I strive to become a social entrepreneur because I believe that the practice of social entrepreneurship is inherently solutions oriented. Too much time is spent in our world discussing the best way to approach the solution to a particular problem, leaving little energy and bandwidth to act on these solutions. By definition, entrepreneurs act on a particular opportunity, and I have been fortunate enough to meet a number of inspirational figures over the last couple of years who have done exactly this. Ken Banks, who founded the much praised FrontlineSMS platform, Jon Gosier, who is rapidly developing a respectable software industry in Uganda, Okello John Speke, an ex-child soldier who now runs an organization that produces paper bead jewellery which is sold in the U.S. and Ben Lyon, who recognized the opportunity for providing a broad base of mobile financial solutions in Africa are all examples.

This article tells the story of a different type of social entrepreneur, who I first heard about in a report on CNN. It told the story of Faisal Khan, who spends his days driving around Dubai and collecting old goods from western expats in the city and re-distributing these to lower-income construction workers (primarily from South Asia) in Ajman, a small emirate east of Dubai. I was inspired by the work that Faisal, who was profiled in the CNN report as “Dubai’s modern day Robin Hood”, was doing and the pro-active approach he was taking to addressing a social issue that I become very interested in over the past couple of years. I decided to give Faisal a call to see whether I could stop over in Dubai on my way back from Uganda in March to meet with him and to learn from the work he and his organization Take My Junk UAE were doing in the region (Emirates Airlines provides the option of complementary stopover when transiting in Dubai). After few calls to the airline and a quick booking into a small two-star hotel, I was all set for a 24 pit stop in Dubai to learn from yet another inspirational social entrepreneur.

The increasingly familiar Dubai Skyline. Although still under construction in this picture, the 828m tall Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world) literally scrapes the sky. (Photo credits: donpf1)

On a warm desert morning on the 9^th of March, I gave Faisal a call to confirm the time and place where we would be meeting. We had arranged by email beforehand that I would spend the day with him and accompany him on some pick-ups, which we would then deliver to the Take My Junk warehouse in Ajman. The main question I had that morning was how we would find each other at Dubai Airport, the place we had arranged to meet. Faisal responded calmly with: “Don’t worry, I am not easy to miss. Just look out a Toyota SUV with a big trailer on the back.”

Take My Junk UAE's unmissable trailer carrying a morning's worth of pickups from expat villas in Dubai.

And he really wasn’t joking! At around midday, the Toyota pulling a massive trailer approached the pickup point at Emirates Terminal 3 and traversed through the many luxury cars that were waiting to pickup busy travellers. The trailer was filled to the rim with just about everything you could imagine – from mattresses, to furniture, clothes, toys and more. I soon found out that business is going extremely well for Take My Junk as Dubai is an incredibly transient city. Whether you are South Asian worker trying to find opportunities to support your family back home or a high-profile banker from the UK, most people are only in Dubai temporarily and are there for one reason: to earn money. This results in a lot of expats moving in and out of villas in the city, both situations that Take My Junk can directly benefit from. People moving out need to get rid of unwanted items fast and people moving in may be presented with unwanted items left behind by previous tenants.

The landscape changes very quickly when driving 15 minutes out of Dubai.

Take My Junk makes about 10 pickups a day on average, and only requests for donations to help cover their infrastructural and transportation costs. “We want people’s junk and not their money” says Faisal, who acts as the centre point of the organization, speaking both English and Urdu fluently. He has two phones – one with a better incoming and the other with a better outgoing plan, and he is constantly on them (you usually have to wait for a couple of minutes when calling him, as he always seems to be on the other line!) Take My Junk prides itself in immediate responses to pick up requests.

Outside the Take My Junk UAE warehouse in Ajman.

Inside the warehouse. Incoming items are sorted and are redistributed to South Asian construction workers for a nominal fee. Business is going so well that Faisal has had to open a second warehouse to store everyone's "junk"!

Faisal lived in Canada for 30 years before returning to Dubai, where he was born. He had heard in the media about the situation faced by South Asian construction workers in Middle East and decided to take action by visiting a labour camp and understanding the issues first hand. Take My Junk started as a food delivery service for the workers and Faisal plans to re-introduce this with a new program to deliver bags of rice to the labour camps that are sponsored by various companies with offices in the city.

The construction site for yet another luxury apartment and shopping complex.

The entrance to a labor camp right next to the construction site.

This is a typical labor camp where South Asian construction workers live for the length of their stay in the United Arab Emirates.

