Speech and Language Therapist | Traveler | Learner | Views are mine
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Uganda stock market gurus @KakandeAlex @realjohnivan @UgandanInves and others 📈 Which locally listed or East African stocks should a new investor be watching? Keen to learn from your experience and knowledge. Thank you in advance! 🙏
Well explained…
Rwanda is building an airport big enough for every person in the country to fly through it once a year.
About 14 million people live there. The new airport is designed for 14 million passengers a year. The one they have now handles around 2 million.
So how do you fill that thing? You go get Formula 1.
The track F1 just announced goes in Bugesera, about 40km south of Kigali, right next to that new $2 billion airport. It's a 10-year deal starting in the early 2030s, and it'll be the first Grand Prix in Africa since 1993.
Now look at who owns the airport. Qatar Airways has 60% of it. Qatar Airways is also F1's official airline.
This is where it gets really smart, because Qatar has done this exact thing before. Doha opened Hamad International in 2014 and spent the next decade giving the world reasons to land there, with a World Cup in 2022 and a Grand Prix locked in through 2032. Hamad now handles over 50 million passengers a year in a country of about 3 million people. Rwanda is basically running Qatar's playbook with Qatar as its business partner.
And Rwanda has been setting this up for years. Visit Rwanda, the country's tourism board, got its logo on Arsenal's sleeve back in 2018 for a reported £10 million a year, and later added PSG, Bayern and Atlético. Kigali hosted the FIA's big awards night in 2024, which is where President Kagame first said out loud he wanted a race. The next year it hosted cycling's world championships, the first time they'd ever been held in Africa. It hosted 165 international conferences last year alone.
Tourism brought in $685 million last year from 1.49 million visitors, and gorilla treks were $248 million of that by themselves. For Rwanda that's real money. But you can't fill a 14 million passenger airport with people coming to see gorillas, so the country keeps buying bigger pieces of the world's attention.
South Africa wanted this race too. It has the history, the old Kyalami circuit, and a sports minister who kept saying F1 was coming back. Talks there stalled over problems with the local promoter. Rwanda walked in with government money behind it and a former F1 driver, Alexander Wurz, already drawing the track.
People are going to have strong feelings about this one. Arsenal and Visit Rwanda wrapped up their sleeve deal after last season, following fan protests and a letter from DR Congo's foreign minister calling the club's sponsorship "blood-stained." Five months later, the same tourism board's name is on the title of a Formula 1 race. Critics have called the whole Visit Rwanda strategy sportswashing for years. Kagame's pitch today was about young Africans finally getting to watch the sport at home and picture themselves in it as engineers, and one day as drivers.
The airport is supposed to open in 2028, with the first race a few years after that. If the plan works, a country smaller than Maryland becomes one of the places people across Africa change planes, and the airline that already pulled that off in the Gulf will own most of the terminal.
Hi @NIRA_Ug, can I get a response please🙏🏽? It’s been a year since your team came to the UK to renew our IDs but I’ve never received an update about where my ID is. My application number is 39740263291601
Arthur Duncan Wekhoola retweeted
#LongPostAlert I #ExpertOpinion
Dear @UgandaMediaCent, here is some free (but expensive-sounding) advice on patching your brand before attempting to fix ‘brand Uganda’.
To be honest. Right now, the centre feels more like a notice board. In a world where governments are building media ecosystems, the centre still issues statements and communicates as if it’s 2003. Here are 10 expert suggestions for how you can fix it.
1⃣. The centre has no identity, or does it? If it does, it’s a borrowed identity. The national emblem is not your logo in its entirety. It’s everyone’s logo. If you want to be taken seriously as a modern communications institution, build a distinct visual identity, including colours, fonts, templates, and brand elements (that can easily be associated with Uganda). You need to start thinking less of the “coat of arms” and be cleaner, sharper, and more recognisable. Even the central banks and revenue authorities have distinctive identities.
2⃣. What exactly are you as a media centre? Are you an NRM government mouthpiece? A national information hub? A media liaison? President Museveni’s personal media dissemination centre? Right now, you’re trying to be everything and, honestly, landing nowhere. Clear positioning builds trust. Without it, you are just another voice in an already noisy government choir.
