"I don't have a university degree and I don't intend to have one." These words were said by AMOS WEKESA, the lead panelist, the Great Lakes Safaris millionaire, a man who came to Kampala with nothing, started as an office cleaner, then an office messenger, and later started a tourism business with $200 but now employs close to 200 people, paying some individual staff up to 15m/month and sleeps in a house worth UGX 700m!
“I can give you like 40 ways to market yourself. But let me begin with these 3 keys: 1. Standout. Don't get lost in the crowd. Don’t fear to talk about yourself. Some people are shy to market themselves and they think they are being humble. Don’t confuse poor visibility with humility…” (SAMUEL BAKUTANA). Bakutana, a leading leadership expert, organizational trainer, motivational speaker, WI-Magazine columnist and a published inspirational author was the second panelist at this great Authors’ Forum themed ‘HOW TO MARKET YOURSELF’.
“You are still young and you came from a tough background, how did you market your talent to Longman, an internationally renowned publisher?” Bake Robert the moderator asked the 3rd panelist JERRY SESANGA who had just treated us to his tantalizing poem ‘Gavument Etuyambe’. This was his response: “The journey to what you are today started when you were a child. For me it started with my mother, deep in the village, encouraging me to read. My place at school was in the library. That’s how I discovered my passion for writing and I realized I can do anything for that passion. While in senior 2 I started walking to the office of the East African newspaper regularly to showcase my passion until I was given space to write. Later I got space in the New Vision. When I wrote my novel, the African Girl, I wrote to many publishers. I wrote to publishers in South Africa, in America, in Europe and many other parts of the world until I was accepted.”
Sesanga’s fight for his dream teaches us that we must market ourselves until we are accepted (and being accepted sometimes comes after many times of being rejected). But when you are following your passion, you don’t care whether you meet roadblocks or not – the power of passion is stronger than rejection. AMOS WEKESA agreed with this notion and added: “If your passion doesn’t make you earn, then that’s not a passion!” That statement jolted Authors’ Forum members, who thought they were passionate about certain things but were not earning from their passion, out of their comfort.
“Personal branding is so important in marketing yourself. You may think I earn most from tourism, yet I earn mostly in properties, but tourism is my brand. Everyone knows me for tourism. Be known for something. Don’t get scattered in everything. I have mastered my game in tourism and that’s why I am so knowledgeable in that area. I read a lot about it, everyday,” said Wekesa. And Bake agreed: “Some people get qualifications in unrelated fields, making them known for nothing. Someone gets a degree education and because he doesn’t want to teach he gets a certificate in Human Resource and another in ICT and another in Project Planning, and when he fails to get a job, he starts learning mushroom farming while at the same time borrows to invest in Mobile money… At the end of the day the person does not even know how to describe himself. You want to market yourself, you must create a personal brand.”
Bakutana raised an important point about networking as a way of marketing ourselves. “When you meet the right people, communicate to them effectively. Enthusiasm in communication sells…,” he emphasized. To drive the point home, Wekesa added, “If I have never seen you, if I have never heard about you, then you don't exist.” Such radical statements shocked many attendees and shook them out of their comfort zones to begin seriously thinking of how to turn their dreams into reality, as the feedback we received later revealed. This episode of the Authors’ Forum was heavily attended, with a vast audience including a team from Parliament of Uganda led by RUTH BYOONA, Makerere University dons and lawyers from Newmark Advocates led by HARIMWOMUGASHO FRANCIS, to mention but a few. Next time, you reading this can be part of the audience.
Being a live debate, there was a time for questions and comments from the audience. MARIA NATUKUNDA from NTV-Uganda asked: “At the workplace, how does one market themselves so that they climb the corporate ladder?” Bakutana gave a number of tips which you will watch for yourself on the DVD but one of them was “You market yourself not only by what you say but also by your character, attitude and commitment. Some people are appointed into big offices because of their skills but then they are disappointed by their character and attitude.” ANTHONY KAGIMU from Standard Chartered Bank asked: “What is the most marketing mistake you made so that we can learn from it? Wekesa’s answer was: “Taking business I cannot handle. Today I take on business that I can handle so that I have so many satisfied customers.” AGNESS NAMAGANDA asked: “"How does an ordinary Uganda benefit from tourism?” That was after Wekesa said that if Ugandans knew the potential of tourism everyone would get out of poverty. As you watch the DVD, you will listen to Wekesa’s answer to this question and know how to tap into the tourism potential.
LYDIA KATUURA, had this to comment as members shared on our facebook page, what they learnt from this particular Authors’ Forum: “What a great show! From Wekesa I learnt that the more knowledge we share, the more we learn.” INNOCENT MASENGO, a lecturer at Makerere University and also a Director at Bodaman Uganda, a new revolutionary motorcycle business, said: “WORLD OF INSPIRATION, thank you for organizing such a life-changing forum where we pay one hundredth of what it is worth and we get a good measure, pressed down, shaken vigorously and running over.”
MARY NALUWEMBE had this to say: “OMG! This Authors’ Forum was a mind-blower! All the panelists were really great. The comparison between the property owner and the mango seller in terms of cashflow kept me awake that night.” For those who were not there, Wekesa advised everyone who wants to be successful to pursue cashflow before pursuing assets. He explained how the guy who sells mangoes to him earns more than his former landlady who owns a house worth 400m. If you want to know how, contact WORLD OF INSPIRATION and get yourself a copy of the DVD at only 15k and watch for yourself (the contacts will be given below). Due to space limitation we couldn’t give you everything that transpired; only the DVD will.
Ladies and gentlemen, remember this Authors’ Forum happens every first Wednesday of the month. So if you missed the last one, don’t make the mistake of missing the next one – which is on 5th August, 6-9pm, at The Hub (Oasis Mall). When you repeat a mistake it ceases to be a mistake; it becomes a choice. So book your seat. This specific episode will be focusing on NEGOTIATION SKILLS. The lead panelist is DR EMMA NALUYIMA the revolutionary farmer who is inspiring the entire world (as I type this she’s in Rome empowering farmers and other business people). Dr Naluyima started with borrowed UGX 2m and a borrowed piece of land, but today, one decade later, she has turned her farming into a fortune. People come from far and wide and pay money just to see what she’s doing. She’s also building a school worth billions where she wants to teach primary children farming and business. Her full story is in WI-Magazine for which you will get free copies if you buy your Authors’ Forum ticket this week.
Stay tuned for the next updates where I will reveal the other panelists. For now, call/Whatsap Bake (0704666851) or Winnie (0774107287) and get your ticket to this unmissable event at UGX 40,000. THIS WEEK THE OFFER IS: Buy 1 ticket and get a bonus copy of WI-Magazine (any issue of your choice); buy 2 tickets and get 3 tickets plus 2 copies of WI-Magazine; or buy 5 tickets and get 10 tickets plus 5 copies of WI-Magazine.
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Stay inspired and blessed!