Take My Junk’s approach to the business is similar to the approaches taken by a number of other social entrepreneurs I have met. The organization is first and foremost a “junk removal service” and this is also how it is advertised. “Social impact” is an essential ingredient of the operation, however, this is not necessarily what attracts the majority of customers. I remember hearing something similar in a talk from Jeff Swartz, CEO of the Timberland Company, who said that “most people are not going to buy a shoe simply because it is made from recycled materials – the first requirement is that it is a good shoe.” The software consultancy Appfrica that I worked for in Uganda was run on a similar principle – the core aspect of their business is that they make good software, but working on a number of key projects with clear benefits in terms of social impact is also a fundamental part of their identity.

As embodied by this blog, travelling around and meeting interesting people is hands-down one of my favourite things to do. There are many situations in the world that I find unjust or that I simply don’t understand, and I learn most when exposing myself to these situations first hand. Learning from the Take My Junk organization, seeing a labour camp and meeting Faisal Khan and his family, along with a number of other wonderful individuals from Bangladesh and Pakistan who work construction jobs in the city, was definitely one of these experiences. Even though I was only in United Arab Emirates for 24 hours, the experience was nothing short of inspirational and, like many others, has helped to form my identity as an aspiring social entrepreneur.

“SMS till you drop!” A phrase that reflects well, the growing popularity of the 160-character text message in Africa. As is often the case with the implementation of simple technologies in low-resource settings, the creativity that has stemmed out of the use of SMS on this continent is truly amazing. As mobile phones become increasingly ubiquitous across Africa, SMS technology is being used to provide a host of innovative services in the health, financial and education sectors. While I am very excited about these developments, I have recently become increasingly sceptical about the potential for SMS to bring about a true revolution in end-user mobile technologies and applications in Africa.

Read the full article at Appfrica.net >>>

Impact through interaction/experience design

Something very exciting has happened in the past couple of weeks. I have finally been able to better define my future direction within the world of design and am starting to figure out how I can best match my “hard skills” to my interests in international development and environmental sustainability. The link to design thinking as a tool for solving problems and realizing opportunities in this area is one I had already made a while back, however, I still hadn’t figured what particular area of design to specialize in, so as to maximize my potential for making some kind of positive difference in our world. Then, along came an exciting internship at frog design, where I am hired as an interaction designer.

On a very basic level, interaction design is the study of how people interact with technology and involves trying to make these interactions as intuitive, logical, simple and engaging as possible. I have also come to realize, however, that interaction design is also an incredibly powerful tool for encouraging more environmentally sustainable behaviour towards the use of every day products and services. I have started to view many problems in sustainability as issues of interface design and I am extremely excited to continue focusing on this direction in the future. I also see interface design as an extremely useful tool for implementing technological solutions in developing countries, but more on that in another blog post.

Let me try and make this a little clearer through the use of an example or two.  Before I do this, however, I will have to introduce one more term: user experience design. User experience design is the broader study of interaction models that impact user experience related to the use of a particular product or service. This is very similar to interaction design, but focuses on more than just computer interfaces and attempts to understand the holistic experience that a user goes through when using a particular product or service.

The design of our domestic water delivery system incorrectly suggests that our water supply is infinite. (Image credits: lifewater.org)

Now consider the common household tap as a fairly simple and ubiquitously familiar product as our first example. The common household tap and the associated domestic water delivery infrastructure are so easy to use that many of us living in industrialized countries take for granted that we have access to water whenever we want and in whatever quantity we want. The basic problem with tap design, however, is that that it essentially communicates the (incorrect) message that our water supply is infinite.

I am not trying to argue that we should stop using taps. Instead, I am trying to think about whether the product and associated user experience could be re-designed to encourage more responsible use of water. One idea I had the other day was to create some kind of visual countdown that wouldn’t stop water flow when it was finished (this would be impractical), but would encourage you not to keep the water running for too long. You could make all this look very snazzy by wrapping the nozzle of the tap in a band of LED lights, for example, with the countdown timer running in the opposite direction of the water flow.

Misleading controls on my dishwasher.

Another interface-related thought occurred to me when using my dishwasher the other day. When looking at the control panel in the picture above, two interface limitations become immediately obvious. For one, the iconography is a little misleading since, I never really make a decision on which washing strength to use based on the type of dishes I place in the dishwasher. For instance, I might have a pot that is relatively clean and does not require me to use to the strongest setting. The second issue is related to the display of temperature values, since this automatically implies that 55˚C gives an inferior clean to 65˚C. How about categorizing cleaning programs based on the activity that made the dishes dirty in the first place? For example, you could have switches labelled “regular day” and “dinner party” etc. that would better communicate the fact that individual programs are better suited for particular washing situations.

