HiPipo Money

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…….Over 60 units of blood donated

Airtel Uganda joined the rest of the world to commemorate World Blood Donor Day by donating more than 60 units of blood in an internal company blood drive held at their offices in Bugolobi.

Themed “Thank you for saving my life”, the 2015 World Blood Donor Day was focused on thanking blood donors who save lives every day through their blood donations and strongly encouraging more people all over the world to donate blood voluntarily and regularly with the slogan “Give freely, give often. Blood donation matters.”

By doing an internal blood drive, Airtel Uganda not only motivated regular blood donors amongst their staff to continue giving blood but also encouraged young people in good health who have never given blood to start.

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Kampala joins the list of cities around the world to experience the House of Walker phenomenon

The House of Walker – a Johnnie Walker Luxury retail store and the first of its kind in East Africa – was unveiled at a private launch event on the 18^th of June at The Sheraton Hotel Kampala. The House of Walker was proudly setup by Uptime Solutions Limited.

Hosted by the Managing Director of Uganda Breweries, Mr. Nyimpini Mabunda and the Chairperson of the UBL Board, Dr. Alan Shonubi, the exclusive launch event immersed guests into the first luxury shopping experience in Uganda.

Now open to the public, the House of Walker experience is designed with amazing attention to detail – everything from the setup, to the soundscapes, scents and flavors – culminating in an unforgettable and entirely immersive whisky lifestyle experience.

“As a landmark  embassy of fine Scotch whisky, the House of Johnnie Walker store offers a truly world class experience, from  private tastings with a whisky expert to a special bottle engraving service and a year-round Luxury Gifting delivery service,” says Annette Nakiyaga, the Luxury Consumer Manager, Uganda Breweries Limited.

“Together with our partners at Sheraton Kampala, we will now be able to make birthday celebrations twice as special. You can now order  a personalized whisky bottle engraved with someone’s name as well as personalized cake from Temptations all delivered to the doorstep in true VIP style.”

Since its launch in 2010 – travelling from China, to the United States, Singapore, the United Kingdom and beyond – the House of Walker now offers the first luxury shopping experience in East Africa.

“Kampala’s discerning individuals also have the opportunity to become VVIP Blue Club Members, a pedigree that comes with exclusive benefits. Amongst others, VVIP members will be able to enjoy ultra-luxurious experiences like private closed store shopping experiences, a 24 hour personal home delivery service, exclusive invitations to private brand launches, priority booking for private tastings and bartender services for their private functions,” added Annette Nakiyaga.

The glamourous launch event hosted a select group of guests in an engaging immersion into the world of Johnnie Walker Blue Label®, featuring a grand ceremonial performance by the Caledonian Society of Uganda as well as the first private shopping experience in the iconic store.

“Kampala is moving forward, no doubt! It is befitting that the world’s best known icon of progress takes its next big step in arguably the world’s most progressive city. Anyone who experiences this store will agree that this is a great stride in a journey destined for success, both for Kampala & for Johnnie Walker,” said Nyimpini Mabunda, Managing Director of Uganda Breweries Limited in his welcome speech to the VVIPs in attendance.

Located in the Sheraton Hotel Kampala grand lobby, a famous hangout for the discerning of Kampala, THE HOUSE OF WALKER is open from 10am to 8pm Daily. 

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As graduates are looking for jobs and crying of the high unemployment levels, in the country, employers on the other hand are complaining of unavailable right skilled people to fill the available job positions said Michael Niyetegeka an IT consultant and Students’ Facilitator as he opened the 5^th Annual Madhvani Foundation Career Guidance and Entrepreneurship training workshop that was aimed at equipping students with practical skills that employers are looking for in the work places.

Despite their academic documents that show excellent performances at the university, graduates have failed to demonstrate employable skills at the workplace that is why Madhavani Foundation a charitable fund saw it fit to additionally train their beneficiaries in an aim to prepare them for the real competitive world after school.

In a recent report on the lack of employment among graduates in Africa, the British Council noted that there has been an increase in higher education in sub-Saharan Africa over the past decade. But at the same time, too few graduates have acquired the skills they need to find work.

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ recent 18th Annual Global CEO Survey it revealed that business leaders are more concerned than ever about being able to find the right people to fill roles ahead of planned increased hires over the next year. Narrowing down the data down to Africa, an alarmingly, 96 percent of CEOs were found mostly concerned about the lack of skills available in-market, explaining the trend of many multinationals preferring to “buy in” talent into their Africa-based operations

Ugandan students still lack thinking skills that can otherwise empowered them to explore the many opportunities around them. Observed Michael Niyetegeka. He added that as a means of adding value to oneself to become a competitive brand, graduates and even people at managerial levels need to embrace the habit of reading so as to broaden their knowledge base and open their imaginations to new ideas.

While mentoring the students during the workshop Michael took the graduates through the common mistakes many make when they go for job interviews. The most common being uninformed he urged the graduates to always read and inform themselves of the issues that surround them as opposed to just the ones that concern them. He explained professionalism as another key issue that every employer looks out for in an employee which entails understanding their duties and roles and being able to deliver on the expected deliverables.

Over time a number of remedies have been suggested to curb unemployment levels among the youths in the country Joseph Okwakol, then National Youth Council chairperson in 2009, during an International Youth Day celebrations held on 8^th August 2009 Petitioned President Yoweri Museveni to reduce the retirement age for civil servants from 65-55 to create room for the younger generation that is annually churned from various institutions of study to the labor market.

Youths have also been advised to embrace the entrepreneurship drive and become self-reliant through enterprise creations.

