Pat Kayongo

Mammon

The cool winter’s breeze whispered through the open window, singing along with the familiar sound of the occasional car passing by outside. As the cool air gently brushes across her arms, Gladys Tyamzashe’s strands of hair stand up, mounted on the goose bumps of her aged and wrinkled skin. The discomfort of the cold is appeased by the comfort of the sounds of life outside her window.

Co-Operatives and Platforms

In the early 20th century, cotton was a common cash-crop grown in the area that is now modern Uganda. As the new British protectorate was becoming increasingly integrated into international commerce and trade, individuals and families also had to adapt and find ways of acquiring currency for the changing economy. In adapting, many starting growing cotton and coffee, which was then bought from individual farmers by merchant middlemen, who then marketed and sold the produce to those who beneficiated the product, such as ginners in the case of cotton, and to industrial centres in Western markets.

Fort Hare

11 January 2033

Towards the turnstiles of the Chartwell Gautrain station, Tengo saw Gerhhadus. They were both on their way to the factories of Modderfontein to begin another day of labour. Out of his pocket, Tengo took out his port to send Gerhadus a vibration to acknowledge his presence.

The Cost of Software

The first piece of software I ever remember wanting was Fifa 98. I was in primary school and into gaming. I asked my parents to buy me a copy, and they eventually did. It was a magical experience. The unboxing. Inserting the CD into the CD drive, and watching the progress bar while waiting for the installation to finish on our Windows 98 computer at home. I think it may have cost R300 or so at the time. Later on, I got bored of it. So I swapped it for Sim City with my neighbour. The folly was only realised later.

The Internet Does Forget

There was this now-peculiar thing that many families did in the 90s. In the living rooms of people’s houses, they had photo albums for visitors to look through. Especially when one hadn’t visited in a long time, a picture could spark a conversation about an interesting place, or invite communal mourning regarding a common acquaintance who had passed away.

Ubering in Kampala

It’s interesting how a technological experience is not the same in different places around the world. The same app used in one city may be used very differently in another city. I found this out while in Kampala in February this year.

Does This App Come In isiXhosa?

Many moons ago, I saw a tweet of someone posting a screenshot from their computer. The words on the application that was in the screenshot was not in English, but appeared to be in some Eastern European language. And then it struck me: there are some folk in this world who never see English. Not in their street signs. Not in their books. Not in their apps. Not in their computers. Nowhere. So I wanted to see how close to this I could get.

On Data Breaches

It’s becoming more and more common. Another company has suffered a data breach. Two weeks ago from the time of writing it was Dischem. Not too long ago, it was TransUnion. And Nedbank. There have been questions raised on social media commonly asking “why is this becoming more common?”. I have thoughts on this.

On Agility

Earlier this year, Kauai, the healthy food restaurant, released a new mobile app. I’m a regular user of the Kauai app, because I purchase their subscriptions, a sweet deal where one can get smoothies for 30 days for only R399.

On Digitisation, Obscurity and the Tyranny of the Quantitative

Every business needs to be digital. Maybe.