Being in the wrong place at the right time or is it? part 2

The visit to Leicester was interesting in many ways than one. First I got to meet the Ugandan Asians, most of them had been children when Idi Amin expelled the Asians from Uganda. Through the various conversations I learned that for most Uganda will always be home and indeed some were in the process of relocating there

During the question and answer session I was given the opportunity to discuss my work in SW Uganda. This was more than I had expected mainly because Uganda’s First lady is the MP for the district where my project is located and up until now I had not had the opportunity to speak to her about the project but here I was addressing both her and the President.

I also learned about an upcoming launch of a new network called UK Uganda Business and Professionals Association the following month. This meeting attracted most of the folk that were in Leicester as well those looking for investment opportunities in Uganda.

During a networking session I had a conversation with two chaps Tony and Adam who introduced themselves as coffee roasters from North London. I cheekily asked them whether they knew much about Ugandan tea and they challenged me to find them fine Uganda tea by way of shutting me up and I agreed!


One of the things I learned early on about networking is that the “fortune is in following up”. I asked my mother to send me some fine Ugandan tea via a friend who was in Uganda and when it arrived I sent it off to Tony and Adam.

Be back tomorrow with what happened next!

Being in the wrong place at the right time or is it?

Back in 2007 I decided to go into a new direction that saw me set up Ethnic Supplies a social enterprise. As a civil servant I had no idea where to start and a quick search on the internet lead me to my local business link in Woking.

I was put through a programme lasting 10 weeks where I learned about marketing, sales, accounting, PR, website etc.

The programme ended with an invitation to a Business exhibition by Business link where I got to attend various workshops. Back then I had a real fear of anything techy and as I selected which of the workshops I should attend I made a mental note to avoid any workshops dealing with IT.

Looking back this doesn’t make sense at all as those are the very workshops I should have attended so I could learn. By a bizarre twist of luck that is exactly what happened.

Whilst searching for a workshop on marketing I ended up in the wrong room where the workshop was ICT related. I got in just in time to hear the facilitator say “Google loves Ecademy and Craig’s list” and he went on to ask who in the audience was signed up to either.

I realised I was in the wrong room and left but made a mental note to look up those two “things” (didn’t know what they were back then) when I got home. I did and signed up to both.

I found Ecademy in particular interesting. I connected with people easily, and one of those was Charles Okwalinga a Ugandan man who owns an African restaurant in Hackney East London. I had eaten at this restaurant but I had never met him.

He suggested that I drop in next time I happened to be in London and I did and I met Fred his friend. Fred is also Ugandan. We got into a long discussion on various issues including Ethnic Supplies. Fred asked me to stay in touch as he felt there ways he could get involved in Ethnic supplies.

Fast forward to 2008 and I am thrown into fundraising to bring clean water into a remote Ugandan village.

Whilst organising the event, one of our aim was to reach people with ties to Uganda. I therefore got in touch with Fred and asked if he knew any Uganda Asians and how I could reach them He told me he would send me some details on this and if I was free on 20 Sept 2008 he would get me an invitation to go and meet them in person. For you see the Ugandan President was travelling to Leicester to meet the Ugandan Asians that were thrown out the country by Idi Amin


I couldn't believe my luck! check back tommorrow for what happened next!