Urban Pizza Survival

Urban Pizza Survival

The Afropolitan story

Sam Mwaka-karama

                Cyril, a hand in pocket slowly took the stairs down, fiddling with his phone. Lunch time. The ultra modern office blocks were emptying as staffers chattering away walked out to various eating places, cafes and restaurants – with all these fashionable young, where you ate mattered.

                Fast and dead slow. These young men and women were defined by dress code: Jeans or Khakis and checkered or fine golfer polo - in black, gray or charcoal trousers, white, blue or checkered shirts, tie or open neck were the new young office workers. Mob on the streets mid-day.

                 “Cyril, where do you have lunch?”

Asked one of the more senior staff in the organization where Cyril is a new employee. Patrick heads the ICT team Cyril works in – Patrick and group passed by walking-on a bit faster to go secure table before the place was cramped. Wherever they always went for lunch.

“Aha I am not sure – I will find a place” answered Cyril a bit off guard.

The rowdy pompous group went on talking the Kiganda dialect, this younger generation Baganda love their language.

“Hi, Cyril – you know any eating places around, where do you have lunch?” asked one of three young women also just out on the lunch prowl.

“Hi Jane, I am headed a bit far out in town”

“Okay see you back in office then” said Jane as Cyril quickly skewed across the large double avenue waved and dashed off. He wasn’t sure of all these sudden interests in him – better get out of the way.

As a new employee, and coming all the way from Gulu in Northern Uganda, where he had his entire education. Cyril naturally has a bit of a task adjusting. In the couple of months he worked, he learnt that there is a big social divide between Northerners and the Southerners – and in-between, a whole lot of outright foreigners. The economic valley was also deepening and widening every day.

Today, his lunch money was short for his usual meal, so he went and bought a chapatti and the smaller bottle of fruit soda. Cyril normally went for his traditional Acholi dishes – lately they have become as much expensive, there were days he wouldn’t just afford them.

Back in office after the obsession and gig called lunch-time, he was back on the day’s website design and hosting busy schedule when his phone rung; picking the call, he saw it was a company client – Cyril glanced at his head of technical design and hosting as he answered and listened.

“Hello! Yes speaking… good afternoon” answered Cyril

After listening for a moment he, turned again and glanced at his department head and this time he found Patrick looking at him intently. So he said.

“Okay, I’ll get onto your website right now and check-out what is happening – call you back, errh alternatively let me put you through to my department head, Patrick”

And Patrick seems to have sensed something, was already moving towards Cyril… the new employee quickly explains the issue handing over his phone to the department head. Patrick tells the client that they would be with them in an hour considering the driving distance and traffic.

∞

At the client company offices, they were complaining that their website done by the design and hosting company had suddenly become erratic and unstable. So Patrick and Cyril went trouble shooting. And after perhaps an hour, they had identified and rectified the problem.

“Okay we have identified your problem… and it is all fixed” said Patrick “you will have to guard your code very closely – anybody might access and destabilize your site”

He then wrote out a work detail invoice payment demand note and handed it over to the client company CEO – the client complained immediately.

“What! This is the ransom we have to pay… no there is a mistake – this is too much and not commensurate to the maintenance work you have done”. Said the client CEO

“Well, this is high tech – you can keep your money, but then your site won’t be ineffective and eventually might collapse” Said Patrick packing his stuff in his back pack. They talked for a while.

“Okay, Patrick between you and me tell me one to one, how can we go it cheaper”

Patrick laughed!

“Mr. CEO our work cannot be defined in those terms ‘Cheaper?’ ICT and high tech don’t come cheap – the service provision is a chain from land based to the satellites, we are only a small unit in the entire structure – let us see how do we make it affordable? Because in a sustainable business whose services are constant, the unit price for the service has to be affordable – that is the principle”.

The client CEO was quiet a moment… swiveled on his seat looking out the window.

“Okay give me your new terms… otherwise I rather close the site; because we have no income, business is on the downward spiral – we thought the website would boost business but in over a year there is no improvement”

Patrick, the website design and hosting department head looked at Cyril intently for a long moment. In his mind was a serious predicament: he was a mere employee in the web company, he personally had jinxed the website to provoke this situation – he needed side income. But then now evidently the client CEO has a point; business was slump, it is all over the press and media… which would mean some smaller companies might opt-out of being hosted. It all has to do with developed world control of direct financial transfers, limiting lower level transactions, slowing of the oil projects, monetary rates, trade imbalances, the anti homosexuality act. Mutual political suspicions and ultimately extreme travel visa control. All these conspire to make business slow. A rather dicey situation – but here and now the cubes are in his hands and the smooth felt is waiting… he has to roll out the dice.

“Alright, let me be fair and very frank with you - ignore the invoice company services demand note; you pay me personally fifty percent of that invoice value, deal? And I will be available on call to maintain hosting services at that rate… all you do is call Cyril or I, whenever there is a problem.”

The CEO picked the note and tore it up… and threw it in the trash!

“Deal”

He said and, opening his drawer, counted the money there and then.

In the car Patrick said to Cyril that life was tough and uncompromising - he would rather do that with a Northerner - because his own fellow Bantu would chew the money and still fart the information to the company directors.

“Look Cyril, you need to fit in – dress well, eat in decent places, take a nice chic out once in a while – how do you do that on your monthly salary? There are degree guys hoofing it on the streets with the under-dogs. Your brother or sister in Kitgum needs mobile money once in a while – how do you meet that? What I want from you Cyril, is dead silence in office and do exactly as I tell you – a Muganda boy will not do that for me, so I would rather cooperate silently with you.”   

They had stopped at a coffee shop and had a long chat and, worked-out the details. They had nearly twenty good companies on their income list and all they had to do was jinx a site once in a while – then wait for the call.

∞

Benon, the department head for marketing was a heavy set proud and very loud guy from Rukungiri in Kabale western Uganda. The Kiga fellow was a good marketer and field man. He had brought in nearly all the companies hosted by the web and hosting firm. Benon ran into the two; Patrick and Cyril outside the lift – the former rugby player grabbed hold of Patrick by the elbow pulling him aside.

“Patrick, been looking for you – am on the trail of some good clients but, first I have some meatless bones to pick with you”

Patrick laughed as he quickly placed two notes for twenty k in Benon’s breast pocket – they scattered out of there laughing. They belong to a soccer watching pub in Bugolobi… but Benon only suspects that Patrick was a rat with many rat holes from where he seem to make lots of cash.

While Patrick parts with whatever cash he has to Benon, because he was actually the guy pulling in the client companies who often gets jinxed by him. So whenever he made the money, he has to also try to sometimes waylay Benon in some chance meet – like weekends. Just to pass on the proceeds. This has made them friends. They both enjoy eating pizza and soda and running the girls. ***

     The writer is an Independent Thinker, Blogger and Author