Voice From The Manager

Dear readers, it is with deep gratitude and joy that I welcome you to this edition of Gangsters to Transformers. For so many years, Uganda has struggled with a very difficult population demographic which shows that Uganda’s youngest population is at the brim of expansion, yet when you look at the people that are growing old, from the ages of 45 and above, these are the very productive community but they are doing length. And as such we realize, the population under the age bracket of 9 years up to 30 years is fast growing and these, are majorly caused by the rampant teenage pregnancies that are going high and youths populating because they have nothing to do. Statistics has it, over 70% to 80% of Uganda’s population is unemployed, those in the working age under 30 years.

This poses only one problem in the nation, those that are independent, who can be able to contribute to the GPD growth of the nation, is actually narrowing down and it is small. Much as the population getting  education is growing by the day, it is also key to observe employability, and the job availability. It is visible, the employment opportunities are very slim in this nation, this therefore, frustrates the youths especially those who go to school and given birth to by the young generation, the teenager mothers. They mature and first begin to understand that they have some basic needs they cannot bring to themselves. Because these are vibrant young people who are not put to thorough productive use, they look for alternatives on how to survive and usually these alternatives, bring them to a certain level of vulnerability, that anybody can use them.

Most of them out of the fact that they could not afford their livelihood, they resorted to other alternatives of getting quick money, which were at times, very dangerous. This pushed them into criminality, and open to anybody who wanted to use them to do shabby work, whether within private or public sector in order for them to live in the moment. Statistics are not clearly provided for but in Kampala city, there has been a very tremendous growth in the slums. This is so significant, and the population there, it is actually alarming. One, these are victims of urban rural migration, and two, from the background I have provided, people are trying to survive through settling in the slums hence the population growth there and we call them the “ghettos.”

Inside the ghettos there is what we call the depos. And in Kampala, depos grew faster than in the ghettos. Depos are categorized of people who do different things, you can find a depo of prostitutes, of substance users, sellers or dealers, and these substances range from drugs to substances, marijuana, jet fuel to cocaine. These are people spread throughout the city, and when they get the money, they invest into more rioters’ activities. There is also a group that sprung out because of the disturbing political stands in the nation, some politicians go down to these people and ghettos to use them as political rioters, cause chaos and disorganize the city. When done, they give them peanuts, this therefore, explains Kampala’s history why time and time again, there were riots.

But from the time, 7Hills was formed, there has been a drastic drop in those criminal activities. To put the point home, 7Hills, Kampala, has a composition of all those young persons, both young men and women who got frustrated along the way. These are the ones that got tired of getting mewed, running up and down with the law enforcers, trying to survive and being used by whatever person; politician and private sector peoples to cause chaos and disorganize the city.

7Hills is that long awaited answer the nation was waiting for to be able to manage and redefine the rioters, plus unemployment among people especially, the youth. In the same brain and same line, 7 Hills was formed to reduce criminality in the Capital, to be able to bring together and maximize the potential of these young persons in the city, in order for them to become productive, give back to the country, to think beyond job seeking and have an alternative in job creation. In that way, we tap into their potential of innovation, creativity, and tap into these minds that can do an extra in keeping the city clean and green without any criminality but while productive and trying to be resourceful to the nation.

Furthermore, believe me, you and I, these are young men and women who already have children and have to write a statement to their next generation that is coming. 7Hills is here to make them understand that the children they have given birth to, need to forge a way forward so as they engage in activities that they will present to them. They are also making a statement to the generations behind then that there is life after all if one stands up to create and think out of the boxes.

Last but not least, 7Hills encourages financial discipline. We engage in financial literacy and therefore promote entrepreneurship and savings. Through this, we believe that someone is able to save and able to invest, this therefore makes them busy and forget about their rioting nature since more time

shall be taken by job creation in order for them to improve their lives, income and contribute to the nation’s basket. In that way, we think, 7Hills is the long awaited answer to the unemployment question especially in the cities to be able bring sanity within the nation. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.