Moses Matovu (centre) of the Afrigo Band plays a saxophone. PHOTO | COURTESY
If you invested in a hangout spot today, what would you consider the best marketing strategy? Neon lights on the outside walls? Social media influencers? Clean toilets? Great flyers allover people’s DMs? Great DJs? A karaoke night? Exquisite services to get word-of-mouth marketing rolling on its own?
While all these strategies are legit, they have all been used in an oversaturated hangout business. You would have to think outside the box to be able to beat the competition.
And this is what Robert Begumisa seems to have done when he opened Lweza Forest Resort off Entebbe Road, near Kajjansi.
By the time he opened in December of 2021, Begumisa had been in the tourism industry for more than 20 years.
In fact, he had initially built it as a hideaway for people who often want to escape the craziness of the city without actually leaving the city.
And this is how he came up with that name. He had preserved the indigenous forest on the land and built the accommodation with the same standards as tourist lodges, to attract the right clients.
But he soon changed his plans. The community started coming to hang out here, much more frequently than people looking for accommodation.
He figured it could make better business sense to turn the place into a popular hangout spot, where people would come to spend their money over the weekend, complete with music, alcoholic drinks and food.
The more, the merrier, they say. And this holds true for hangout places. The bigger the cashflows, the better the mark ups.
The first step he took was identify a good live band and convince them to play every Friday night.
Come rain or shine, the band plays every Friday night, between 8pm until midnight.
The second step, however, was the true game changer. Every Friday, he pays a big musician to come and perform at no cost to the patrons.
This way, it is easy to distribute marketing flyers on social media.
A flier that announces a free concert by Afrigo band or Chameloen or Cindy or King Saha or Spice Diana is easy to make viral.
Every Friday night, hundreds of people throng this place to enjoy free live performances from big musicians. On top of spending loads of money on drinks and eats as they watch their favourite musicians, these people who initially came to watch Afrigo Band perform, get to see the swimming pool, the nice garden bar and the great accommodation.
The young people who come on Friday nights to watch Cindy or Spice Diana get attracted to the vibrant greenery at the venue, where they could come next weekend and take pictures for their Instagram and videos for their TikTok accounts.
That is how you market a hangout place. Is it replicable? Your guess is as good as mine. What is undeniable is that this marketing has worked for Lweza Forest Resort because it was outside the norm.
Today, the place is one of the most well-known, well-loved hangout places in this side of town.
People come here to throw birthday parties for children and adults alike.
Women come here to throw baby showers and other girly events. Parents (hello Charlie) bring their children to swim on Saturday mornings, which, as it turns out, is a very good excuse to drink during the day.
And when evening comes, more people throng to the nice garden pub whose dim lighting accentuates the rustic furniture and fixtures.
The fact that you can sit anywhere in the garden, whether by the little fountain or under a tree or in one of the many grass-thatched gazebos in the forest is relieving, especially to shy lovers.
And if you are the moneyed type, you can upgrade and get your own cottage, where you can sit with your gang and party till morning on your own terms.
All the big stars have been here on top of the ones I mentioned above. Be it B2C, Zizza Bafana, Winnie Nwagi, Eddy Kenzo, name it.
How he affords to pay big stars to perform for free every week, we will never know.
But what is clear is that it has worked to make the place popular and beat the competition in such a short period of time.
Oh, and if you are wondering where you heard the name of this place before, it is the place that hosted the now discontinued annual Nyash Festival.
Clearly, he did not need it anymore. So again, what would you consider the best marketing strategy for a hangout spot?
