EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW:
It’s rare to find a podcast as wholeheartedly, sensitively, and joyfully concerned with talking through often our society’s seemingly complicated and most puzzling experiences. The first time I listened in to the Hash Time with Nabuguzi, I thought she was a different kind of media personality who was more concerned with personal development and discussing things that often bind most of us hostage. She wasn’t. Far from mainstream media, Ms. Nabuguzi Kiwanuka is a Lawyer by profession and the founder of Equate Foundation, an end-to-end community-based solutions provider in the areas of education, awareness, economic empowerment, and sustainable livelihood for vulnerable communities.
Hash Time with Nabuguzi…
What problems does your business solve?
Hash Time with Nabuguzi Kiwanuka is a podcast on which millennials get to unravel social constructs, discuss self-development in line with emotional/mental health and everything in between that directly or indirectly affects us in the millennial world around us. With this kind of platform, we get to explore and engage in pertinent conversations society is silent about.
Tell me about your humble business beginnings. How did you maneuver through?
I wish there is much to the story about how it all began but it all started with me deciding that I no longer had to wait to be a professional at podcasting. It was all about “how about I just jump in and learn on the job?” As a creative, imposter syndrome is one of those things I struggle with. It was harder to get past it when I didn’t know what it was but I’ve gotten to learn to work through it.
Why should a customer buy or pay for your products or services?
Hash Time with Nabuguzi Kiwanuka fills the void or rather vacuum created by the mainstream media. The podcast offers a safe space for the millennials to openly conversate about the things that have been stifling their ability to thrive. The topics that society has continued to dismiss and render irrelevant yet they sit at the core of our beingness.
Is there a particular business moment or memory that stands out for you?
I cannot point out one single moment that stood out for me in my podcasting journey because for every guest that comes on, there is just so much to learn from them. The cocktails of courage and vulnerability that they come with. The transitions they go through and how they continuously unravel themselves. It’s all inspiring to have many of them/us, voicing their/ our concerns and not being afraid to shake up the status quo or what I’d call unravel social constructs. They’re a place of empowerment, those conversations.
Is there an achievement or contribution that you are most proud of?
I am proud of the moments people choose to seek professional help especially when it comes to their emotional and mental health. When you listen to the podcast, 90% of the conversations highlight people’s experiences with mental health. For some, how they’re coping and the others, how they managed to cross to the other side of the spectrum. For every single person that has chosen to unpack their brokenness, because of the conversations we get to hold on Hash Time with Nabuguzi Kiwanuka, that is where my pride is.
Why?
For years on end, society has been hell-bent on prescribing emotional suppression for all the emotional or mental disequilibrium in our life. When it comes to assessing its feasibility, the prescription has caused more turbulence than tranquility in our inner lives and ultimately the society.
What attracted you to the world of business?
I guess it’s nature’s call. I’ve been about this culture of disrupting the status quo and checking adults whom I felt had to be checked, right from childhood. I also love thought-triggering conversations. So creating a platform on which we can, as millennials, have more conversations with well-meaning people in society, is how I got myself into podcasting.
What inspires you?
Waking up to a new day, every new day is an inspiration. An assurance that all are possible.
What was the biggest challenge you faced at the beginning of your business journey?
Not knowing what to do and not believing in myself.
Where do you see your business in the next 20 years?
I’ll be close to 50, we’ll possibly be having conversations about menopause😂😂😂but anyway, Hash Time with Nabuguzi Kiwanuka will be a household name. A millennial’s go-to place for rejuvenation.
Is there anything else you would like to share with me?
Just do whatever you want to do. Whatever your dream is, just start. You’ll figure out perfection when you’re already on the job.
Is there any question I should have asked you, but did not?
Imposter syndrome gets the best of us. It never goes away. It just keeps changing form, the higher you go. Learning how to work through it while you pursue your dreams, is the only magic one needs, to keep oneself on track.
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