Anyway, Wednesday was a really productive day. We were back in Kampala, warming up for the main event (more in the Thursday blog)and holding some business meetings.
Before I talk about that, there are a couple of photo's that I didn't show you earlier in the week....
You all know that food is not that important to me, so I guess you've been wondering how I've been enjoying it! So, let's begin with a photo of lunch, which was missing from Monday's blog post...
Also, some of you know that I like to stay in decent hotels. Rachael will remember the moment in Lima, Peru when I had a sense of humour failure in a hotel bedroom which looked and felt like a prison cell!! Well, what about this....!
You might remember that we had spent a lot of time in the car the other day, after being blocked by the two overturned trucks and the collapsed bridge! James commented that he remembers how bumpy the roads were when he visited Cambodia. Well, here's a video in which you might get a sense of what it was like for 12 hours on Tuesday!
Finally, most of you know that I get bitten easily. I've taken every precaution before visiting. I've got my Malaria tablets, two bottles of insect repellant, anti-hystamines to make the blood taste nasty (thanks, Ian - good tip!) and anti-cortisone cream to zap the bites if they get through all those defences! But all of that is not match for the man that stumbles into an ant hill like this!
I actually saw a bigger one today (taller than me!) but I didn't have time to photograph it. :(
Anyway, what did we get up to yesterday?
EAST AFRICA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
I'm proud to have been involved this week in designing a programme to train elite students in skills such as business, entrepreneurship, science, engineering. The team spent many hours yesterday morning working out the detail of a programme to train students from all over Uganda in world class business skills. We hope to find global corporate partners who will mentor the students, provide international work experience projects, internships and loan funding to raise the standard of business skills in Uganda. The clever thing about this programme though, is that entreneurship is a pre-requisite for entry. While they are on the programme, students will be obliged to visit regional colleges and schools to mentor younger students and teach them how to run small businesses themselves to fund their own education. A key goal of our projects in Uganda is to use business skills to make education self-funding. Once it becomes self funding it becomes available to many more people and at a higher quality level. I've been asked if I will present this programme personally to the President of Uganda. Here's the team, which includes 3 Brits, 2 Americans and a Ugandan.
We had some more meetings during the coursse of the day. One of the most exciting moments was when we entered the Ugandan Parliament Building. Here we are on the steps waiting to go in. (I didn't dare take any pictures inside as there were lots of men with machine guns watching me!!)
BISHOP ZAC
Later in the afternoon we met Bishop Zac, who is Bishop in Kampala. Whatever your pre-conception of a bishop might be, throw it away! He is one of the most energetic, charming, wise, pragmatic, business minded men I've ever met. And with all of that he is a very godly man too. We talked to him about a number of issues, not least the problem of the divided economy in Uganda. There is the practical economy, in which 95% of Ugandans are trapped. There they have 96% unemployment (no unemployment benefit of course, so many of the unemployed are actually subsistence farmers, or trading what they can to make a living). Inflation is very low, as people have no money and prices are held down by a lack of demand for products and workers. But someone who has the desire to set up or grow a business will need a loan to provide working capital. Interest rates range from 1.5% per month to as high as 20% per month. The latter is provided by local people that we might call loan sharks in the UK. But, like the UK, very poor and less well educated people can't get loans from proper banks (if there is such a thing!) so they can only go to the loan sharks. But even amongst the proper banks, interest rates are around 18% to 24% per annum. One of the justifications for the high interest rate is that inflation is c.15%. BUT inflation is only this rate in the upper tier of the economy. The poor people in the lower tier of the economy, remember, have no wage inflation. So all this means that they can't afford to borrow money, as they can't service a loan at 18% to 24%. So how does someone ever cross the line from the lower tier to the top tier? Very difficult.
We also talked to Bishop Zac about industry. It's very interesting to learn that Uganda is unusual amongst its neighbouring countries as it has marvellous land in which to grow things. There is no shortage of crops, including wonderful fruits, vegetables, coffee, tea, etc. But there is a distinct shortage of industrial skills to process the food into packaged product suitable for distribution, including export. Apparently, in neighbouring countries there are shortages of these kinds of food (e.g. in Sudan, Congo). But it's not possible to export it as there is no processing industry to package it. Our industrial skills could help there. A breakthrough in this industry would create great economic growth and lots of jobs.
Anyway, finally, I thought that Mike Smith may want to consider investing in this specialised materials handling product, which is used for transporting products around the country. It's certainly niche!
I'll post another blog covering the exciting events of today, which included a meeting with the head of the Joint Clinical Research Council, a meeting with an entrepreneur who runs a £1m tourism business and the dinner launching the Talent Bank. In the morning I've got a breakfast meeting with a young man who has just returned from serving in Iraq, working as a security guard. He wants to set up a music studio to record gospel music and is looking for some help from me (and some of my friends in England - watch out musicians!!). How cool is that!?
The rest of tomorrow is continuing my meetings about medical and laboratory products. Loads of opportunities there that I started to uncover today!
Glad to see you are keeping the side up with your smart blazer - you must have been ROASTING!!! Have you got dysentry yet?
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