On the 14th of December 2024 DevFest took place at Motiv Kampala. We attended the event and present a summary of what took place from key note to sponsors to other speeches as well as breakout session topics. The 1000 plus attendees heard from leading voice in the technology and innovation space especially those who have excelled and managed the complex transition from tech to policy and leadership. Elijah Kitaka gave a key note and warned those present to beware of stagnation and an event focused lifestyle. He also encouraged young people to develop business acumen and not just technical expertise. With regards to the theme of the day-AI Elijah Kitaka mentioned three major areas to watch Infrastructure, Co-Pilot and Agents as well as the use of Data to Train Models for the modern workplace. Tabitha Namwone a leading voice and leader in her own right introduced the audience to Career Trees. In this episode, we encourage our listeners to pay close attention to breakout sessions for ideas about tools and trends and to plug in to the ecosystem as well as to build partnerships with the big companies behind these technologies and tools. We see these events as important links between global companies and local users who will form a key resource in using and improving and extending the life of technologies that many of these companies are hungry to have tested. Breakout session leads included James Mwai (Implemeting Scalar Vector Search with Vertex AI), Wesley Kambale (Building a skin cancer analyzer with Flask and Gemini API), Collins Mesue (AI powered UI), Kayongo Johnson Brian (Neural Style Tramsfer with TensorFlow), Francis Akol (Building Ethical AI Dashboards with Angular), Oliseh Genesis (Building an AI Assistant DAPP on ICP), Sumalya Nalukwago (Building the future of Android), Collin’s Mbulakyalo (Web Notifications), Mwiine Daniel (Simplifying Cloud Management with Terraform).

Here I share bits and pieces about my journey interacting with various Fintech products in Uganda and the region. From some basic instruction in the Forex Space back in 2019 to tools like Eversend and ChipperCash App and the investment in stocks and cryptocurrencies. What are the different ways that you can make money with these tools? Where you can start and what exists in the market. Where the potential exists in the future and why the integration of mobile money tools is essential in greater East Africa and West Africa (and a little less in Southern Africa). Benefits of using Stop Loss and Take Profit Systems of investments verses simple Buy and Sell. The benefits and drawbacks that come with reward systems (especially if not long term).

We have a conversation with Doris Odit Acheng on several issues including her life’s journey and previous roles in an NGO doing development work as well as her pivotal role at East African Private Venture Association. Those who have followed the Podcast and the body of our work will realize that we are obsessed with Transitions and people who navigate their way through these complex moments. Ms. Odit is no different. She talks about her work in consulting and shares her love for immersive learning experiences as well as some of the challenges of leadership and management and how she has sought to deal with these. She also delves into the world of startup finance where interestingly there are some similarities with the Not For Profit World (insight my own). Podcast recommendations on her list Acquirers and The Full Ratchet both majoring in the world of finance.

In this episode we complete the piece in which we differentiated between SSDs and HDDs from price, to durability to reliability and more. We also reviewed Hamilton Helmer’s Seven Powers. We talked about Tanzania and Zanzibar’s approach to IP Law and the contribution of a Leading Law Firm Breakthrough Attorney’s as well as the Tanzania Startup Association. Finally we combined the use of generative AI to glean insights from a poppular business strategy book for two personal businesses Podcasting and Magazine Publishing. Listners are welcome to experiment with these tools to derive some ideas about better strategy for their individual companies.

In this episode we celebrate and mourn passing of a great leader Tata Group CEO. The CEO led during a massive time of transition and oversaw the acquisition of several companies expanding the conglomerate to its amazing size. Unlike his contemporaries and others in his field and those with similar position was known as a very humble man. We contrast this real life story with the well written series Billions and Succession. We share a part of the Billions Episode 4 of the first Season describing what it is to lead at such a level. We also describe the succession story and the concerns raised within families about inheritance and change and generational wealth transfer.

The month of September is finally here. We are completing a section we began last month on strategy with Rishad Tobaccowala. He covers quite a lot in this issue including a new way of thinking about scale and markets, population and stats. He gives you a fresh perspective on data and why it matters. The numbers tell us countries have to think creatively about placing their citizens in the right places for maximum impact to tap into the opportunities that are unique to the coming generation. How well equipped are population rich southern hemisphere geographies for the challenges that will present themselves in the years to come?

We also complete the section we started on last month on generative artificial intelligence and what tools will work best for you with a really good comparison presented by the author (Claude.ai).

Often I come across important but confusing information which I need clarified. What I do in such cases is imagine that a good percentage of my readers will benefit from this information especially those who are planning to upgrade or buy new PCs or laptops. This piece about HDs and SSDs is for you. What are the differences and what should you invest in.

After a short break we return with our interview section with a young promising developer who has quite a number of great solutions under his belt.

Finally I share…after quite a while some ideas from my Tanzania and Zanzibar trip not wholly technical but useful nonetheless for those who are thinking about exploring and eventually investing in the large gem of a country.

This month we wish to highlight a few important subjects. The first task was to complete Glenn Greenwald’s conversation via TedX where he talked about Privacy. This is a trascript of his speech about 11 years old where he tackled some of the prevailing ideas of the time. We also featured a piece by Rishad Tobaccowalla a man i came accross after a Podcast with a lady from Botswana where they covered his book. I went on to find more of his writings via his Substack which is where this article comes from. We also have a section where we share the services of our partner Founders Freedom. There is an additional part devoted to engineering works (our first supplemental feature) with Unisource. If you want to learn (and we strongly suggest that you do) and begin to use generative AI tools please have a look at this last part which compares some of the most popular products.

Here is an episode talking about some of the engagements i had with some leading thinkers last year when i attended an event called Zuzalu (part of a project by people like Vitalik Buterin of Ethereum) and others. We had members from Threefold, Vitalia, Kotani Pay and other invited guests from all sorts of professions tackling a variety of challenges from health to finance and more. This is a discussion about trends that are connected to this and other movements and why in my view these ideas are going to dominate a lot of our thinking in decades to come. From Decentralization to Digital Nomadism to Alternative States and Cryptocurrencies and Finance.

Here are some notes we took from the People’s Professor Livingstone Mukasa. This was after some frustration with sound financial advice from local players in the Industry. Most of the work that has been done in the finanancial sector and with technology and innovation has focused on readying foounders to operate and think like they are in Silicon Valley. Mr. Mukasa on the other hand undetstanfs all the lingo but thrives at making all this accessuble locals and helping them navigate the investment landscape in Uganda in particular and Africa in General. We cover quite a few subjects that he tackles including Rules of Financial Literacy, Local Investments Instruments, Building Rentals Versus Investing in Bonds and Unit Trusts, How to Prepare Yourself for the Burden of School Fees (Educating your children) as well as Retirement Planning. I have keenly followed Mr. Livingstone Mukasa since his work at Mazima Retirement for which he was awarded as well as his entrace into Real Estate Development with BitBricks.