Apply no more my child

"Access to MTN infrastructure, technical support, and marketing muscle"

This quote was a section of a well presented section that made it into my Google+ page. This was Zulu's response to the MTN App challenge and the reason why he was encouraging members of the Outbox Hub to participate in the activities that would take place in that week. 

And so I did what I have done countless times before except this time around I was applying for an application design competition. 

When this event was being planned for I was watching and monitoring a group of students chosen from some of our finest Learning Institutions who had earlier taken part in a similar application design project organized by Orange Uganda. I had the privilege to attend and visit almost all the exhibitors that covered just about the same general areas. Health, Agriculture and Business. 

When I heard about MTN's project I wanted to see what this meant for the participants and what major differences would exist between the two. 

Having taken part in an intellectual property course at MUK (designed in collaboration with Harvard University) I also wanted to see if agreements between the participants and the global conglomerate had any intellectual property concerns at heart and included in the agreement. To say it simply, I wanted to see if it would be fair to the designers. 

Would it be simpler to go it alone as a designer, coder, marketer independent of the big companies and brave your way through the densely packed woods of application design or would it be better to leverage the size of the larger group so as to benefit from already existing infrastructure? 

I think we are similar. I too have filled tonnes of Job applications knowing very well that i have managed to design and host a combined 30 pages. In addition to painting several portraits, submitted and helped design several project proposals, created image concepts for health, started a small bakery, started a small seed funding project, concepts for business spaces, run a small online training platform as well as a media company. 

So I find myself in a dilemma. Do I continue searching for opportunities for employment or should I once and for all decide never to look back.

I think you know the answer.