Pat Kayongo

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.

On Bank Zero

I want Bank Zero to succeed. I really do. But I have some concerns.

The Outside World

“Can I go play?”, Senzo asks his mother after changing from his school uniform.

“First, have you finished eating your lunch?” his mother asks. “Yes, I have, and put the plate in the sink. So can I go play?”

“Ok, you can go. But be back by 5”

A house on a hill

I once took a picture of a house on a hill
A house on a hill
A house on a hill
With a red roof and a wooden door
Bright green grass
Like the pictures kids draw

I longed to go back to the house on the hill
The house on the hill
The house on the hill
To remember the trees and flowers
The feelings I felt
In a more naïve hour

At my bedside sat the house on the hill
The house on the hill
The house on the hill
As a door my daydreams could enter through
So that somehow older beliefs
Could be magically renewed

In today’s paper I saw the house on the hill
The house on the hill
The house on the hill
Reconstructed and transformed
Unrecognizable from
The nostalgic world my memories had formed

All that’s left is my picture of the house on the hill
The house on the hill
The house on the hill
Held together by my heart’s frame
My mind’s filter
And the day’s shame

Columbia

* According to Wikipedia “Columbia is the female national personification of the United States.”

Within the extra-fortified walls of yet another Broadacres townhouse estate, Columbia rides her merchant bicycle, selling her wares. She gives the impenetrable security guard her usual friendly universal smile, as he escorts her in, interrogating her, seemingly knowledgeably, on her state of affairs.

On Asset Management

There is the biblical narrative of Yossef, a man sold into slavery by his brothers, eventually finding himself as a prisoner in Egypt. As time goes by, the monarch of Egypt, the Pharaoh, has a perplexing dream, and is unable to understand its meaning. After hearing the dream, Yossef helps the king understand that a time of plenty and abundance is expected within his realm of authority, proceeded by a time of famine and drought. The recommendation of Yossef in light of this foretelling was to store up in the time of plenty, so that there will be sustenance in the time of lack.