3⃣. The media centre needs to communicate like humans. Like Ugandans! Not like circulars. Ugandans don’t read statements. A majority of today’s news consumers scroll on their phones. If your communication sounds like it was drafted by three government committees and approved by ten people, it’s already lost. Simplify. Be direct. Be understood. Also, your press releases are a little too frequent. Your press conferences are too long. You might need to review that.
4⃣. Your digital presence needs an urgent revamp. Let’s not sugarcoat it. Your digital platforms feel scattered, inconsistent, and underwhelming. Your website is not befitting. It’s ugly. You have a paltry 7K followers on Instagram, and your Instagram page looks like a content-dumping ground. You have no strong LinkedIn presence (you’re missing out on engaging policymakers, professionals, and global stakeholders). There is an unbranded YouTube channel for a certain Uganda Media Centre with a paltry 700 subscribers (they should at least be double that). Visibly, there is no real YouTube content strategy beyond numerous clips of press briefings. No Flickr presence, your visual assets and depository. No Tik Tok. Visual identity? Inconsistent at best. Meanwhile, globally, over 60% of people now consume news via social media. That means your first impression is digital, and right now, it’s your weakest entry.
Here is what you (could) need:
▪️A cohesive visual system across platforms.
▪️A content strategy, not just uploads. Invest in a studio setup and podcast format (owned and managed by Uganda Media Centre).
▪️Create some engaging formats featuring Ugandan voices from business, tourism, sports, and culture. Uganda is not short of interesting personalities for this. You have @wekesa_amos for tourism, and Joshua Baraka (currently a major export of Ugandan music). You have @rkabushenga et al. You can also partner with leading clean podcasters in the diaspora. The idea is for you to create a community. Please note that news narratives are no longer sourced; they are now scripted and produced.
5⃣. Not everything warrants a press briefing. The weekly podium-style media engagement format (with shabby banners in the background) needs to evolve. It’s tired and boring. Shouldn’t the media centre be a centre of excellence? Shouldn’t it be a brand custodian for the whole country? To break away from, or at least mix in with, these many press briefings, start by turning lesser-known policies into short videos, infographics, and explainers. That recent AI-generated video from filmmaker Loukman Ali was a weak attempt at content creation. For example, the recent copyright law that provoked debate among different stakeholders could have been fodder for the kind of content the media centre can break down for the public. What can you tell a 22-year-old Ugandan about it? If a Gen-Z doesn’t find your press briefings impressive in 30 seconds, you’ve lost an entire generation.
6⃣. Once again, media relations are not necessarily about hosting press conferences. Journalists don’t need an open-tent gathering every now and then; they need a partner. Build relationships. Visit newsrooms. Engage and cultivate media influencers. Recognise them monthly. Rethink the idea of media awards. Blogger awards. The most influential TikToker or YouTuber. Work with credible digital voices. Better yet, train and empower emerging media creators. If you don’t shape the narrative ecosystem, the naysayers will, and they already are.
7⃣. How ready are you for crisis communication? Uganda’s PR challenge is not breaking news, and we all know what is missing. ‘Bad news from Uganda’ is beginning to seem normal. The centre needs structured responses, including up-to-date fact sheets, rapid-response messaging, and consistent alignment among spokespersons. Recently, we were in a crisis over news that Uganda would send troops to Iran to defend Israel. This was triggered by X tweets from top officials. A Ugandan UN ambassador responded differently. A foreign affairs official responded differently. A friend of the top official involved in the debacle responded as well, differently. Uganda Media Centre didn’t pronounce itself on the matter. The centre was silent. The silence on such issues creates confusion and erodes reputation.
8⃣. Too many voices, no single message! With Uganda’s PR and communications today, the Uganda Police say one thing, the parliament’s spokesperson says another, the judiciary adds spice, and the Minister of Youth voices yet another opinion. The result? Confusion and, most times, global embarrassment. The Uganda Media Centre should coordinate messaging rather than compete with it.
9⃣. Not All Audiences Are the Same (And that’s the point). Gen Z, foreign investors, foreign diplomats, and foreign media are all different. And yet the Media Centre should be designed to speak to all of them using different tones. How does one respond to an article in The Economist, a professor at Harvard, a would-be Chinese investor, or a disgruntled youth in the Middle East? Segment your communication. Tailor your tone.
🔟. Lastly, the big question is: Who trusts you?
Have you ever measured your credibility? The Uganda Media Centre needs to carry out surveys and perception audits, gather feedback loops (from the Ugandans it serves), and, from this, build thought leadership by publishing insights, issuing newsletters, hosting experts, inviting scholars, and creating a network of credible voices tied to its platform.
