Earn by the gig

I last attended Joel Kisakye’s music gigs at Lugogo was about six months ago. Seeing the young artist strum away on his guitar and give a new life to Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking out Loud” got me thinking not just about the mellow sounds made by his voice but also the money he was making whenever people who love the taste of a beer turned up every Wednesday. It turned out that this was one of the major channels through which budding musicians like Kisakye could pay their bills.

Earning as freelancer
Whereas for a long time, the word gigging was associated with music, it has for the past years mutated to imply freelance work from which one earns when they work.

When you think about gigs in Uganda, you think interior designers, decorators at baby and bridal showers, software developers, Uber drivers, writers, social media specialists and makeup artists among other jobs.
Mr Ivan Taremwa, now in his early 30s, can easily relate as he has been transporting people in and outside Kampala when demand arises. He enjoys his freedom, sets his price and works through referrals.

“People call me to drive them to different locations using their cars or sometimes with my car. I do safaris so I have someone who calls me when they need to transport people from one place to another,” he says.
This was not the case more than two years ago when he worked as an administrator at a local church in Kampala. The most attractive thing about earning by gigs is that the money is good, he says.

He argues that business owners pay employees miserable salaries. In the tours sector, he says, an employee might be paid between Shs800,000 and Shs1.5m a month.
Most of his tour clients contract him for three to five days so he is able to work for fewer hours a week and when he wants.
“Every time I go on a safari, I get Shs150,000 daily for driving a client. I will leave Kampala, go to Masindi, from Fort Portal to Kasese, spend two nights in Queen Elizabeth Park to Lake Mburo and back to Kampala,” Mr Taremwa explains. At most, he spends Shs30,000 a night to cater for accommodation, leaving him with a profit of Shs120,000 daily.

In addition, he says it is harder to get a job in the tours sector with little or no experience.
“There are people who are well-known already. Some have learnt different languages which is a plus. So even getting those kinds of jobs in such companies is hard,” he says.
However, for Mr Taremwa, the seasonal nature of transport gigs makes them less glamorous than it sounds.
“Sometimes you spend a week without work. Sometimes you are too busy with clients and you have to ask a friend to pick them for you. But you need to be sure that this person will do a good job,” he explains.

A risky financial gamble?
Mr Taremwa agrees but explains that youth like him do not have many choices now because businesses are enjoying huge profits at the expense of their employees.
From 25-year-old Zahara Abdul’s experience, working gigs is hardly a risky gamble. The freelance photographer who graduated from Makerere University two years ago, found her niche while trying to feel a sense of belonging to the journalism world.
“I took pictures during guild election in 2015 and posted them on Facebook. The next day I got a message from Campus Bee saying they wanted me to be part of their team,” she narrates.

With time, she became a frequent YouTube viewer, learning all about photography and offering free services to organisations. Soon, she was borrowing cameras, dodging lectures to do gigs upcountry and earning at least Shs800,000 a day on some gigs.
“It opened my eyes to not doing this as a hobby but to earn a living,” she says. To date, Ms Abdul does photography for organisations and corporate events. She has never applied for a job as she cannot imagine herself with a 9am-5pm office job.
“If I am not shooting upcountry or events, I am doing post production and delivering clients’ work,” she says. Her home is her office but sometimes she works from her clients’ office if they need to supervise her.
“Online is my office. My bag too, as long as I have my laptop,” she says.

For her, if gigs were not paying her bills, she would perhaps be applying for jobs.
“I have bought my own equipment from my savings through the short contracts with different organisations. What keeps you in photography is the product and when you do a good job, people call you back,” she says.
On average, freelance photographers like her around Kampala, will earn up to Shs900,000 for a documentary.

How sustainable are gigs?
According to Mr Taremwa, hard work, integrity and client safety in his transport work is key if one is to get another job.
Ms Abdul says jobs like hers are visual and people will need good results to hire a gig worker.

For young gig workers, she says, volunteering, digital and social media are a good way to get known.

As a gig worker paid per day, Ms Abdul is on her own without medical insurance, workers’ compensation, social security or even gratuity but is filling her money jar.
“I have survived for close to five years on gigs now. No one pays my bills. You just need to know how to manage your accounts,” she concludes.