Making Cooperatives Work: O pt  imizing Development through Social Capital.

Nomad Ghana Wins 2023 MUSE Creative Award . Under the leadership of Annika Hernroth- Rothstein, the newest member of the continental creative agency has emerged in Ghana as a force to be reckoned with.

Thank you John & Gladys Katto. Words cannot express how grateful I am to you both for altering the course of my professional life. All I can say is THANK YOU!

Thank you Adris Kamuli. You are is like a "father" to me when it comes to Advertising and Design. You hand-held me and for this I will eternally be grateful.

Freedom has come to West Africa. East Africa is regarded as the birthplace of ground-breaking mobile money technology. Mobile money has been the most powerful accelerator for financial inclusion since the introduction of M-Pesa in the mid-2000s, and it may be the only route for Africa to achieve cashless economic status.

One of the best ways to beat the stigma surrounding mental health challenges is to keep the topic in the conversation.

The things that happen in Uganda often get me wondering. Then I wonder why I am wondering…. So Many Ugandans took to social media to try and shoot down Donald Trump’s statement about countries on the beautiful continent we call home. He called us “SHIT HOLES” without paraphrasing. I think some of the goings on The things that happen in Uganda often get me wondering. Then I wonder why I am wondering…. So Many Ugandans took to social media to try and shoot down Donald Trump’s statement about countries on the beautiful continent we call home. He called us “SHIT HOLES” without paraphrasing. I think some of the goings on in Uganda really point to something similar. I am not entirely mad at his remarks. We can blame the leadership all we want but as a citizenry we need to get our act together. President Museveni is not going to stop us from littering our streets or get us to wash our hands before we eat to decongest the already struggling health centres seeking treatment for diseases we can prevent. Today, I particularly want to address the so called Ugandan “Elite” that make great arguments for regime change. The change we need needs to first happen in in our own back yards before it happens to our nation! This statement by the Fela Durotoye should trigger something in all of us: “Ordinary citizens of great nations will always be treated better than Extraordinary citizens of a failed nations.” Great nations are not made by great presidents only, they are a collective effort of an emancipated citizenry. In this era of information we cannot wait for the leader to tell us the obvious! Here is why I am ranting: About 6 years ago I received a call from my then work colleague telling me that my friend Esther (RIP) had been killed in a train accident. You will agree with me that if there’s any thing that shouldn’t claim lives in Ugandan it should be train accidents. The people who die as a result of drowning in the Sahara should be more than train deaths in Uganda. This morning, I woke up to a heart wrenching message from my sister who was thanking GOD for His protection because she almost got hit by a train on Station Road -in Kampala. I could tell she was shaken, but who wouldn’t be? I have played the scenarios that could have happened in my head and boy , my imagination is rather fertile. Questions we need to answer: Will there have to be death by train-accident among the top brass at RVR so that they begin to think of the safety of others more seriously? Is UNRA merely building roads and not bothered about the safety of the road users especially at the rail-crossing levels? Why don’t they budget for barriers at the crossing points? Who is managing UGANDA’s RUNAWAY TRAIN SERVICE – We need to talk – Today! I took it upon myself to try and get to the bottom of the matter and made a few calls. The People at URC are busy and no one is answering or returning my calls. “They are busy” – Possibly waiting for a crisis to happen then get “busy” managing the PR fall-out. They’ll gladly add to their CV as an achievement but in the sad case that a life is lost- that will be irreversible. I could not help but recall these words: ” Individual Success in the midst of failure will always be despised.” I am calling upon all Ugandans to refuse to first become a statistic before they take action. Today my sister survived death by a runaway train that was from the information I have gathered isn’t supposed to be on the tracks crossing our roads without the necessary precautions. Tomorrow it could be your loved ones that are in the line of danger. I am calling on all Ugandans to be the change they desire to see. Let’d do 2 things: 1. Please demand an explanation from URC /RVR/UNRA 2. Help me get this message to the relevant authorities. My traumatized sister who is a single mother of three could only say one thing – “ Abaana bangye!” (My Children!) The goings on in our country sometimes make me feel like we’ve been orphaned! – So Who will love YOUR CHILDREN? WE DON’T NEED CHANGE. WE NEED TO BE THE CHANGE! #TWEDDEKO!

