‘A chick that will grow into a cock can be spotted the very day it hatches,’ so goes an African proverb.
This is the proverb that invades my mind as I write about Daniel Tusiimukye K’abaasa.
Unlike many creatively driven born poets who started writing at a tender age, Daniel Ka’baasa (pictured above) started with his writing journey in his Senior 6, 2019 when he would write poetry as leisure for his physics classmates.
The compliments he received from his friends inspired him to write more and he is not about to stop.
Born of Rukungiri, K’abaasa, who celebrated his 21st birthday on September 19th, is an entrepreneur who has over time learned the essence of applying classical strategies to modern-day projects.
He is a first-year engineering student at Makerere University, Uganda majoring in Mechanical Engineering.
With a passion for innovation and high-quality manufacturing, he intends to apply homegrown engineering concepts to automated systems on a global stage.
K’abaasa is a leading design engineer at Hypasoft Inc, a Fintech company that provides finance and technology research aimed at embracing the daily digital transformations.
In an entrepreneurial rural mindset, he also partakes a strong literature acumen.
He runs Iconic Publications that aims at the ignition of dreams and imaginations of young writers.
“At Iconic, the aim is to bring to light the potential in the literature of youthful African writers as a solution to the continental synchronized crises,” he says.
This, they do it through mentorship, marking, editing, and publishing.
Through Iconic, he has published over 12 books of African authors.
The books include Arrow of Destiny by Agatha Rachael Akullu, Virgin Widow by Patra Lucile Lanyero, The Final Relapse by Ronald Nahabwe, Culture of Silence and At the Cross Roads among others.
He is also the co-founder of Listen To Africa and an International Ambassador of Peace with the Global Forum for Literature and Human Rights.
He is also a contributor at Listen to Africa magazine.
A writer of two books, Golden Arrow and Culture of Silence, together with other two African authors, K’abaasa founded The Academy of Literature.
This is an e-school that trains young writers in editing and citing.
He was nominated Semi-finalist in the poetry books category on the first Annual Mulher Forte African literature awards, Botswana in 2020.
In the same year, he won an international poetry award from Blind Cards Entertainment at the 2020 Antarag International Poetry Festival in Mumbai, India, for his poem, ‘Blessed By a Woman’.
In June 2021, he was nominated for the Mulher Forte Africa Literature Awards in Mahalapye, Botswana.
In July 2021, he was awarded African Honoree Author’s Award in Lonehill, South Africa for the impact that his book, Golden Arrow, has on the literature.
Recently, he was a panelist of the African Readers Conference on the Theme: Changing Reading Narratives in African Communities.
He is a freelance columnist at the Mt. Kenya Times Newspaper, The Global Times Global Newspaper, and The Scholar Media Africa.
On the independence day of the Republic of India in 2021, his poem ‘Your Name I Wrote In Sky,’ published in the Abhuday- The Rising Magazine was granted special recognition and recited by Dr. Suparna Banerjee of the Gurudev Ravindra Nath Tagore family.
His poetry works and articles have been published in many international blogs and anthologies including the PoetiClub Wise Sayings Anthology 2020 in Nigeria and the Classico Opine Magazines in India.
He believes that every writer needs to idealize that writing can be an avenue to address societal changes or concerns that deeply affect the lives of people, these pieces could heal traumatized and wretched minds.
In ten years, K’abaasa sees himself among the leading mechatronics engineers on the continent and one of the answers to the leadership crisis in his country.
