I think it has been established that I come from Uganda. My profile picture says so too with the majestic Black, Yellow and Red. I absolutely love my country and I love it even more now that I’ve been away for so long. I was started to realize the opportunities it has within its capacity.

Uganda is known as the pearl of Africa. This title was given to us my the british explorer Victoria. Uganda has immense opportunities available but I just wish we had the innovation to make what we have a tourist based country. We have so many beauties but the locals have been there all their lives that the beauty is just normal to them and it is rather impossible to tell them to make something out of something that is of second nature to them.

However when tourists come to places like Gorilla trekking, Safaris, the source of the river Nile and so many more, they are intrigued. It is just sad that we don’t have businesses installed to promote tourism that could significantly boost our economy.

Businesses could be created to support rafting and kayaking in the river Nile. Site-seeing, bird-watching, trailing and lots more could be done in this location.

Paragliding!

Bungee jumping in the Worlds third deepest crater lake? How did people not think of this?

Opportunities at Lake Victoria…windsurfing, Sailing, fishing, resorts…Why are we not doing this?!

When I finish university at UBC, I will strive to start multiple tourism-based businesses in Uganda commemorating the beauty that is present. I will do it in such a way that won’t destroy but will further the economy.

Alice Bo wrote a blog on the legalization of marijuana. It was titled,

Economics of marijuana legalization

I, likewise to Alice, recently moved to Vancouver and have also noticed the predominance of marijuana in the pop-culture scene. It is debated rather strongly on whether or not it should be legalized. Effects of marijuana in general but Vancouver seems to ploy more attention to tourists and locals as well. “The best weed in the world” is what I directly heard a marketer say. Though Alice was talking and debating on the economics of marijuana legalization, I would like to talk about the ethics behind the promoting that is done on the streets of Vancouver. I have never seen this in my life and I thought someone would get arrested if someone did that. But then I got told that according to the law, possession of Marijuana is illegal nothing else. Therefore, someone could be walking the streets high. This was rather interesting to me because back in Uganda, we are so corrupt that we just pay the police off if someone if caught doing something illegal. I came to Canada very cautious of my decisions until i saw this stand.

Is this ethical? Can you campaign on something that is illegal on its own. Yes, we can picket, riot, strike and do all sorts of things… but on an illegal substance? I don’t want to be biased. It is a free country which is what was rather startling to me. They say Canada is a free country but in Uganda…rules/laws such as these nearly exist because of our corruption rates.

I was just a very interesting thing to think about.

Looking at blogs across the board of my classmates, I found one that was particularly appealing to me. This is because of its connection to Africa. There were countless blog posts on the third world countries in Africa with the successful business that coexist in a society that is looked down upon.

I was particularly interested with one named

Will Kenya’s comeback in the fight against terrorism be right on time?

I am from Uganda and the terrorist group that Rosemary talks about have directly attacked Uganda in the past. This summer when I heard of the Kenyan attack at Westgate mall, I was shocked because I have been to that mall countless times but what shocked me even more was the cooperation Kenyan citizens exuberayting. Millions of people were donating blood, many were praying and the government was doing an excellent job of keeping the nation calm.

Now that Westgate mall had shut down, that would mean a big loss to all companies that were situated there. Many peoples jobs were lost. It was pretty much a tourist hub, where everyone who is anyone was there.

If this happened in Uganda, I doubt that the approach they would use would be effective…simply because of our lack of enthusiasm.

Kudos to Kenya for such an unbelievable recovery. Al Shabab said they were to hit Uganda next, security precautions are already being made..so I am rather impressed with my country too.

It really hasn’t been a long time since snapchat came out. It is a social networking app that has sprung the Americas, Europe and other parts of the world. They say that the success rates of Snapchats growth is larger than that of Facebook. That may be true but it is argued that Snapchat will be bigger that Facebook. I personally do not agree with that opinion. Not because of any issues I have with Snapchat (in fact, I use Snapchat more than Facebook) but because of reasons much deeper than growth alone. The usage of Snapchat requires quite a large amount of resources. You need a smartphone or Ipad or any device that can instal an app. Secondly, you need internet and thirdly, the knowledge to work the app. Facebook Users on the other had can access Facebook with mere Internet access. This can be done in third world countries on a computer. But Snapchat cannot necessarily be used in a third world country. There are more Facebook users that Snapchat users and I feel that that is how it will always be.

Snap Chat has done very well in the past year targeting to the youth and active social networkers. People love taking pictures of their lives and what better way to make it more convenient and temporary? They have lots of exciting aspects that always keep the user interested. I personally love SnapChat and would recommend the application to any user. In fact, I wish my Mom were on Snapchat. It makes communication sooooo much easier.

If most of us look above, we remember a musical generation. A few years where music was torrented and obtained in a flash. Life in attaining free music was amazing until it was notified and implemented on.

