Most inspirational Ugandan youths of 2020

The year 2020 sneaked in on us like an arrogant bandit and slapped us hard at the back of our heads. 

Initially, the slap was underestimated, because it was in China.  Yet it escalated rather quickly, spreading across the world like the proverbial wildfire. 

Economies got crippled. Flights were stopped. Some sectors were hard to resuscitate and therefore died. The death toll is, up to now, alarming by the day. 

While struggling to stay afloat, companies laid off many employers, consequently skyrocketing unemployment in Third World Countries like Uganda.
 
While a good number of youths lost hope and chose to wallow in the seemingly endless abyss of the Covid-19 self-pity hole, there are those who chose to float. 

They chose to fight and wade through the heavy tides of the pandemic. They created, innovated, rose against the intimidating tides of the Covid-19 pandemic through entrepreneurship, rare craftsmanship and the good old fashioned hard work. We chose to single out some 10 youth that were, indeed, an inspiration to the people of Uganda this year.

Oscar Kampala

Oscar Kampala

To understand Oscar Kampala’s resilience, you need to go back to his high school story. 

A story is told every so often by older, wiser, more experienced fashion traders in the downtown markets of Kampala. A story about how he used all his school holidays from form 3- to his form 6 vacation, to hone the craft of fashion flipping. 

And like any businessman destined for greatness, the now 20-year-old Oscar Nyesiga, renowned by his fashion brand name, ‘Oscar Kampala’, after learning everything he needed to know started saving as early as his High School. He saved every single coin he got through his parents. Soon, he amassed enough to style a few fellow students at prom parties. 

In his Senior 6 vacation, a year or so back, he became a reputable brand. He started a shop with his savings, enrolled for a course at Makerere University, and started paying for his tuition. 

When clients met him at his shop, they thought he was but an attendant given his humble, respectful demeanor. But such was, perhaps among the disarming tactics that have opened more doors for him. In 2019, when American Rapper Jidenna was in the country, Oscar Kampala got a chance to style him, among other celebrities like Eddy Kenzo. 

In 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the nation, he rechanneled his free time to marketing his brand, and creating other businesses. He started a large-scale piggery and goat farming project in Sheema (Western Uganda,) atop expanding to a bigger shop on Universal House.
 
He tops this list because as a first-year student at Makerere University, his story is testimony that you can carve wings out of patience and resilience, to fly to the destination you want to be. 

A story that many youth can learn from. 

Joylydia Apolot

Joy Lydia Apolot

At the height of the Covid-19 lockdown in March, the inability to access grooming services became commonplace. 

So much so that many started talking about it on social media. Renowned Communications and Digital Marketing expert Joy Lydia Apolot who is a locally celebrated Digital Content Creator through her alias Joy Lydia Mercedes, came up with a solution. 

She invented a solution to the lack of grooming that became an immediate hit during the lockdown. The solution came in form of a Mobile Application called Mobi-Groom, a product of Adris Digital Africa (a company she co-founded,) which allows customers to book grooming services online and have them delivered at a place of convenience. 

The 26-year-old has worked for most of the big brands in the country and is a highly sought after the content creator, yet she jumped off her communications throne to jump onto an opportunity when it arose.

Eezy aka Eric Opoka  (Tumbiza Sound)

To the students at Kyambogo University, Eric Opoka was just a normal student pursing a bachelor's in Industrial Art and Design. But to the people in Gulu town, where he has decided to start his music career, he was a big project in the making.
 
Only time would tell. The opportunity presented itself during the lockdown. He recorded a song titled ‘Tumbiza Sound’ which was urging the Government to ease the lockdown so people can party. 

Because of the power of social media, the song became a hit and is arguably the biggest hit song in the Covid-19 period. His blessing came in the form of a ban from the Ministry Of Health that went viral, making the song even more popular. 

It clinched more views across pay per stream online channels and advertising revenue channels like Youtube, consequently making him more money. He got recognized, and was hired to perform at concerts of the UN Women, Peace and Love Concert, She Online Concert at the Club Beatz At Home concert. More recently, after the ban, the Ministry Of Health contacted him to record a remix, which meant more payment. 

He is on this list because he saw an opportunity, got inspired by the hardships and created a song that has turned his life around and given him employment. 

While other artistes were recording tame Corona sensitization songs, he went for a funkier, more groovy song with lyrics that; if you actually listen carefully, sensitize about the need to wear masks and sanitize in public.

Lawrence Oketayot

Lawrence Oketayot

Lawrence Oketayot was first spotted in 2018 by the BBC for his innovation, the Sparky Dryer. Oketayot, by then a 23-year-old engineering student, invented a food dehydrator that in efficiency, beat its alternatives at all fronts. 

