band Coldplay whose 15.Doujah Raze feat. AG & Sean Price – Fahrenheit
songs topped the UK charts in 2000 has admitted
to charges of plagiarism in their “X & Y” album. It Daniel Sozi
seems that there have been no repercussions other
Poetry
Dreams Within
I go to bed thinking about Him,
Spend the whole night with Him, A family Portrait
Always wake up in his world
But he is not here with me I heard the boy playing daddy say
All this pain I feel I’ll beat you,
Why is it so real Because am daddy.’
Why can he not be in my arms? The girl playing mummy was kneeling before
They say dreams come true the boy,
This one might never be Her head slightly bowed as though coy
For lately it’s not a dream To subdue.
It’s a Nightmare! I heard the boy playing daddy say,
Also like my daddy,
I’ll divorce you.’
Priscilla Mbabazi
Kagayi Peter
TEENZ INVOLVED
FUNsBEE Charity Drive
Saturday 13th March,
2010 saw weeks of prepara-
tion finally pay off. The Grande
finale of the ‘Teenz Involved’
campaign, a drive that saw
teenagers in different sec-
ondary schools in and around
Kampala contribute items to-
wards the landslide victims of
Bududa, came to pass. The First
Uganda National Spelling Bee
(FUNsBEE) Company, the Pay It
Forward Foundation (PIFF) and The WorkZine together collected different
materials and these were handed over to the Uganda Red Cross Society.
The colorful handover ceremony was followed by a charity walk from KCC
grounds to Garden city where a mini-spelling bee competition and lots of
thrilling entertainment from Bonfire crew took place. During all the spills,
and thrills, blood donation went on at Nakumatt. The camera captured the
rest.
Birthdays
Anita Asiimwe, Biribwa D Arinaitwe, Paul Ninsiima, Irene Josephine, Mark
Mayanja ,Agaba Francis, Gideon Kyabakama, Mark P. Lewis, Stuart Gordon
Katungi, Batemyetto Evelyn, Habil Musa Ajobe, Kansiime Caroline, Natasha
Karugaba, Kusemererwa Peter, Muheki Onesmus, Norman Anguzu, Nsubu-
ga Mark, Martin Oluka, Singirankabo Nduwayo Claude, Suze Peru, Dianah-
Rose Nassozi, Edwin Olowo Essy Annony, John Baptist, Dogo Singh, Lydia
Nasira, Allan Atukunda, Alfred Cole McChora, Godfrey Ssajja Ssali, Murun-
gi N Ronald, Mabonga Herbert, Belinda Roanah K, Esta Wannyana, Nancy
Amito, Bob Reyman Kabango, Darlyne Komukama, John Mutama, Charity
Kamusiime, Kayondo Francis, Ivan Mugisha R, Erasmus Ellis Katwebaze,
Daisy Marione, Morris Abajai, Douglas Pascal S, Ssesanga Allan Simon, Edd
Whewell, Joseph Kazibwe, Herbert Byamukama, Katusiime Annet
SuperPower
Nation
So, the BBC is carrying out an experiment as part of their special season of programmes
on how the internet is changing the world.
The internet brings millions of people together digitally every day, but one thing it
cannot do well - at least, not yet - is allow people who speak different languages to
understand each other easily.
BBC World Service wants to explore whether technology will be able to change this -
in a unique experiment using our language services and translation software - broad-
cast live online from 1300GMT on 18 March 2010.
It’s your turn to talk. And we have no agenda - any topics or issues will be debated
and discussed.
What is unique about this is that you can talk to speakers of completely different
languages in your own voice. Speakers of click Arabic, click Chinese, click English,
click Persian, click Indonesian, click Portuguese and click Spanish will be able to talk
to each other using Google’s machine translation.
Your call
SuperPower Nation will be broadcast from 1300GMT on the click live event page and
BBC World television. *