Limewire has had millions of users where music, movies and many more things could be streamed. It was a Win-Lose situation for the people who consumed the product and person/people who created the product, respectively. Artists worked hard for their masterpieces but organizations such as Limewire were reducing their chances of making maximum sales and was therefore named Copyright Infringement.

This relates to IT systems in Businesses. Copyright is a huge deal in the business world and serious punishments can be implemented if someone is found to be carrying out copyright. This is the reason as to why Limewire shut down.

Although there are still many businesses that carrying out torrenting to different users, they are still successful in doing so and the issue has not been completely solved. Shutting LimeWire down was only one step. I did love Limewire for personal use but when I thought about the aspect of stealing from an artist, it brought all sorts of ethical issues in my mind. It is not ethical to b sharing music that has not been paid for. It is not ethical to not reward someone for creating something everyone enjoys.

Coming to Canada I never knew what to do when it came to making transactions and having a n actual bank account. I had heard from when I was in Toronto that CIBC was a very good bank so there I was making an account. Little did I know that I would be missing out on an aspect of Scotia Bank’s promotion that I really wanted. I am an avid movie-goer and arriving in Vancouver I noticed how much of a film city it was. I then quickly noticed Scotia Bank’s  huge movie promotion. Not only was it happening all around Vancouver but also directly at UBC. They were giving out free popcorn, easy sign ups and lots more. I felt for some time that I had chosen the wrong bank. I really wanted that promotion and I found it quite amazing how such a small part of the business can bring so many customers in. Scotia Bank has their on Theatre in Downtown Vancouver which is very successful when it coms to blockbuster films being watched. As an outsider to Vancouver, everyone would recommend going to the Scotia Bank Theatre to watch movies…I wondered why at first but I then came to realize that despite the very good service, Scotia Bank Theatre had earned a large market share in the industry. They have “Scene Cards” that tempt customers to joint heir bank, especially with a given of 5 free movies. It isnt cheap to watch a movie here in Vancouver so I thought this was a wonderful deal. Almost everyone goes to Scotia Bank Theatre. So why choose Scotia Bank and not the others? They achieve total customer satisfaction.

Apple and Samsung have been in the longest feud according to both of their consumers. The choice is either Apple or Samsung. Nothing else. This feud has put many businesses at an all time low such as Blackberry and even Sony. Sony, as oppose to Blackberry, had other products that they could focus on. They could focus on their camera’s, TV’s and many more whereas Blackberry was rather one-sided. However, I came across an advert on Facebook and I was stunned at the incredibility of this marketing. It was innovative and creative on a level that didn’t match the minds of the consumers. The link above is a link to the ad.

Having a such a prestigious situation of a wedding occurring, a fight would be just the thing to distract the audience. I shows the struggle of consumers choosing..Why not take another option? The Sony.

In my eyes it was an advert that sparked and wont be forgotten soon enough.

Yes, we know that Singapore airlines has been ranked the best airline company in the world but I want to tell you why Emirates is still my personal favourite. Not only mine…but almost half the worlds’.

First of all, what exactly helps you judge what makes the best airline? It is a service business and the main objective in a service business is to please the customers. Comparing two businesses can be very challenging because of the different criteria that is present. When it comes to airline companies such as Singapore airlines and Emirates airlines, it would all come down to customer satisfaction and research and development. Since the first airplanes were made a lot has changed therefore if more research and development is done, air crafts can evolve to meet customer needs and wants to a specific degree. Emirates now offers bedrooms in their aircrafts in first class lounges yet ensuring customer safety. It is a huge point of difference compared to other airline companies.

Usually people hate the travel part of travelling merely because of crowded public spaces that are uncomfortable with bad food. Emirates has taken the extra step of increasing the size of their air crafts to meet customer needs. They also use high quality chefs, however that is a point of parity compared to Singapore airlines.

Overall, I feel that in order for airline companies to grow the way Emirates has, they will have to meet customer needs and wants through thorough research and development.

Racial differences have always been prominent in international societies. Racial differences in colour, religion and all sorts of characteristics that make people different. The Italian founded company Benetton Group has been campaigning their brand United Colours of Benetton all around the world. Their mission statement consists of the ambition to unite all the different colours of the world. This phenomenon is said to be one that will “bring the world and its conflicts together”. In my opinion, it is quite difficult to resolve conflicts and in what way would they do this? I came to find out through the media that the advertisements United Colours of Benetton were putting up were of questionable value. These ads went against ethics and moral values of different cultures and religions. For example, they put up pictures of Pope benedict and a muslim Imam french kissing. As well as pictures like a Black woman breast-feeding a white baby. These at first caused a huge rumble in society until they realised what the provocative pictures really meant. It meant to actually united every colour of the world as one. This struck me and a lot of people I knew and this is definitely one of the most ethically diverse companies I know.