Toothbrushes and alternative business models

Below is a terrible picture of what my toothbrush looks like right now (and, yes, I do have a pink toothbrush):

Sometime soon, I am going to have to swap out this toothbrush as the brush itself is getting pretty old and is starting to loose its primary functionality – keeping my teeth clean. The obvious problem here, however, is that I have to dispose of 100% of the product even though only 10% of it has lost its functionality (the handle is still fine). There are of course alternatives, including electric toothbrushes with replaceable heads. I don’t need an electric toothbrush, however, and would instead be a lot happier with a manual alternative that had replaceable heads. There are some of these products on the market, including the TerraDenT series from EcoDent, however, these are not yet targeted at the general population (i.e. they are not available at your local drug store/supermarket/pharmacy and don’t come in exciting colours like pink). This TerraDenT promotional video seems to sum up well the general approach that has been taken to marketing the products:

The most obvious argument that could be made for disposable toothbrushes is an economic one. The current system allows major corporations like Procter and Gamble to sell a large proportion of the world’s population 12 or more toothbrushes a year. Imagine an alternative system, however, where you invested a relatively significant amount into a durable toothbrush handle that would last you for a couple of years. Design cues could be taken from dentist equipment (metals, precision finishes etc.), which already have the widely accepted image of being hygienic and durable. These toothbrush “handles” could have a proprietary system for attaching replaceable heads, meaning that you would be tied to a particular brand for a certain period of time (given the initial investment–maybe €30–into the handle, you would have an incentive not to throw it away). From the perspective of a company like Procter and Gamble, this could be incredibly beneficial, as customer brand loyalty would increase, which probably means a lot in the very competitive market of dental products. This level of customer loyalty could also open new doors for engaging consumers in a whole range of related products like toothpastes and dental floss.

Germany is bright green!

In “commuting” between Vienna and Boston over the past three years, I always noticed that the green movement seemed to be a lot more apparent, or at least louder, in the States. I put this down to the fact that many of the sustainable lifestyle approaches that people were getting excited about in the States including recycling, high speed rail, public transportation and organic foods have been an integral part of western European lifestyles for a long time already. My theory didn’t seem to hold when moving to Germany, however, as the green movement here is about as loud as in the States.

I see prominent signs for Bio Produkte (organic products) in almost every café, restaurant and supermarket I have been to so far. In addition, the number of dedicated organic food establishments is also truly impressive. I have also visited a very trendy full organic and Fair Trade clothing store and regularly shop at the organic supermarket down the road. These types of dedicated establishments are something that I am used to from the States, but not as much from Austria.

Yay for organic supermarkets!

Some more examples – the Utopia-City guide (which you find flyers for all over Munich) gives tons of information on where to find environmentally friendly and ethical food stores and shops in the city.  The high-speed Deutsche Bahn ICE train that I took from Munich to Vienna a couple of weeks ago had a full organic menu in the restaurant carriage in addition to bins for splitting organic, paper, plastic, glass and metal waste in each carriage! Bikes are also everywhere and seem to be the preferred mode of transport for getting around the city – many of them are even left unlocked at the side of the street.

Munich's "Call-a-bike" bike sharing system operated by the Deutsche Bahn (the national rail service). (Image credits: michaelroberts.org)

The bike sharing system here is also really interesting. Unlike other systems I have used, the bikes do not need to be returned to centralized stations, but instead, can be left at any road intersection in the inner city. The bikes lock automatically after a period of no use and can be unlocked by simply calling a dedicated number (for free) indicated on the side of the bike.

Well done Germany!

How do you reduce road traffic by 17%?

You build a good public transportation system!

I made a quick stopover in Dubai on my way back from Uganda earlier this year to meet with Faisal Khan – a very inspirational figure who I had seen profiled in CNN as the “Robin Hood of the United Arab Emirates”. Faisal has set up an organization called Take My Junk UAE which collects unwanted items from expat villas and offices of international companies in the city, and redistributes these to South Asian construction workers, many of whom live in difficult conditions in so-called labour camps outside the city.

After spending a very interesting day with Faisal, I explored the sprawling city for a couple of hours before my flight back to Europe. One of the highlights of the trip was riding the new Dubai metro, which officially opened in September 2009. The metro, which currently only consists of one line running from the Dubai International Airport in the west of the city to the Jebel Ali Free Zone in the east, is nothing short of impressive (even for someone who does not get as excited about transportation infrastructure as I do!)

The automated trains, which are actually built in Japan, are incredibly comfortable and, in true Dubai style, have first and economy class sections. The stations are perhaps even more impressive than the trains, featuring dramatic shell-like shapes and very airy and accessible designs.

The Dubai Roads & Transport Authority estimates that the initial phases of metro development will result in an overall reduction in road traffic by 17% (arabianbusiness.com). The current official figures look promising for reaching this goal, with average daily ridership standing at around 842,000 (gulnews.com). This is particularly impressive when considering that we are talking about Dubai – a city know for its extravagant lifestyles and increadibly high density of luxury cars.

Beautiful station design.

Fake grass – a common sight in Dubai.

Public transportation, Dubai style.

