Kampala is such a small city, it makes it easier to break out here than anywhere else in the world. You don’t have to be too good, just be fairly above average in Kampala, and everything will be just okay.
See, there are less than 1000 rich people in Kampala. And by rich, I mean even those who have gathered their wealth in dubious means, those who fake it, even those who may happen to be close to the rich. After counting to 100, you start running out of names who are doing great endevours in most fields in Uganda.
You can’t name at least 10 great journalists, you can’t name 10 great newspapers, you can’t name 10 great neurosurgeons here. What am I trying to say? Logically it is easier to break through in Uganda than in New York.
And you don’t have to be the best, you just have to be better than the average. Just a little bit. You do one simple great thing and soon you will be a regular at every Ugandan TV station.
Once you get into these 1000 people in Uganda, you soon realize it is the same people. The same people you meet at a startup conference, you soon meet at an American embassy function, then at a Blankets and Wine, it is this one small circle. And it is not a circle of the great, but a circle of people just a little above average.
It is like in Kampala everyone knows anyone, money, information just keep in this small circle. Not alone of money, except that it casts big shadows. So in Kampala, you just keep bumping into the same people, from place to place, even to social media.
Just pick any field, anything, and be just a little good in Uganda, or Kampala, you will be everywhere in no time. The same circles account for 90 percent of the drama in Kampala. If you speak of a beautiful girl, chances are high you all know the same girl. You don’t find that in Amsterdam. The odds of talking about the same beautiful girl in the city are literally nil.
Kampala is such a small place, than it makes it easier to break out. However breaking out doesn’t necessarily or fundamentally make you different from the circle out of which you broke!
And downside to small cities is that annoying one person could also mean annoying that person’s family or best friend. You have to be carefully which fires you start in such small cities. Everything is always closer. You talk about a scandal and chances are high, one of the people you’re talking to was involved in that scandal. Most people in Kampala have dated the same people. Have intersecting histories. It is such a small city!
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