Albert Ahabwe

KAMPALA, UGANDA -- Businesses in Uganda are in high gear as the World Cup fever hits top peak with soccer lovers.

The tournament, which starts this week in South Africa, is being hosted on the African continent for the first time in its 80-year history.

The best placed business owners to rip for the benefits of such sporting events have ordinarily been the bars which always seem to get the crowds for especially leagues and tournaments of mainly football. These businesses seemed to have taken a beating in their incomes when the regular league seasons ended. However, with the World cup looming, they are swiping at the idea of ripping at the idea of 'hosting ' fans of the biggest sporting event in the world. This time round, hotels, restaurants, bars and even broadcast stations have re-packaged their services to cater for the high customer enthusiasm for the event in a bid not to lose out on the heightened anticipation for the event. Micheal, a member of staff at one of Kampala's biggest sports bars Blu Haze said, "Yes, we're ready for the World Cup. Since we shifted to our new premises, we have given much prominence to sports especially football and this has improved our clientele and consequently boosted our sales." He said.

"On some of the biggest soccer nights, we're stretched for space here, yet we're one of the most spacious bars in this whole city. With the World Cup, we're going have 2 project shots and a variety of other special services to accommodate all our soccer loving clientele."

He added sighting the UEFA Champions' League final between Inter Milan and Bayern Munich as the biggest football event the bar has hosted.

Reports also have it that Ugandan Events mogul Elvis Sekyanzi, who owns Silk Events, one of the leading events companies in the region has been awarded a very lucrative deal to show all the 64 World Cup games in the two main National Stadia of Rwanda (Nyamirambo and Amahoro). Efforts to reach Mr. Sekyanzi for confirmation were futile.

But it is not only the refined or uptown business people that look to earn from the tournament. Dickson Muhumuza, a driver with a government department who owns a video hall, commonly known as 'Kibanda' in Ndeeba, an outskirts Kampala suburb is in high preparations too.

"I have purchased a bigger TV screen too for my Kibanda in preparation for the world cup. I've been using a 21inch TV and my customers were complaining that it was small. Now I have no more complaints. Am in business," he says proudly.

Uganda Broadcasting Cooperation (UBC) TV, the national broadcaster has also secured the rights to broadcast all the games of the tournament. The TV has attracted heavy advertising from the locally known sports advertisers MTN, Coca-Cola and even the surprise new entrants Mukwano group who have not been known to be soccer enthusiasts. This makes it a lot easier for those viewers who cannot afford to pay for DSTV or watch the games at the public places.

MTN and Coca-cola have also entered a venture to broadcast the games live at Nakivubo stadium in downtown Kampala for the public at a cheap cost of purchasing a coke drink at the entrance. This story had been published by EABW earlier. The smallest unit of coca-cola here is Ush600 (about US$0.4). The games shown will include the opening game and ceremony and all the games starting from the Quarter-final stages until the final.