Kampala is the capital city of Uganda, a country found in East Africa. Like any city in the world, it has hordes of poor and rich people. However, this short story will illustrate how John (not their real names), a father of four, took more miracles than fate to get his children back to school and also managed to survive a new government law on forestry.

John had immigrated to the city in the mid-1980s when life in Kampala was affordable for many people. Throughout the years that followed, John made a living selling coal stoves. The raw material for these stoves were rusty rails in Namuwongo, a suburb south of the city and 5 miles from his work station. the fuel was wood from felled forests

John enjoyed his job and was able to raise a happy family. He could meet his fellow tribesmen in the evenings at a local bar where they could discuss household problems.

Because his business was so thriving, John didn’t think to save for bad times. As fate would strike an unsuspecting lion, the government banned all charcoal stoves in a bill titled “Save Our Forests.”

John was caught off guard and ill prepared. His children had reached the high school level and he needed more funds to keep them in school. After much thought, John found an easier way to make money; that is deceiving people.

In Kampala, intelligence is associated with well-being and wealth.

So John came up with a plan to buy nice shoes, shirts, and suits just to pretend he’s an investor. He could go to the Post Office every day with a nice briefcase.

One Tuesday morning, a British man working for a prominent non-governmental organization (NGO) met John at the post office. Because he was smart, funny, and interesting, John exchanged contacts with this expat after convincing him that he was an investor who was ruined by a bad financial deal and needed a little funding to get his business off the ground.

John and James, the expat (not their real names), would meet at the golf course in the evenings. This new friendship was to be the source of John’s wealth because this Englishman recommended him to do most of the local business for his NGO, such as insurance services, printing services, cleaning services, procurement services, etc. .

He formed a company John & Partners LLC after being advised by a local friend and it is in the name of this company that John was able to obtain most of the contracts.

Through a mix of ingenuity, hard work, and luck, John was able to build a company that not only grew but employed most of the former craftsmen who used to work with him as cleaners and couriers. He indirectly saved most of his fellow tribesmen from unemployment.

When the NGO closed its operations in mid-2000 and James the expatriate returned to London, John’s company was able to venture into insurance services given the amount of capital it had accumulated.

Today, John’s company is one of the fastest growing insurance companies in Kampala. He sent all his children to study at universities in Europe and America and they are the ones who run the company.

The story is a remarkable turnaround for an immigrant artisan who tricked an expat into believing in him as an investor, then cultivated a friendship that saved John from looming poverty.