She brewed Bell lager now she serves it out

By Joan Mugenzi SHE is no drunkard. She actually hates people who get lost in booze. yet brewing makes her day. All she wants, given a chance, is to sit back and enjoy her beer. She is only practicing woman brewer in Uganda, East Africa and probably Africa: Goretti Nagaddya Masadde. Masadde is the marketing brand assistant for Bell beer, a product she has been brewing for nearly the last five years. She sits at her desk attending to one of the employees of Uganda Breweries. As she talks to him, you realise Masadde is interested in people. She talks with a smile looks you in the eye, giving you the confidence to ask any question. Little wonder her friend Angella Naggayi, working with Oscar Industries, describes her as "a straight forward person who will answer any question that you have and will tell you off if she does not feel comfortable with what you ask." A few moments later, Masadde is all ears. I realise soon after that she is a chatterbox and believe there is no mistake she joined the marketing department three months ago. This mother of one child loves answering any question to the minutest detail. A number of people get to the desk for her to sign requisition forms. Others asking about items they are supposed to carry and to which destinations they are bound. Others are consult. Even when the phone rings persistently, she is calm. She picks up the line and takes her time to explain things to the caller. All the while, she is full of life with a few teasers for her callers. "This is my life. Phone after phone after phone," she states, probably trying to explain why she has to keep on answering calls. When one talks about a brewer, somebody will think it is just about booze. By no means. A brewer is the actual manager of the brewing process. "At any time, 200,000 cases of beer are in processing and as a shift brewer, you are responsible for the quality that you are pulling through. There are 15 parameters before the beer is passed and what you do in the process determines much of the product you are going to get," explains Masadde. At any of the 15 stages, a brewer is supposed to monitor all the variations. This also calls for a good working relationship with all other workers since they are at the different stages. What a brewer does is to supervise them. "All the effort you put in is manifested at the end of the day," says Masadde. "When you get a good product, you know that you did everything right, which is very difficult. Brewing is about sticking to specifications. You have to manage all the nitty gritty." When the brewer is working at night, besides monitoring, he or she has to try and motivate the rest of the workers. During Masadde's time, managing also included security and if anything went wrong, the brewer was responsible. This kept Masadde on her toes. "There is a heavy responsibility that one has got. I would dream that a brew has poured or a pump has burnt and you know that means losing millions of shillings," she says. Masadde's heart went out to brewing while at Makerere University. As a Food Science and Technology student, she enjoyed fermentation technology as a course unit. "I wanted something more challenging, and there is minimal science in most of our food and beverage processes. Beer offered the opportunity for me to explore. I wanted to demystify the process of beer. Upto now research is still going on in brewing. It is not yet clear about the actual processes that take place at maturation," says Masadde. It is not enough to do a fermentation course for one to be recognised as a brewer. Masadde sat for the Institute of Brewing exams and passed and now she is an associate member of the Institute. Of some of the women who have sat for this exam, Masadde does not know of any woman brewer practicing in Africa. Masadde knew from school that of all the opportunities that would be open, she would appreciate brewing very much. Together with her father, Edward Musooka, they went job hunting. After her graduation, she sat for interviews at Uganda Breweries and passed. This brought joy to the Musooka family of five siblings of whom, Masadde is the first born. Her salary package expectation was thrice as much. In April 1996, she started working and this job has enabled her meet some of her siblings' school requirements. "There had never been a female brewer, so it was after a lot of debate that I was recruited," recalls the jovial Masadde. She was eventually taken on and here she was surrounded by 18 male surbodinates, the majority of whom were 35 years plus and "they enjoyed their drink and had a very low educational background." At the time she joined, these men had never had a female boss and some of them found it difficult taking instructions from her. This did not stop Masadde, a product of the firm schools of Stella Maris, Nsuube and Mt. St. Marys' Namagunga. She went on with her instructions, period. She carried herself with confidence and did not entertain any nonsense. This enabled her sail through without any disturbances. "Like a fresh graduate, I was very interested in achieving my goals in terms of volume pushing and quality," she says. She offered her best and now feels she can do no more in that section. In February, she took on the post of marketing brand assistant for Bell beer. "Having known the product in depth, I would like to see how I can use that knowledge to market the product and to understand what market shifts are all about. I want to find out what pushes people into particular products and not others," says Masadde. "I like to change and I think I have done all there is for brewing, I can't do more," she argues. "As a brewer, life is more regimental. You are forced to live like a soldier. You are on call all the time," says Joseph Kalule, Uganda Breweries brewing manager. "There are a number of people who came and could not stand the pressure for a month. It calls for a tough person to stick around and in her shoes as a mother. I wonder what it is like. I don't know what it would be if I had her as my other half. Perhaps the husband had a lot to bear with what we demanded of her," he says. There is nothing like a day off in a brewer's life except when you have hit targets. Such a lifestyle saw all the partying and dancing that Masadde used to enjoy fly out of the window. She would not even attend funerals. Goretti got married to Fred Masadde in 1998 and continued with her job. "It was not very easy balancing marriage and working Sunday through Sunday. Good enough, he was confident. I didn't give him any reason to feel insecure," says Goretti. By Joan Mugenzi Fred Masadde was considerate at the time. "It's a job so it's got to be done. Not that it is very nice but she had accepted it right from the beginning," he says. "Maybe the pressure was a bit more, but I had to be understanding of my wife as a person working longer hours. I knew when she needed a break. A lot of things had to change so I had to adjust," adds Fred Masadde. But what is the people's reaction when Fred Masadde mentions his wife is a brewer? "They want a free drink," he laughs and quickly adds: "Anyway, most of my friends have known her for a long time, so it is no longer a big deal." ends