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Get ready to live and love to watch your favorite local stars on GOtv when one of Uganda’s most popular free-to-air channels Urban TV starts airing on GOtv, channel 95 from Tuesday, 23 June 2015.

This exciting new development comes exactly one week after Uganda joined the rest of the world in the process of migrating to full digital broadcasting and switching off its analogue signal in the South Central region.

“Brand research has confirmed that Urban TV is Uganda’s fastest growing and one of the most watched channels in the country,” stated Susan Nsibirwa, Head of Marketing and Communication of the Vision group who added that, “this growth has been driven by its very entertaining local programming, most which has been produced in house. Putting Urban TV on GOtv will take the channel to the next level and open it up to a much wider countrywide audience.”

Urban TV will treat viewers to a variety of entertaining local programmes for the entire family. These include the very popular Sqoop on Sqoop hosted by Mary Luswata, Skizzy, Fashionista, Business Unusual, Rated Next plus programmes containing showbiz news, the latest and hottest music videos, current affairs and news from Uganda.

“The digital migration is here and real,” noted Charles Hamya, the General Manager of MultiChoice Uganda. “Carrying Urban Television on our DTT platform fits perfectly within our migration strategy which considers the promotion of quality local content to be an indispensible ingredient in supporting the growth and development of the African television industry. Our viewers have been urging us for a while now to bring Urban onto our platforms because of its popularity I am glad we have been able to respond to their requests.”

Hamya also dismissed reports of a decoder shortage saying, “MultiChoice imported hundreds and thousands of decoders in preparation for the migration. We have a more than adequate supply in our stores and storages around Kampala so Ugandans need not panic. Our sales and distribution model is fully operational and we have more than 1, 000 sales points located all over the country.”

MultiChoice set-top boxes are available at the MultiChoice Uganda office as well as branded agent outlets and major retail partners like Game, Nakumatt or Tuskys.  “MultiChoice has been preparing for the migration over 10 years so we are ready, this is the reason why, we switched off our analogue signal in 2005, well before the migration deadline,” added Hamya. 

Start your digital migration journey with Free-to-air GOtv decoders with no monthly subscription for 125,000 UGsh and Pay television decoders at only 60,000 inclusive of one month free subscription on the GOtv bouquet.

Urban TV will go live on GOtv, channel 95 from 23 June, 2015 at 12:00pm CAT.

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Uptime Solutions is pleased to accomplish the setup of the first ever Johnnie walker luxury store in the East and Central Africa region.

The Walker House is designed and fitted with a classy touch of leather and to notch wood finishes.  All in house from Uptime Solutions.

Walker House has been setup on behalf of Uganda Breweries Limited (UBL), a leading beverage manufacturer in this region.

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Nutrition networks from across East Africa recently met in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania to Launch the Global Nutrition Report and chart a course for improved action on nutrition in the region.  The event brought together an expected 40 participants from Scaling up Nutrition networks across Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.

Good nutrition is the Bedrock of Human well-being before birth and throughout infancy, it allows brain functioning to evolve without impairment and immune systems to develop more robustly. For young children, good nutrition status averts death and equips the body to grow and develop to its full potential. Over the course of the human lifespan, it leads to more effective learning at school, better-nourished mothers who give birth to better-nourished children, and adults who are likelier to be productive and earn higher wages. In middle age, it gives people metabolisms that are better prepared to ward off the diseases associated with changes in diet and physical activity. Without good nutrition, people’s lives and livelihoods are built on quicksand.

Across East African countries, stunting (short height for age due to chronic malnutrition) ranges from

1 in every 3 children to as high as 1 in every 2. Malnutrition has severe consequences on the survival and lifelong mental and physical abilities of individuals, and also on national economies. Despite this massive challenge, resources to nutrition‐specific programs in East Africa amount to only a small fraction of national health budgets.

 “We are facing a chronic emergency that will not wait for our attention. For the healthy future of our

Countries and communities, we must act now and encourage the governments of our region to make political and financial commitments that match the scale of the challenge set before us,” said Dr.

Aristide Madagasha of the Burundi Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Network (SUN CSN). 

“It has been ascertained that undernutrition levels lower Uganda’s national GDP by 5.6% and found that Uganda is one of the 47 countries in the World that have overlapping under five stunting, Anemia in Women of reproductive age and adult over weight according to indicator data from Unicef, WHO and World Bank”. Said Christine Muyama the National Coordinator, Uganda Scaling Up Nutrition.

She further added that even with the government’s intervention to scale up nutrition, malnutrition still remains high in the country, “hence the government is considering drafting a policy to address malnutrition as it is one of the major causes of deaths in children under five years”. emphasised Christine.

She explained that relying on communication received from the Prime Minister’s office, the government intends to enforce this policy by ensuring that each household grows food stuff not just for commercial purposes but also for home consumption.

Launched globally last year, the Global Nutrition Report is the first report to compile comprehensive data on the status of nutrition around the world, highlighting progress in combating malnutrition, identifying gaps, and proposing solutions. Participants in the East Africa launch compared the report’s findings to the region’s status, and are to plan action to ensure East African governments increase commitment and accountability for nutrition. 

“Most East African countries are not on track to meet globally‐agreed World Health Assembly targets on nutrition. In just one year the global community will come together at the second Nutrition for Growth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 2016 to take stock of global progress. The East African community must make new and ambitious financial and political commitments to ensure we do not fall behind in efforts to defeat malnutrition,” said Dr. Million Shibeshi of the Ethiopia Civil Society Coalition ‐ Scaling up Nutrition (ECSC‐SUN).