Asiimwe Edgar

Product Management and Software Engineering.

[Asiimwe Edgar @madeby_edgar]

Let me just leave this here.

Maybe next year, or soon, I'll find a collaborator to help me accomplish my dream of chronicling Ugandan and African tech and innovation through storytelling.

Something like @WIRED @freethinkmedia

[Mwami lu @lulanzeashirafu]

If you think Uganda’s cost of living is exaggerated, try being a man in Kampala trying to meet the aesthetic, cosmetic, and financial expectations of a modern woman.

The average Kampala man lives under siege. Whether he is a corporate executive in Kololo or a hustler in Kasokoso, whether the woman is a long-term partner or a three-month girlfriend from Industrial Area, the story is the same. Sit in a pork joint on a Tuesday, in a rooftop lounge, or in a taxi to Mukono and you will hear it: men are tired. In this city, satisfaction feels mythical.

A Kampala woman’s financial appetite grows faster than any budget. A man who rents a decent two-bedroom in Kisaasi will watch his girlfriend spend the weekend on TikTok, sighing over bungalows in Kira like he has committed a crime. Buy her a Toyota Wish and she will not see love. She will see a lack of vision and ask why it is not a Subaru or a Mercedes.

The demands have moved beyond houses and cars to bodies. The modern Kampala woman treats herself like a canvas her man must pay to redesign. A man can leave home kissing a dark-skinned partner and return to someone who has lightened several shades with creams and drips bought while he was at work. If his wallet allows, the upgrade goes further: trips to Turkey or Egypt for a BBL. The tragedy is he is often paying for surgery with money he does not have, while defaulting on land in Sonde. And she expects him to fund the transformation that will eventually attract a richer man. He is financing an asset that will be marketed to his replacement.

In Kampala, being broke is treated as a moral failure. The moment money stops, the home freezes. Boneless chicken disappears and is replaced with cold nakati served with an attitude. Ask about beef and she will ask if your wallet looks like a butchery.

If hardship lasts, the exit plan begins. A girlfriend suddenly has fellowships and “sick aunts in Jinja” while scouting sponsors on Instagram. A live-in partner withdraws affection and treats touch like harassment. She starts packing in her mind. In Kampala, a broke man loses money, voice, authority, and often his woman.

Social media has made it worse. The “Comparison Queen” does not measure happiness by her life, but by influencers’ highlights. If someone posts a Lake Victoria resort weekend, the home turns into a battlefield until her man funds the same. Love is no longer proven by loyalty. It is proven by how much he spends on her looks and outings.

The Corporate Kampala woman adds another layer. She earns well but believes her money is hers, while his money must cover rent, bills, and groceries to prove he is a man. If he asks for help during a bad month, he is called weak and irresponsible. It is a 21st-century career with a 19th-century financial contract.

In poorer areas, the language changes but the pressure does not. Praise is seen as dangerous because it might make a man comfortable. Even if he brings daily upkeep, he returns to “emergencies”: no charcoal, landlord at the door, tokens finished. The goal is to keep him in panic mode.

Even the university girlfriend in Banda runs this system. A 2 p.m. call for “urgent transport” of 50,000 appears. Send it and she vanishes, reappearing with nails and a wig. Do not send it and you are blocked for wasting her time. To her, a boyfriend is an interest-free credit facility.

No wonder bars are full by 4 p.m. on weekdays. They are not dens of vice. They are refugee camps. Men sit with beer, finding solidarity in shared exhaustion, hiding from sighs, ultimatums, and unappreciated effort at home.

The question now is when did “good man” stop meaning responsible and present, and start meaning magician? Women say the economy demands ambition. Men say ambition dies where gratitude is illegal.

Until Kampala women balance aspiration with appreciation, bars will stay full, men will age fast, and homes will be beautiful and empty.

So Kampala men, what is your survival strategy?

✍🏼: Deox T

[Asiimwe Edgar @madeby_edgar]

@lovyPrimzy1 Now that you are done, we can finally add this in the book of “Things that never happened”

[Chaos Court 🥤 @unshuckled]

If you save just 500,000 Ugx at the beginning of every month for 5 years with NSSF voluntary savings at 13.5%, you will have 42,995,886 UGX by the end of the 5 years.

What will it be by the end of 10 years if you continue with the same monthly savings? It will be 127,123,579 UGX.

Instruct your banks to deduct 500,000 Ugx the moment salary hits your account and to send that money to your account with NSSF.

[Asiimwe Edgar @madeby_edgar]

@Charlotte158918 The safest redbull stunt so far

[Asiimwe Edgar @madeby_edgar]

@hamidu_ug @crazy_kennar You must have been a funny guy while at school

[Asiimwe Edgar @madeby_edgar]

@shalomndagire Sharp guy 😂😂

[Charz🍃 @charrz__]

A 30 minute nap during day = 3 hours up at night

[Call Me Kulubya @CallMeKulubya]

Currently watching this, it is a 10/10.
Anyone passionate about homes will find it worth to watch. https://t.co/1Q4BVHcyEs

[Asiimwe Edgar @madeby_edgar]

@CallMeKulubya Check out “The Local Project” on YouTube

[Asiimwe Edgar @madeby_edgar]

You and your landlord need to find new jobs.

[Shammie 🦋❤️ @Kankundashammie]

There's the way how this landlord of ours can stress us to pay rent😢imagine he even created a WhatsApp group for us😂🙌

[Indra @IndraVahan]

the reason nobody’s trying to automate a project manager is because there’s nothing to automate

[Asiimwe Edgar @madeby_edgar]

@pcshipp Passkeys

[Asiimwe Edgar @madeby_edgar]

@NambozoShan @SsemigoGeofrey Aren’t you a nurse 🙂‍↔️ madam Shan

[Asiimwe Edgar @madeby_edgar]

@pcshipp Ngrok

[Asiimwe Edgar @madeby_edgar]

@techgirl1908 Now we copy n paste, get more 19 bugs from the llm

[Asiimwe Edgar @madeby_edgar]

@kingwhsam @grok roast this and his attitude around offering jobs.

[Asiimwe Edgar @madeby_edgar]

@ProdScrumMaster @NotMyAgile What I did yesterday

What I will do today

Any blockers

[Asiimwe Edgar @madeby_edgar]

@Wisdom_HQ 0

[Asiimwe Edgar @madeby_edgar]

@ScholarshipfPhd Hi

[Leslie Chow Mein @LeslieChow_Mein]

@matwatsoncars @Waterstones Cracking read so far! Surely Mat and the Carwow team should be put in charge of a Top Trumps update! Just don’t play Mat as the man’s an encyclopaedia of cars! 🏎️ 🚙 🚘