Frank Muthusi the Chair Person of the Uganda Advertising Association and General Manager of FireWorks Advertising asked a great question, one that is worth pondering especially if you’ve been in any sector for 10 years and over. The question is this and I paraphrase, is the golden age of advertising in Uganda behind us, with us or yet to come? For my friends who have been around, the late 1990s have something in them and can easily be characterised as the “Golden Age of Advertising” in Uganda. O  ne can argue that these were the days of big ideas and larger-than-life personalities who graced both the society pages and the business columns. The days when the consumer was not a “millennial” easily distracted, won’t settle for the familiar and is not afraid to asks questions. The past often looks rosier than the future. I was privileged to get a gig at MTN in its “hey-day” and I even sat a few feet from the revered Eric Van-Veen. I believe that Eric and his Advertising agency are responsible for the death of CelTel Uganda. They crafted a lethal advert which featured Patriko Mujuuka as “kaziro” the shoe shiner with a mobile phone. I wasn’t deeply into advertising at the time, but I still remember the Advert and most importantly what it communicated. Are the great AD-times behind us or ahead of us?

The 2016 United States of America Presidential election, will go down in history as one which defied many of the fundamentals of election predictability. Most of the poll-stars got it wrong in scoring the election for Hillary Clinton; with some, not only just placing her in a firm lead but also presumptuously scoring a double digits lead margin! This is how the Hillary Clinton campaign was failed by design. My friend Moses Mukisa looked at the American election through the lens of the power of Articulated Vision. In a Facebook post: He underscored the fact that in his campaign, President Elect Trump had articulated his would be vision for America in simple words: MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. On the other hand, however, Clinton’s vision was vague, with many people not sure what she stood for, her slogan wasn’t inspiring. STRONGER TOGETHER was bland and so was I AM WITH HER. To a man with a hammer, all problems look like nails and for someone that has been doing branding for almost 2 decades, I would like to submit my analysis on how Clinton lost the election because of a weak brand position and ultimately Design. The Obama Hangover. The 2008 Presidential campaign was one of many firsts: it was the campaign that brought America’s first African American president. Not many people will forget the “O” in Obama. The American flag designs were embellished with rays of hope beaming over the horizon; a universal symbol for a brighter future. The unique O in his message was that of HOPE; one he had even written a book about. Hope is so powerful, it ranks so high among the reasons that have helped mankind to make the advances it has. Barack was not the son of the ‘bond woman’, but the son of a FREE MAN: A Kenyan whose roots were firm in the Kenya village of Kogelo. He was free spirited and the word “negro” did not arouse flames of anger and offense as would have been to another African American with roots obscured by slavery. This was the fault of Jesse Jackson’s presidential bid, he often came off as a vindictive angry black man. Basically, the message of HOPE, CHANGE and OPTIMISM became synonymous with OBAMA and the power of this brand was the “O”. His message was encapsulated by a slogan-YES WE CAN! An affirmative mantra that appealed to the people and transcended the boundaries of politics. YES, WE CAN! The 8 years of the Obama Presidency have been relatively clean. Obama didn’t have any personal scandals and his oratory skills, cool and sporty demeanor vindicated him in many ways. “The Trump Card” Trump is a man who needed no introduction. He was not a new comer on the American Scene. Many people will argue that his was a protest vote by the American people against politicians but the simplicity and incisiveness of his message was remarkable. The Phrase MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN appealed to the human spirit: we are all called to greatness. Even when many Americans could not say when they thought America was greatest, they felt a sense of personal responsibility to indeed make America great again. The slogan drew so many similarities with, YES WE CAN. “Hillary & History” Hillary, like Trump needed no introduction. She was part of America’s power brokers and the first lady of the administration that is credited with Americas most “prosperous –era.” The colossal error that failed Hillary was trying to lead using the past. A past that she was also not comfortable with given the scandals it came along with., Bill’s women problem, some half truths she told in the past and the e-mail scandal many will never understand. The desire to look back when it benefited her, brought with it a load that was weightier than her “future” gear. Most of her gains were erased by the steps she took back to score points from her achievements. In short Hillary was stuck in Neutral. “Designers Bland Brand Blander” I recall a time when Photoshop 5.0 had just been launched and working in layers was now possible. The layer effects bevel and emboss and drop-shadow were so loved by designers and clients alike that if a concept was weak, all you did to strengthen it in order to get client approval was to apply a bevel and emboss effect to the headline or at worst drop a shadow –and Voila! You had it! The ‘O’ in Obama having delivered a double victory seemed to bias the Branding team on the Hillary campaign. They simply could not think beyond ‘H’. This is the typical designers’ block! The campaign strategists of the Hillary campaign were hell bent on fitting the design into the strategy as opposed to letting the strategy inform the design. 2016 and 2008 have this in common too, Trump seemed to have leant from Obama and Hillary repeated John McCain’s mistakes both in strategy and tactics. Sun Tsu the great Chinese general summarized it this way. “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory and tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” It is clear that the Trump campaign was heavy on strategy but weak on tactics and while the Clinton team was excellent with tactical implementation, their strategy was flawed. True to Sun’s words: Trumps victory was slow but we still hear the noise of Clinton’s defeat on some American streets. How Good is your Brand?