It dried faster than the normal solar or sunshine drying, (3-5 hours) while maintaining most of the nutrients. This, atop the fact that it was cheaper and a lot more portable than the electricity-powered dehydrators.
 
The dryer runs on Biofuel from organic waste without the need for electricity. The Sparky Dryer had, by then, only sold a few units (about 7) 

Fast forward to 2020, when the pandemic had hit, Oketayot intensified his awareness campaigns, and managed to, among other strides, get funding to go marketing, as well as reach more farmers with his solution. 

Oketayot, who rides a bike to and fro his market meetings across Uganda is a testimony of how hard work can take you places. 

Josiah Mwanje (One Touch Safaris)

Josiah Mwanje

The tourism industry was the most hit industry by the Covid-19 pandemic. And yet it could not come at a worse time for Josiah Mwanje, a young tour operator running One Touch Safaris. At the start of the year 2020, he had lost up to a tune of $70,000 worth of Dubai tour bookings because of a Hotel Franchise Hand-over. 

The hotel (names withheld) was sold to a new owner, whose systems rejected future bookings and required moneyed legal confrontations that Josiah couldn’t manage. The company business, corridors have it, faced huge setbacks and inabilities that were aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

As an operator whose biggest source of income was international trips, his business got crippled. And yet he didn’t give up. 

He simply strategized and was the first Ugandan tour operator to start planning cheap local trips when the lockdown was eased. Slowly, the trips became many, and is at the moment, among the biggest domestic tourism operators in the country. He is on this list for the resilience, innovativeness of most of his trip experiences as recommended by many of his clients on Social Media, and for choosing to stay afloat instead of drowning.

John Katumba

Katumba

John Katumba surprised everyone when at 24, he stood for presidency of the country. At his age, and the fact that he is only but a recent graduate, it was unexpected of him to be so ambitious as to go and stand against older, more experienced candidates. 

Surprisingly still, is how his popularity has soared to the point that a song titled by his slogan ‘Katumba Oye’ has already been recorded. 

He defied the odds, and dared to walk in places that had never been walked in by people his age. For his bravery, for the way he has handled all the malice and police confrontation, he has inspired many youths and shown them it is possible.

Raymond Kahuma

Ryan Kaji, a nine-year-old boy from Texas made more than €24 million (88,177,824,000) in a year from “unboxing” and reviewing toys and games on YouTube to hold the title of highest-paid YouTuber for the third year running.

It is a reality not many Ugandans are aware of, and the few who have joined Youtube haven’t invested in research and depth content creation. 

And that is why Raymond Kahuma stands out. A 23-year-old who, with very limited resources, and yet has managed to make a mark. There are of course a good number of Youtubers in Uganda, but most of them are peddling gossip and recycling internet content with little to no creativity. 

Raymond beats them for daring to create fresh, out of the box content. His Youtube channel is first amassing the following and is gradually getting the deserved adulation. All of his most lauded content was created in 2020.

Crysto Panda 

It is not rare for hard work to beat talent. If you gave Crysto Panda a microphone and told him to sing, you’d easily agree that he is more hard-working than he is talented. The TV star-turned music artiste has the creativity and being an opportunist to thank for his musical fame. 

And in 2020, it paid off quite handsomely. He jumped onto the phrase ‘Ebiluma Abayaye’ and recorded a song and got a hit. Then he jumped onto the ‘Tuli Mu Struggle” phrase and got another hit. Add that to ‘Kyolina Omanya’ and he scooped many awards in the recently concluded Buzz Teeniez Awards. Not because he was the most talented, but because he innovated.

Robert Sebunya

Robert Sebunya

There are quite a number of young people employed in the digital marketing realm. But only a handful stand out. And Robert Sebunya is certainly among the best of them. 

Besides providing Digital Media Buy solutions for almost all the biggest brands in the digital marketing space through his employers, Eskimi, a Russian programmatic marketing platform, Robert Sebunya realized how Covid-19 rendered many people unemployed. 

He individually started reaching out to youths to offer free consultancy services across all his fields of expertise. 

Lyndda Ddane

In the yesteryears, Uganda had only but a few TV stations, and as such, the few TV presenters became ultimate celebrities and stars. Fast forward to now, there are many TV stations, and only the phenomenal ones stand out to become stars. This year gifted TV with Lynda Ddane. For a long time, she had been trying to get onto a platform where she is appreciated.

The opportunity arose when she got a slot at TV. With her effortless presenting skills, and easy-going demeanor, atop her eclectic dancing skills, she became a favorite. Perhaps the biggest new entrant TV has seen in 2020. 

Yet TV is not the only job she does. She is also a presenter at a city radio station, and dabbles in heavy Social Media Influencing. She is a true inspiration to many youths.