Ortega Ian
I think Maurice Kirya should apologize for singing “Mulembe Gwa Kirya”. He should apologize for making us believe that we are in the Maurice Kirya Era. Truth be told, we actually live in the Baba Sudhir Ruparelia era.
The Ruparelia era began off at Mengo Hospital, so those who were born there were part of the commencement. We slowly grew, went out of the country and came back to launch the real era. We live in an era where your parent abroad sends you money; you exchange it at the Crane Forex Bureau then bank some in Crane Bank. The Ruparelia era also means that you go to Kampala Parents School for your primary education, head to Kampala International School (formerly Kabira) for your high school and head to Victoria University for your graduate studies.
It also means that you can get employed by the Ruparelia group, given your impressive CV of being attached to Ruparelia. You get a job at Meera Investments and collect your salary from Crane Bank.
You get married, and head off for honey moon at Commonwealth resort In Munyonyo. For your Valentine’s day, you get your girlfriend nice flowers from RoseBud. Not to get bored, you take off time every evening to wind off at the Rock Bar of Speke Hotel.
Every evening, when bored, you can always tune in to a Ruparelia radio and listen to Ssanyu Fm. And when you buy your first car, don’t forget to insure it at Gold Star insurance. And since you are so African, Equator crafts Uganda is worth getting some crafts for your friends, and family.
Think you have had enough; we also have the Mukwano era headed by the Karmalis.
You wake up in the morning; take a shower at your Royal Palm Resort in Luzira (Mukwano Group), you actually get to realize that the basin you used is from AK plastics (Mukwano Group). As you are still looking at the basin, your bathing soap e.g Yeyo and Meditex shock you once again, they are also from Mukwano Group.
Now things begin to get out of hand, you decide to do your laundry and the laundry soap and washing powder shout out loud, “Look our names are Nomi and Star Soap” and we are from Mukwano. You are like this can’t be, your Vaseline shouts to you, baby, “don’t tell me you won’t apply Mukwano Jelly” today.
You go to the kitcken and you are faced with Sunseed (Mukwano cooking oil), the Shibe posho out of which you desire to make porridge is also from the Mukwano group. Then you actually realize you have no water at home, so guess what, you go and buy Aqua Sipi. And now you become aware of the Mukwano era. And guess what; it will scare you so much that you will rush to Imperial Bank to save some of your money only to realize you are still dancing azonto with Mukwano Group. And by the way if you are sitting on a plastic chair, there is a likelihood it’s from Mukwano group. Look around for any plastic product around you, if it’s not a Mukwano Group product, you are still safe. And that cooking fat you used today, if it was not Tamu or Nice Fry, you are not yet in the Mukwano era.
The Bottom line is, it’s not about coming up with an out of this world idea to make money. It’s not about thinking of a business idea that’s never been heard of. Just make sure, people can’t ignore the products and services of your business. All in all, we are proud of the two great conglomerates of Uganda, the Ruparelia group and the Mukwano group. We are proud to live in these eras. And to the wannabe Ugandan youths who want to use short-cuts to wealth, all these conglomerates took time. Mukwano group can be traced back to the early 80s; Ruparelia group is traced back to the same year. Whatever we see today are years of toil and swear, persistence and hard work and having a vision. If you think that by betting money, you will land on wealth, we wish you luck.
To Connect with Ortega Ian
Email: ortian@gmail.com
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