The first class cabin at the front of the metro trains.

Sources

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/526306?tmpl=print&page=

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/traffic-transport/dubai-metro-gives-boost-to-public-transport-in-city-1.592986

As I enter the last week of my time working as a Fellow at Appfrica, I wanted to take a few moments to reflect on the experience and to recommend this amazing program to future applicants. My experience has been nothing short of incredible, both on an educational and a networking level. When first reading about the program online, I immediately contacted Jon about joining the company as a Fellow, as I was eager to learn about its for-profit approach and about his experiences as a social entrepreneur in Uganda. Now, after four weeks in the country, I can definitely say that I have learnt a lot and that this experience has helped mould my identity as an aspiring designer for sustainable development and social entrepreneur.

Read the full article at Appfrica.net >>>

Many buses in Uganda are adorned with titles honoring the current U.S. President.

1. Get scouted

I took a Matatu taxi to the Old Kampala Bus Park in what must be one of the busiest areas of the city. To my utter surprise, my small bag was grabbed right out of by hands by a man in a blue T-shirt, immediately after stepping out of the van. “Where are you going” he asked and before I could even finish my response of “Gulu” he rushed off through the midday crowds toward the bus park. As I was concerned that this would be the last I would see of my bag, my reactions were quick and I immediately started battling my way through the crowds trying my very best to keep up with the blue shirt. Fortunately, the man was carrying my bag on the top of his head, which meant that I could just about see it being tossed over to a second person–a woman this time–who continued making her way toward the buses.

When finally reaching the buses, I was grabbed by a conductor who led me into an old Japanese Isuzu bus adorned with the titles “Gulu Express”. It was at this point that I realized my bag had not in fact been stolen, but was instead neatly placed in the luggage rack of this very full bus. I had officially been “scouted”.

Scouts are “hired” by bus operators to attract, convince and sometimes force customers to take their particular bus service. Most routes have a fair amount competition between individual private bus operators, making the role of the scout very important. It turns out that my scout was being paid on a commission basis, explaining his determination to get me into this particular bus.

2. Bring a lot of luggage (including live chickens)

It is a well-known fact that Africans often travel with a lot of luggage. I expect that the luggage load was especially large on this trip, as I was travelling at the start of the weekend. Large boxes, buckets, suitcases and bags filled up the aisle in a fashion that would have made European security regulators cringe! In the case of an emergency, I don’t believe there would have been much chance of me getting out of the bus, as there was already significant effort involved in moving through the aisle and getting to my seat.

Other common ‘luggage’ items on these buses are live chicks and full-grown chickens. The chicks are most commonly transported in wide square boxes that provide a pleasant chirping soundtrack for the full six-hour ride. If you are unlucky, the full-grown chickens will be placed under the seat in front of you and will entertain themselves with pecking at your feet.

3. Don’t get the middle seat

Unlike the 2×2-seating configuration that I am used to from European and American buses, these cabins have an extra seat squeezed into the left rows. As I was one of the last to board our bus, I ended up in one of these middle seats, which made for a rather cramped ride!

A 2x3 seating configuration and plastic seat covers can be somewhat limiting to on-board comfort.

4. Get stopped by traffic police

This was a new trend that I did not experience when riding on the same route last summer. The traffic police stopped our bus a total of four times on the six-hour journey from Kampala to Gulu, at dedicated inspection roadblocks. The police check through driver’s licences, operating licences and also ensure that the bus is not over-filled (i.e. that no-one is standing). Again, this is something very new as I spent half the ride last time standing and waiting for seat to free up. In addition, they asked the passengers “how the driver was driving” and whether the journey so far had been safe.

5. Eat

Despite the incredible amount of luggage on board, passengers generally do not bring a lot food on to the bus. This is because there are plenty of options for buying tasty snacks at regular intervals throughout the trip, every time the bus passes through a small town. After coming to a short stop on a main street, an army of street vendors rushes towards the bus, offering passengers everything from grilled meat on skewers, to grilled corn, cassava, plantain, roasted nuts, pineapple, water, juice, soda and, of course, live chickens. The food is handed to you through your window, allowing you to stay in the comfort of your narrow seat.

6. Watch TV

Depending on which bus company the scout happens to direct you to, you might be able to enjoy a whole array of interesting entertainment options during the trip. During my last bus ride to Gulu, I enjoyed four hours of hip-hop music clips recorded from MTV’s Base station and local Ugandan TV. After that, a BBC documentary on the Serengeti was screened followed by a Vietnamese action film (in Vietnamese).

7. Enjoy the speed bumps

Depending on when the bus’ suspension was last serviced, how much foam padding is still covering the metal frame of your seat and how considerate your driver is of his speed, riding over speed bumps can be quite an “enjoyable” experience!

