semakula godfrey

Loves business,living large

[Andy Kristian Agaba @andykristian]

Kyanja is growing.

[Amos Wekesa @wekesa_amos]

Realities of a businessman

There are some good times for a businessman but it’s not a walk in the park.

-There are days I have to leave my bed at 3am, completely against of my will but work must be done.

You try to catch up with sleep in the car and while on the road, I have seen so many near misses, I thank God for those days.

-In tourism, there are many times you have invested the best of your energies because you have to, you are happy you will make money pay salaries, suppliers, a loan, probably make some profits, boom Ebola or insecurity, back to zero.

The world has over 197 countries and convincing someone who has saved up his money and has over 197 choices to come to Uganda is close to an extreme sport.

Such times you spends nights wondering whether you will pay salaries, utilities, suppliers, such days you ask yourself, why did I even start this.

- There are very many lonely days in trains, in hotel rooms, boring foods, just like you encounter hate here from some people, you encounter hate some times out there.

- There have been days on the planes where I only remember taking my seat and nothing else because I was lost in thought throughout the flight.

There have been days on flights where turbulences have been so bad and thoughts rushed to your family. Such times, thoughts go to family first, even business doesn’t matter at that moment.

- There are sometimes you see some of the beneficiaries of your efforts completely taking you for granted, you have to swallow that and move forward but tests you as a human being.

Quite a number of people out there will assume you have so much idle cash and when they ask, they think they are the only ones asking not knowing 100 others have ask same day.

Some even after giving something will be angry with you that you gave less, they say all sorts of things but you have to pick Courage and move forward.

But there are days like yesterday, you arrive at airport Kilimanjaro and everyone is so good to you, guys want to choose the best sit for you, you enter plane, you find great crew etc.

A few ways I have dealt with above of the above challenges:

1- I try to pray as much I can, I pray for Gods protection, I pray for wisdom, I pray for favor too.

2- I find time to run, very good for the mind, for the body too!

3- network as much as possible around the world, I pretty much have connections in most countries around the world.

4- I also believe I have many people that pray for me all the time out there and I have felt it. I have seen Gods grace all the time.

5- I have friends who have similar kind of challenges and some are on this forum, they call or I will call and encourage each other.

Anyways, have a great Thursday

[Amos Wekesa @wekesa_amos]

Mwamba Lodge Tarangire, Tanzania.

Tarangire national park

[Nature is Amazing ☘️ @AMAZlNGNATURE]

Elephant gives birth in the Masai Mara reserve in Kenya

[Anthony Natif @TonyNatif]

The North Side of Kampala (Ntinda and surrounding areas) has an education juggernaut gathering steam; quietly, purposefully, professionally and without much farce. I mean, they have a student beating the whole of East Africa in some subjects and they don’t talk about it!

For them, it’s about the work, not the glory.

Two weeks ago, through @pbusharizi, I was invited to give a speech at a graduation event at The North Green School. If you haven’t heard about them, it’s because they refuse to overtly advertise. They believe great education, just like healthcare shouldn’t be burdened by the extra need to engage in popularity concept. You’ll know when you find it and you’ll want other people to find it too. That’s their model. And it’s working.

But I digress.

I got to the school, was warmly greeted by Paul and Mrs Elaine A. Matovu, the lady who runs the school. I couldn’t tell at first that she was the boss coz she was busy tying the shoe laces of her students.

Modesty must be her thing but boy, is she a powerhouse and boy is she and her team building something special!

Anyways, to the speech.

I’d never really spoken to a graduating class so I didn’t know what to tell these young people but on my drive there, I played with a few potential themes in my head and finally settled on four that have always spoken to me:

Kindness, Mentorship, Gratitude and Trust the process.

I scribbled some words in my phone notepad, threw in a few references to Martin Luther King Jr, coz he’s MLK and draped allover the school walls. He was never short of inspiration.

The speech was well received.

Word space permitting, I’ll reproduce it here.

Let’s do it in 2 parts👇🏾

Good evening and congratulations to the graduating class of North Green School. Thank you to the Directors of this invitation to address your students. It’s a huge honor.

I’ve been thinking about what to tell a high school graduating class for a bit. You see, my daughter, Ruby, is in high school and I keep wondering whether I’m giving her decent lessons to equip her for a vastly changing, competitive world. This question occupies my mind a lot.

From the time I was asked to share some thoughts with you, it was a bit like tapping into a live wire that’s been flushing for decades. See, I went to one of the best high schools in EA, the oldest in the country, Namilyango College. I look back fondly to my time there, to the lifelong friendships I formed, the lessons I learned and the pain I took. They all have served me well to this day as I march into my 40s. Obviously I know a lot more now than I did then and I always find myself wondering what I wish I’d known more than 20 years ago when I was leaving that great college. A friend of mine, Benjamin Rukwengye has a book where people look back in time and think if they had to write their future selves letters, what would those look like?
That if I’d been 20 now, this is the advice I would have loved to get about a subject. It’s a fascinating way to think about life as we live it. How can I be a better version of myself daily. How can I have more impact not just for myself but for the society I live in. For the tea person in the office, for my family, the janitors, everyone in my community. How? That question should preoccupy your mind and I’m hopeful that by the time I’m done speaking, I would have planted more questions in your mind to try and get you restless enough to wanna impact society in a positive way.

