When you meet him behind the counter at Endiro coffee, he is busy laying this tool down and picking the other as puffs of smoke drift from several coffee machines spread around him. A quick disruption of his work will throw a broad smile across his smooth bearded face as he attends to your query.
Endiro coffee is one coffee shop that has made a trademark within Kampala and its outskirts for its outstanding services. With its recent branches spreading across the country from Entebbe to Mbarara, we couldn’t help but wonder who might be some of the faces behind this mushrooming empire. That is how we landed on Amon Mukisa, Cavendish University’s Mass communication and Journalism student with an interesting life story.
Amon Mukisa completed his high school from Lubiri Senior Secondary School where he shared a seat with music sensation VIP Jemo. He was the Chief Editor of the Lubiri school magazine (The Lubirian) as well as editor for the school’s bulletin. He says that his first dream has always been becoming a media person, something that he is still juggling with his coffee-service career. He was once on NBSTV’s Sunday mix show in 2020 and currently hosts the Coffee break show, an online coffee show that is soon getting subscribed to Startimes.
He is currently in his third year at Cavendish University as he chases dreams with Next radio for a future show. Amon also works with Rock FM, an online-based radio. He also runs a YouTube channel called Gather Now Network that has over 5000 subscribers where he has hosted several names like Amin’s son, music songstress Aroma, former NBSTV frontline show host Joseph Sabiiti and many more.
Amon spared some time and answered a few of our questions;
How did all start?
I started my YouTube channel after an interaction with NBS TV’s news anchor Mabel. I just went to her, I remember it was a Sunday, and I told her my ambitions and she said some magic words to me. She told me not to wait to first get employed in the media industry but to start right away with a YouTube channel. It was the best advice ever. At first we used to talk about many issues on the channel, mental issues, youth talks and the like but now I want to concentrate more on coffee since I intend to become a coffee consultant in the future.
Had you ever dreamt of becoming a coffee guru?
I had never thought that I would ever become a barista. I didn’t even know about baristas or coffee beverages. It was in my senior six vacation where a friend of mine advised me to take a barista-related course and indeed within just a few weeks of attending, I had already decided not to look back. Three months into the course, I had already gotten a job at Endiro coffee.
Any regrets?
All I can say is that I have never regretted taking that decision. It is through it that I realised how broad the coffee industry is. First of all, it is a classy job for any campuser yet it is well paying and gives you all the freedom you want. It is actually a job for the youths. You can hardly find any barista who is 35 and above and this makes it enjoyable,”
What have you achieved so far?
Coffee has connected me to various people that I never thought I would ever talk to. Interacting with big people like Robert Kabushenga, Bobi Wine and family and many more has been something life changing for me. It is something that I’m grateful for. I also use the money I earn from my barista job to take care of some expenses for my YouTube channel
How do you manage all these gigs with studies simultaneously?
I work at Endiro Coffee for eight hours everyday from Monday to Friday. Then I attend my media gigs at Rock FM, The Coffee Break show and my YouTube Channel on weekends. I always have two days in a week to attend to my studies at Cavendish and Endiro is very supportive to us who work as we study. I can say it’s quite a hustle but with a good plan, everything becomes easy.
What major challenges have you faced?
The main challenge is money of course. You know you get close to all these high class people and these expensive places yet you have to match. In the media, people start expecting you to be making big. Also, dealing with different kinds of people is somehow a challenge as you know everyone has their own temperament. Otherwise, juggling all this started as something hard to do but with time, I learnt how to balance everything.
Amon is one determined guy on his way of penetrating the media industry and we are hopeful that soon we shall see him quite often on the big screens.
You can follow him on social media and subscribe to his YouTube channel (Gather Now Network)
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