My bus from Gulu to Kampala.

The Gulu bus park.

An ad for a skin lightening product just outside the office where I work in Kampala. "Because Beauty is an Exception."

(Ironically enough, Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” came up as the first song on my randomly shuffled playlist while writing this article.)

I don’t know where to begin in describing what disgusts me most about this growing sector of the beauty and cosmetics industry. Is it the fact that skin-whitening creams blatantly reinforce racial stereotypes, that many include toxic substances or that a certain French cosmetics giant has recently started supporting the industry with the introduction of new skin bleaching products in South Asia?

I really had no idea how fast the skin whitening/bleaching industry was growing and how large it was already. The industry is projected to reach $10 billion by 2015, with Asian countries accounting for the largest current market share and also posing the greatest potential for growth. The market for skin bleaching products in India alone is valued at $432 million at the end of 2009, growing and astonishing 17% from the previous year. In addition, Ms. Elisabeth Brehl, organizer for the 2009 Beautyworld Middle East exposition, explains that “the growth in ethnic populations in the UK and US is now said to also have accelerated demand for lightening products in the West.” These products are also very prominent in African countries, with many different varieties available at cosmetic stores throughout Kampala, for example.

The world seems a little mixed up in its perception of beauty. While millions of dollars are spent on skin whitening products in the Southern Hemisphere, Western society invests heavily into skin-browning solutions, including tanning lotions and solariums. The desire for altering skin colour is probably still stronger in the South, however, where colonial histories and the excessive spread of modern western media and marketing reinforce the perception that paler skin is more attractive and is attributed to greater success socially and professionally. “People who are not fair suffer complexes, feel inferior and are often discriminated against purely because of their skin tone” says Tarun Tahiliani, an Indian fashion designer who has dressed some of Bollywood’s most famous stars.

Interestingly enough, one of the largest growing segments in this industry are products aimed specifically at men. The Emami group’s Fair & Handsome product range for men was launched in 2005, quickly becoming the market leader in this segment with sales totalling $13 million in 2008. Much of this success is attributed to the endorsement of the product by Shahrukh Khan, an Indian superstar who is also well-known outside of Bollywood. Khan’s endorsement in India (see below) was met with a lot of criticisms by a number of campaigners worldwide – support of this industry by media icons further enforces the apparent link between fairness and beauty.

The French cosmetics giant L’Oréal has recently joined the bandwagon by introducing a number of skin whitening products in India under its renowned Garnier brand. This move comes from a company that states the following on the corporate social responsibility section of it’s website:

“We make a positive contribution to the countries and communities in which we are present, and respect local cultures and sensitivities.”

To be fair (no pun intended), there are a number of medical applications where whitening creams can be used, including application to high pigmented areas (like moles or birthmarks) or in cases of vitiligo (see Michael Jackson). The problem is that, much of the advertising in this industry is geared towards promoting this image of “fair is beautiful”.

As if this all wasn’t enough already, the list of active ingredients found in many of these products is another great source of controversy. Topical hydroquinone found in concentrations of 2% in some cosmetics and 4% for certain medical preparations, is a strong inhibitor of melanin production and is shown to cause leukaemia in mice (although only at high concentrations). Melanin, a class of pigments, is the primary determinant of human skin colour. The EU has banned the use of hydroquinone in cosmetic products, however, it still shows up in a number of products sold in developing countries with less enforced regulations.

Hydroquinone was the primary replacement for mercurous chloride (Hg₂Cl₂), a formerly common whitening ingredient that frequently brought about mercury poisoning. There are now a number of alternatives to hydroquinone, including arbutin (derived from the leaves of bearberry, cranberry, mulberry or blueberry shrub and pears), alpha hydroxy , kojic  and azelaic acids, vitamin C and glutathione. The research into many of these substances is currently limited, with a lack of tested protocols that determine safe concentrations for topical applications. Even though the toxicity of these substances is arguable, especially at the concentrations used in cosmetic products, I am still perplexed by the general idea of reducing skin pigmentation. Most of the alternative substances listed work similarly to hydroquinone , in that they inhibit melanin production in the skin. “Melanin is such an efficient photoprotective substance that it dissipates more than 99.9% of the absorbed UV radiation as heat.” (Wikipedia). Therefore, reducing the amount of melanin significantly increases incident UV radiation on the skin, and we all know what that leads to.

Sources

The Free Library

The Financial Times

Wikipedia – Melanin

Wikipedia – Photoprotection

Wikipedia – Mercury Chloride

Loreal – A responsible Corporate Citizen

There was no question, therefore, that I would try absolutely everything I could to fly on the brand-new Airbus A380 (sometimes referred to as the “super jumbo”) on my most recent trip to Uganda. Emirates, the national airline of Dubai and the carrier that we normally use to Uganda due to its consistently low fares, flies the A380 daily between London and Dubai. Grabbing a cheap flight from Vienna to Heathrow would then allow me to enjoy incredibly low fares from London to Entebbe, Uganda via Dubai on the A380 for part of the journey.