This article is originally published on the Business Insights Africa I @Afro_Insights website here [link] bizinsights.africa/commentar…
#BrandUganda
Dear @grok please forbid any modification of any photos and personal information I have posted on X or any other public channels. This also includes any I will post in the future.
Arthur Duncan Wekhoola retweeted
One thing I am seriously learning, or rather unlearning, is to not stress and overthink things but rather look on the brighter side of things… problems will come and go. Deal with what’s in my control and take it easy w/ stuff that’s beyond my control
Arthur Duncan Wekhoola retweeted
Some of the biggest books are 600pages, if you read 100 pages daily split into 25 papers in the morning and 25 in the evening, you’ll be done in 6 days. Attention time for 25 papers is 30-40 minutes, some of you average 7hrs of screen time on your phones daily.
Priorities!
Just like that… No. 26 finally made it to the list.
Top 25 Countries with the Lowest Quality of Life in 2025
1. 🇳🇬 Nigeria
2. 🇧🇩 Bangladesh
3. 🇻🇪 Venezuela
4. 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
5. 🇪🇬 Egypt
6. 🇮🇷 Iran
7. 🇵🇪 Peru
8. 🇻🇳 Vietnam
9. 🇵🇭 Philippines
10. 🇱🇧 Lebanon
11. 🇰🇪 Kenya
12. 🇮🇩 Indonesia
13. 🇵🇰 Pakistan
14. 🇦🇱 Albania
15. 🇹🇭 Thailand
16. 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan
17. 🇨🇱 Chile
18. 🇨🇴 Colombia
19. 🇲🇦 Morocco
20. 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
21. 🇺🇦 Ukraine
22. 🇷🇺 Russia
23. 🇹🇳 Tunisia
24. 🇧🇷 Brazil
25. 🇦🇷 Argentina
📌 Quality of Life Index reflects overall well-being using key factors like Safety, Health Care, Cost of Living, Climate, and More.
Source: Numbeo
Arthur Duncan Wekhoola retweeted
No One Warns Immigrants About the Silence
When people move to the UK, everyone says, “You’ll be fine.”
But no one warns you about the silence.
The kind that fills your chest when you come home from a 12-hour shift …too tired to cook, too broke to order food …and the walls don’t answer when you talk.
Back home, in Africa, there was always noise …neighbours arguing, radios playing, kids laughing outside, boda guys shouting across the road.
Here, even the air feels like it’s watching you quietly.
At first, you think you’re strong.
You smile through the cold, through the confused looks when you don’t catch the accent, through the “where are you really from?” that hides behind polite smiles.
But it’s the small things that wear you down.
Having to repeat your name until it doesn’t sound like you anymore.
Being called “love” but never truly seen.
Hearing your qualifications don’t count because they’re “not UK standard.”
You start from scratch. Again.
Washing dishes. Cleaning houses. Sending money home like it doesn’t ache.
Telling your family you’re fine, even when you cry at the bus stop because your card declined.
Still… there are moments.
Catching the eye of another African on the bus and sharing a silent smile.
Hearing an Afrobeats song in a corner shop and feeling your heart breathe again.
Cooking familiar food in a cold kitchen and, for a moment, it smells like home.
And slowly, life rebuilds itself.
Not the way you imagined, but piece by piece ….quietly, stubbornly, beautifully.
Because being an immigrant isn’t just about survival.
It’s about learning to belong in a place that never expected you to stay… and still daring to call it home.
Arthur Duncan Wekhoola retweeted
Our hotel in Lira City has been raided by the police and military commanded by one Moses Mukiibi. They're currently breaking into the rooms😡😡
#FreeUgandaNow
Arthur Duncan Wekhoola retweeted
Kenya is my second home.
My Ministry has immensely grown through the support of my kenyan Family.
I stand with you as we celebrate this great son of Africa @RailaOdinga .
I had to do this for Kenyans.
Arthur Duncan Wekhoola retweeted
Happy Customer Service Week! 💙
To our amazing patients — thank you for your trust, kindness, and smiles. You’re the heart of Humanhood Clinics, and we celebrate you today and every day! 🌿
#CustomerServiceWeek #HumanhoodClinics
Arthur Duncan Wekhoola retweeted
If your morning routine does not look like this, you will never make it