Some of my friends say I have the gift of the gab, when I get into my element. I can speak for a day. But today, in order not to take the much needed time you’d rather spend celebrating with your family and loved ones, I’ll limit myself to 4 themes: Kindness, Mentorship, Gratitude and Trusting the process.

Continued…

[Anthony Natif @TonyNatif]

Part 3

Gratitude

Let me give you a grim statistic; around 40% of Ugandans live in abject poverty. That’s nearly one in every 2 Ugandans you meet. No, I’m not talking about the friends you have here or people in your social circles. By just being able to afford to attend such a school, you’re in the class of Ugandans that have live a life that the rest of the folks out there can only dream about. Oftentimes, the difference between you and that street kid hanging outside your parent’s SUV’s car window, trying to sell you bananas or get a 1,000 shilling donation is simply an accident of birth. Your parents have made sacrifices that they don’t tell you about in order to ensure you live a largely cushioned life. Be grateful. Be grateful for provision. Be grateful that you aren’t on the other side of deprivation. You aren’t any more special than those kids. You were just born under different circumstances, non of which you had anything to do with. So, as you get out to face the world, to compete for opportunities that those other kids can hardly have a chance at, be grateful. Get out of this privileged bubble and extend a hand to them. You don’t wanna be the richest fool in the slum. Ultimately, the people you despise will come for you. No amount of high walls will ever protect you from the injustices of life. If we don’t try and address this inequality, we won’t build walls high enough to keep us safe. So let’s first and foremost be grateful for our circumstances but most importantly, let’s extend a hand and try and pull other Ugandans out of abject poverty. Make it your life’s work to try and improve the fortunes of others.

Trust the process:
Don’t be afraid to try out things. To embrace opportunities as they come. If they change you, let them! Non of you knows what they’re gonna be in life. You might have an idea but life has a cruel way of reminding us we aren’t fully in charge. Some of you won’t get to your dream schools or dream courses. It will hit so hard and feel like the greatest loss in your life. But don’t be the first to accept the premature announcement of the death of your dreams. Keep moving. Keep grinding. Keep the faith! Do your time and Trust the Process!

I’ll close with a quote from a man whose face is plastered on your wall as you enter this school; Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. I immediately recognized that speech coz I think I can recite it off head. I’ve run to it several times.

Six months before he was assassinated, King spoke to a group of students at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia on October 26, 1967.

In that speech, he simply asked this question: what is your life’s blueprint?

I’ll quote some parts of the speech: “when you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it. don’t just set out to do a good job. Set out to do such a good job that the living, the dead or the unborn couldn’t do it any better.

If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera.

Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well. If you can’t be a pine at the top of the hill, be a shrub in the valley. Be be the best little shrub on the side of the hill.
Be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail. If you can’t be a sun, be a star. For it isn’t by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.”

Godspeed!

[Red Pepper Uganda @RedPepperUG]

https://t.co/Jn07RT93Mt

[Mujuni Raymond @qataharraymond]

The beauty with this place is you show up at midnight to burn your candle in the library and find the Vice Chancellor burning her own for a lecture tomorrow 😂😂😂

No self-importance of assistants, lead cars, pronouncements et al!

[Red Pepper Uganda @RedPepperUG]

RIP Maama @dfkm1970

[Red Pepper Uganda @RedPepperUG]

https://t.co/jh3oWLpxBR @URAuganda

[Red Pepper Uganda @RedPepperUG]

#EPL HT

[Red Pepper Uganda @RedPepperUG]

Tycoon Kirumira on things

[Red Pepper Uganda @RedPepperUG]

NRM boss remanded!https://t.co/1Tn9wxprgB

[semakula godfrey @23_sunshine]

@carolbarebo Oh no so sorry for your loss Carol, may the Almighty comfort you and your family during this trying time. May Mzee's soul rest in eternal peace.

[Guinness World Records @GWR]

New record: Largest Ugandan Rolex - 204.6 kg (451 lb)

A popular street food in Uganda, this giant Rolex contains fried egg and veggies inside a chapati 😋

[Bernard Mukasa @mkbernz]

Here they are shouting at many people 🌚🌚🌚🌚

[Hima Cement @HimaCement]

It’s allowed not to think about cement on Christmas 😂

Eat that money!!!!!

[Red Pepper Uganda @RedPepperUG]

INCOMMUNICADO?! MPs Ssegirinya, Ssewanyana Appear in Masaka Court.

Details to follow

#PepperUpdates

[Mike Davis @MichaelDDavisJr]

I encounter a lot of people who want to "move to America" to be a citizen. I don't believe people are fully informed about this - it might be good to understand in a bit more detail.

thread below

[Don Wanyama @nyamadon]

Gen. David Muhoozi is the new State Minister for Internal Affairs. @RebeccaKadagaUG is 1st Deputy Prime Minister & East African Affairs Minister. Rest of details catch them in @newvisionwire
#VisionUpdates @newvisionwire