Along with giving me the chance to fly the A380, it turns out that the universe had another exciting surprise in store for me. As I primarily collect miles on the Star Alliance network, I generally do not pay much attention to my Emirates frequent flier account. Having used the airline on our last two trips to Uganda, however, helped me clock up a total of 25,000 miles, 10,000 of which were just about to expire. Out of interest, I decided to investigate a little more into what I could get for redeeming 25,000 miles and was extatic when finding out that this would be enough to upgrade me to business class on one sector of my journey. This in combination with the A380 was particularly interesting as the business class on the super jumbo is a lot better than on the airline’s other aircraft. The A380 features massaging seats in business class that turn into 2m flat beds, along with a staggered seating layout for increased personal space and the latest version of the award winning Emirates ICE (Information, Communication, Entertainment) in-flight entertainment system with over 1,200 on-demand entertainment options. After a rather stressful booking experience involving running between the large and luxuriously furnished Emirates office in Vienna and a Starbucks café to book web-only special fares and register the upgrade, I was all set for my most exciting aviation experience since first flying on Singapore Airlines two years back.

I have decided to share my experiences on this trip through photos and captions:

Entrance to the massive Emirates Lounge at London Heathrow.

Inside the plush Emirates Lounge at Heathrow – a great way to spend four hours between flights!

Yes, even though Emirates is an Arab airline, a full selection of alcohol beverages were available both on the ground and in the air.

A full lunch buffet followed the full breakfast buffet. This was way too much food, especially considering that I would be served a full five-course meal on board a couple of hours later.

More food!

The beast arrives.

At Heathrow, boarding for Business and First Class passengers takes place directly from the lounge. This allows you to fully isolate yourself from the hustle and bustle at Heathrow's busy Terminal 3.

My seat/bed for the next six and half hours (much too short if you ask me!)

My pre-departure glass of Henroit Brut Souverain NV, described in the menu as having "verve and depth". I have no idea what this means!

The Business Class cabin on the upper deck of the A380 showing the very effective mood lighting. The colors change between about six different shades depending on the time of day outside. Oh, and the ceiling lights up with a starry night sky when it gets dark outside!

Terrible shot of my 17-inch high resolution digital ICE screen, showing the current direction of Mecca in the background (this is customary for Arab airlines).

The Business Class cabin at night, before the starry night sky was switched on.

The on-board bar for Business and First Class passengers. One of the passengers ended up having a little too much to drink

The on-board bar for Business and First Class passengers.

The on-board bar for Business and First Class passengers.

The brains of this monster. Notice the camera image on the screen in the bottom left–the A380 is so wide that pilots need to use a camera mounted in the tail-fin during taxi.

A satisfied customer!

As implied in the title of this blog post, the experience did involve excessive luxury and does not reflect the usual way I fly! Still, I am very much looking for my 20+ hour return trip, where I will be seated on the lower deck of the A380, this time in economy.

During my short trip to Gulu in the north of Uganda last weekend I was reminded, once again, about the ubiquity of the Coca Cola brand. Repeatedly seeing the characteristic cherry red colour, cursive typeface and instantly recognizable bottle logo while driving through remote Ugandan country side really helps to appreciate first-hand that this is the world’s most powerful brand. I started thinking about the implications of this global prevalence and realized the following:

• Wherever there is Coke, there must also be some form of a distribution network/infrastructure.
• Many places that sell Coke also have a fridge to keep it “refreshingly cold”.

Therefore, the fact that a Coke truck can essentially reach the most remote corners of the world might provide an interesting foundation for some form of global distribution system. An obvious application of this would be in the global health sector, where Coke trucks could be used to distribute medication to remote areas, and Coke fridges could be used for storage.

I wonder whether there are other systems for the developing world that can be designed around Coca Cola’s global distribution and storage network? What else could be placed on the back of a Coke truck? Contact me if you have any ideas or if you would like to discuss this further. Who knows, if we come up with something good, we might be able to pitch an idea or two to Coke’s CSR team!

92.7 Bob FM

Now, imagine my surprise when stepping into a car at Entebbe International Airport, after a 30 hour journey from Europe, and hearing American country music blasting through the FM radio. As it turns out, I was listening to Bob FM–Uganda’s first and only dedicated country music radio station. The station was started in 2006 by entrepreneur and self-professed cowboy Dan Peters during his first trip to Uganda as a guest speaker at a religious conference. Along with the parent station in Minnesota, Peters now runs a number of country, western and religious themed radio stations in different provinces of Uganda, Sudan and Ghana. The station is run from an iPod with around 1800 tracks that “tell stories through songs”. This is the root of the Peters’ love for the music genre, one which he says will resonate well with what he believes is a growing number of “cowboys” in Uganda. I myself have not experienced the intriguing concept of a Ugandan cowboy, however, I think Peters might be referring to the growing proportion of the population that uses country music as a way to engage more in an “American way of life”.

