Kampala city revelers are warming up for the Annual Kampala Rolex Festival 2024, set to take place on Sunday, August 18, 2024, with the event kicking off as early as 09:00 AM until late at the Zoe grounds in Lugogo.
According to Enid Mirembe, the former Miss Tourism 2015 and founder of the Rolex initiative, the event is a socio-economic enterprise aimed at boosting Uganda’s tourism and empowering food vendors, with the Rolex being the major highlight of the day.
“It is a socio-economic enterprise that promotes tourism in the country and aims at developing capacity-building programs for street food vendors in the informal sector like vendors of Rolex, chips, cassava, and other foods, though Rolex is a highlight,” Mirembe said.
The former tourism queen added that the event helps in ending the stereotyping of Rolex, promoting hygiene amongst the vendors, and empowering women and youth, who are the majority stakeholders in this business.
“The event came about as a stereotype; I am a Musoga, and I thought of doing something out of it because different regions do different stuff. And me as Miss Tourism Busoga Queen then, I decided to do this because it is unique, the sector is big, and it was untapped. So, I used the stereotype of Chapatti and Basoga to see that at least we improve on the delicacy brought through the Rolex Festival, which later turned into a Rolex initiative that looks at so many things all together,” she added.
The event will see the Rolex lovers part with UGX 20.000 ordinary and UGX 50.000 for VIP fees to taste this delicacy and many more foods. This will make them enjoy entertainment from artists like Ray G, Karole Kasita, Fik Fameica, and a surprise artist.
The first Rolex Festival took place in 2016, which attracted a lot of media due to the excitement of such a meal that cuts across all the regions in the country because Uganda has many delicacies due to the many tribes.
The festival looks at promoting Rolex as a meal identifier for the country. However, at the festival there shall be other delicacies like malewa from Eastern Uganda, eshabwe from Western Uganda, and many more.
