Steven Paul Jobs

Below is part of what I wrote for the "People in the News" section of the Daily Monitor newspaper (and it was published on 7 October, pg 24). I take it as my tribute to such a great personality, that is why I have posted on the blog

Many think that success is going from achievement to another with falling along the way, others are often discouraged by the fear of failure that they don’t even try, yet others will simply be glad to bask in the glory of an achievement for as long as they can ride the wave.

This week, Steven Paul Jobs, popularly known as Steve Jobs of the highly successful Apple Inc., succumbed to a rare form of pancreatic cancer at the age of 56. Almost all eulogies, obituaries and tributes inevitably mention how he revolutionised the technology industry. You can hardly blame them because the name Steve Jobs has become synonymous with iPod, iPhone, iPad, iTunes and iMac, which were developed during his tenure as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The digital music player, iPod, introduced in 2001, has 70 per cent share of the market. The iTunes music store has sold more than 16 billion songs since 2003. By December 2010, 92 million units of the iPhone mobile phone had been sold. In the same year, the iPad tablet computer was introduced; currently more than 29 million have been bought. The company he co-founded in 1976, now has a yearly revenue of US$65bn (UShs185 trillion).

Even with such a string of successes, Jobs remained a simple man in dress, character and outlook. He frequently dressed in jeans, a turtle-neck and running shoes. According to those who have worked with him say he did not dwell on past achievements. Probably that is why he seemed unfazed when a number of the products that he introduced to the market flopped or he branched out to animated films after he was forced out of the company in 1985 and, on his return in 1996, he continued to develop the products that brought Apple back from the brink.

May be his disposition can be attributed to his Buddhist faith or having been brought up as an adopted child. Perhaps this statement from a speech he made at Stanford University provides an insight into Steve Jobs: “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose”.

Note: a substantial part of the information was sourced from the Wall Street Journal

We Need More Than Vuvuzelas For Uganda Cranes Pt 2

On the eve of this year's Independence Day, Uganda Cranes hosts neighbours, Kenya's Harambee Stars, at Namboole Stadium in Kampala. This is one of the do-or-die matches for qualification to 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. Despite expectation that we are expected to give our all in support to the national side, I am not keen on having my heart broken for the umpteenth time.

While we may need to support Cranes, Uganda's football needs more than vuvuzelas on such Saturdays to get things right. It is a process that has to start from the grassroots to the very top. We scream ourselves hoarse then towards the end of the campaign, there are those questions we start to ask because the Cranes do not seem willing to win emphatically.(Watching the previous match against Angola's Palancas Negras in Luanda, one would get this impression)

In the final analysis, I don't have much hope in Uganda's chances in getting to the 2012 Cup of Nations.....the whole FUFA administration, search for upcoming talent, football league, finances, fans' support, media, corporate sponsorship, government support/budget et cetera will have to be fine tuned and tweaked to work in sync. Only then can we be prepared to take on the world. It is only then that Uganda will win more awards than just the CECAFA 'thing' [which has become boring].

Food for thought: Why is it that there are more fans of English Premiership clubs in Uganda than for the national team? More media coverage of the lives of the Premiership players and their WAGs than just results of matches from our own football league?

Read pt 1 here