Bob FM seems to have a relatively large and loyal fan base in the city of Kampala. I can’t quote any concrete numbers, however, I do know that the ride from the Airport was not the only time I country music on the radio. 92.7 FM seems like a popular frequency choice for a number of Matatu taxis and other private cars in the city.

Although I am not too sure how I feel about the export of this very American music genre, I guess Peters does deserve my respect for his entrepreneurial foresight (or courage). The thought of country music gaining popularity in Africa would never even have crossed my mind (or imagination). As a radio entrepreneur, Peters is applying the increasingly common global trend of narrowcasting, which involves creating stations that target specific audiences. Narrowcasting has resulted in the official registration of over 100 radio stations in Uganda, many of which serve niche markets similar to Bob FM. This trend opposes traditional radio broadcasting, which by definition involves targeting as large an audience as possible.

(Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200803030454.html)

Telenovelas

El Cuerpo del Deseo – a popular telenovela in Uganda.

Maybe not as uncanny as dedicated country music radio stations in East Africa are the incredibly popular Spanish-language telenovelas that have been playing on Uganda national television for about four years. The exporting of popular shows like El Cuerpo del Deseo and The Storm (both produced by Telemundo) has reached almost all corners of the world, including East and West Africa, Eastern Europe, the Philippines and India. The shows are quite hilarious to watch due not only to their sheer over-dramatization and repetitive themes of love, lust, jealousy, death, secrecy and envy, but also because they are dubbed in English. As an extension of the low-budget approach to making these soap operas, not a lot of effort is put into the dubbing process, resulting in the lip-sync being completely off. In an episode I watched last night, for example, Julia’s scream reacting to Ernesto’s death was timed about five seconds too late. (Yes, despite the English dubbing, the characters still keep Spanish names).

Once again, what amazes me about this form of entertainment is it widespread popularity. The cityscape of Kampala is frequently adorned with large billboards announcing new shows and seasons, and during primetime you will find people crowded around TV sets across the city. I was initially surprised at the success of these shows, even though I know they are followed by millions of Spanish and Portuguese-speaking households across the globe. I would think that Nigerian soaps might be more appropriate for the Ugandan market, portraying lifestyles and characters that a local audience could perhaps better relate to. But these shows do not seem to be as popular here.

When moving to a new city, it generally takes me a about a week to master its public transportation system. Schematic maps, timetables and transportation infrastructure have always been great interests of mine, making the experience of exploring a new transportation network incredibly exciting. Therefore, I was very much looking forward to rigorously testing out Kampala’s options during my five-week stay in the city.

At this point, I will admit that the application of my “one week rule” to Kampala only really allowed me to grasp the very basics of the city’s rather complex “public transportation” system. Every time I return to the capital of my second home, it seems like the number of cars on the streets have doubled (or tripled), putting pressure on the already crippling road infrastructure. Nestled amongst the army of pothole-dodging and speed bump-jumping cars are Kampla’s signature white vans with blue markings called Matatu Taxis. Pushing these 16-passenger vehicles to the side are the ruthless and boda-bodas – old Russian, Indian and Chinese motorbikes steered by the true warriors of Kampala’s roads. Finally, at the bottom of the pecking order, are the vehicles that seem to be moving the slowest (if at all) through all this mess – well-kept Toyota Corolla regular taxi cars carrying Mzungus and wealthier Ugandas.

Matatu Taxis (Price Range: 500–2000 UGX)

Matatus have quickly become my favourite way to get around town. Their network spans most corners of the sprawling city, allowing you to get from any A to any B for the equivalent of about $0.30 (this is the cost of my commute to work). To the foreign eye, the overwhelming number of white Matatu vans running in absolutely every direction possible seems chaotic, complex and, quite frankly, overwhelming. Beneath this messy surface, however, lies quite an ingenious system that transports Kampala’s 7 million inhabitants in a more efficient manner than I have experienced in many other cities. A Kenyan group called KenyaBuzz recently demonstrated the systematic underlings of Nairobi’s fleet of Matatus by creating a schematic map in a style similar to that of the London tube.

Schematic map of Nairobi's Matatu network. (Image Credit: KenyaBuzz)

The basic system works as follows:

Toyota, the world’s largest car manufacturer, is also well represented throughout the developing world, making a bomb out of refurbishing and exporting old Japanese cars, trucks and vans. Pretty much every second car here is a Toyota that has travelled a long way from East Asia through the mega-port of Mombasa. The Toyota Hiace forms the solid backbone of East Africa’s Matatu fleet, with the better conditioned models also being a popular choice for taking Mzunugs on Safari.

