Now a celebrated reporter and news anchor, Mugume looked back in a recent interview at the tough times he faced starting off his career.
NBS TV’s Canary Mugume was put through the wringer before scaling to the top of the Ugandan journalism field.
Canary Mugume now and then
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The 29-year-old, says he started job hunting immediately after completing his A-level studies at Lutembe International School in Entebbe.
He was unable at the time to carry on with his university education because of limited family resources.
With a burning desire to become a television news anchor, he started walking from one TV station to another, asking for opportunities.
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Canary Mugume
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They all turned him down, including his current employer NBS TV for different reasons, one of them being how unkempt he looked.
“I went to every TV station in the city, and I got nothing!’ he recalled
"I used to walk from Rubaga to Naguru at WBS TV then to Serena, then to Urban TV, and none would take me, and I would go back home.”
At the time, he dressed poorly and rocked a big afro.
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“They told me, you have no experience, you have no university degree, even the way you look, how can we hire you?” he recalled.
Mugume however, did not quit. He kept pushing the stations for 9 straight months until Angelo Izama offered him a training opportunity at Urban TV.
This didn't go well, and he took up another job as a mobile money agent at Equatorial Mall.
In the meantime, he started freelancing as a fashion writer for Daily Monitor and New Vision.
Canary Mugume and his wife Sasha
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Eventually, an opportunity came calling at Channel 44 where he was offered a youth show.
After working there for two and a half years, he was called by NBS and offered a field reporter job.
His first assignment was covering elections in neighbouring Rwanda.
Mugume says his passion for news started at a young age when he was a primary school pupil in Mbarara.
He was a frequent guest on Radio West’s “Program Y’abato” hosted by Juliet Natukunda, where he learnt to read news.
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Later in lower secondary, he became an information prefect and was tasked to deliver news at the school assemblies.
Later as matured, he drew more inspiration from some of the country’s greats such as Bbale Francis and Maurice Mugisha.