I only found out yesterday, when chatting with a Matatu driver, that the vans are privately owned and that you must go through a government sponsored course to be able to legally operate one. Here, you find out about the basics of passenger safety and are given tips on how to optimize routing and passenger numbers. This is ironic, as I have been repeatedly surprised that some of the drivers I have experienced even have licences. You often find your head bumping violently into the rusty inner-walls of the van, after the driver has obviously over-compensated when dodging the pothole in the middle of the road.

A group of Matatu Taxis parked at Nakawa

Rules and regulations surrounding Matatus are quite strictly enforced. Licences are frequently checked, as are passenger numbers, which cannot exceed 14. Adding to this, the driver and conductor bring the total count of the number of people in the van to 16. The conductor has a fairly difficult job, being responsible for advertising, convincing and sometimes forcing people into the Matatu – the vans rarely leave before they are completely full. Conducting can also get pretty competitive. On my way back from work I sometimes feel like a film star, when I am catching a ride home in the Nakawa Taxi Park. Here, I am usually politely grabbed and addressed as “sir” by two or three conductors who are desperately trying to fill their vans.

The conductor also has the worst seat in the house – being right at the door, he has to jump out every time a passenger wishes to disembark. An unlucky passenger can also share the same experience by taking the seat directly behind the conductor (who actually squeezes in to a row of three in front of you). I have done this once, resulting in the most active ride home I have ever had.

When you are ready to get out you say (say, not yell…Ugandan’s never seem to yell) “stopping”, or “Mr. Conductor, parking please”. This can essentially occur at any point in the trip, which means you can often get dropped off right at your door. The Matatu also automatically stops at a number of main nodes along the way, just like my station, Kitintale, where there is busy market.

The Kitintale stop is where I board a Matatu on my ride to work in the morning.

Another interesting thing about Matatus is that you can never really get ripped off, for the simple reason that you are also not able to bargain. Based on some weird system that I have not yet understood, prices fluctuate throughout the day, however, each Matatu will charge that same price. My journey, for instance, is 200 UGX more expensive when I return in the evening than in the morning. Originally, this made sense to me as I though the higher price was taking into account increased rush-hour demand. My reasoning fell apart, however, when I realized that I also hit rush hour when I leave in the morning.

Not all too complicated, right? Well, I still find it a little challenging to take a new route, where I don’t immediately know the direction the Matatu is heading, or where to catch it for that matter. In this case, however, I rely on the wonderful hospitality of my fellow Ugandan people who always help me figure things out. Throughout the city there a number of “Taxi Parks” where hundreds (I am not over-exaggerating) of Matatus meet, allowing you to seamlessly transfer to a different route, as you would do on an underground.

The system makes sense to me on a lot of levels and also appears to be incredibly efficient. For one, a Matatu will only ever leave once it is completely full (some drivers switch off their engines, which makes this environmentally beneficial as well). In addition, using a large fleet of smaller vehicles allows for widespread coverage of the city, even to the less populated suburbs. A number of future city transpiration infrastructure planning projects are using a similar model of smaller transportation vehicles to take advantage of the these benefits. Finally, the fact you can stop the damn thing whenever you want means that you might be able to get a lot closer to home than you would with a scheduled transportation system.

Boda-Bodas (Price Range: 1000–7000 UGX)

Boda-bodas and their drivers are some of the most hated figures in the country. In many establishments you will see signs banning Boda’s from entering. Part of this is due to the stigma attached with notoriously wild drivers, who seem to be able to dodge anything from a maze of potholes to dense rush-hour city traffic. Actually, I correct myself, as they seem to be able to dodge anything but pedestrians – I found this out the hard way when walking home in the dark one night (not that the dark really had anything to do with it).

Still, Bodas will definitely get you around town quicker than any other means of transport. They obviously have the clear upper hand in the dense traffic jams that my city is becoming famous for. Safety is definitely a concern, however, as the only thing you can really hold on to is a small bar behind your back (this can get exciting when driving over a speedbump). Apparently in Kigali, Rwanda, Bodas are required to wear and carry helmets for their passenges.

Boda drivers are simultaneously best friends and worst enemies. They spend a significant part of their lives lounging around in groups, usually under the shade of a tree, relaxing and taking it easy (see exhibit A below). Once a potential customer is in sight, however, only the strongest survives as each driver pushes and shoves in front of the other to try and get your business.

A group of bodas waiting for their next catch...I mean, passenger.

I would argue that the slightly more expensive Bodas give you more bang for your buck, as your ride home turns into the thrill ride of your life and into a training session in physical balance.