By Our Reporter
A chick that will grow into a cock can be spotted the very day it hatches. Such is the African proverb that resonates in my mind as I write about Daniel Tusiimukye K’abaasa. Unlike many creatively driven born poets who started with writing at a tender age, Daniel K’abaasa 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 then friends inspired him to write more.
Born of Rukungiri District in South Western Uganda, Daniel is a 20-year-old entrepreneur who has over time learned the essence of applying classical strategies to modern-day projects.
He is currently a first-year engineering student at Makerere University, Kampala 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.
Daniel 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 entrepreneural mindset, he also partakes a strong literature acumen.
He currently runs Iconic Publications that aims at the ignition of dreams and imaginations of young writers. At Iconic, they aim is to bring to light the potential in the literature of the youthful African writers as a solution to the continental synchronized crises. This they do through mentorship and publishing.
Through Iconic, he has published over 12 books of African Authors, which are not limited to Arrow of Destiny by Agatha Rachael Akullu, Virgin Widow by Patra Lucile Lanyero, The Final Relapse by Ronald Nahabwe, Culture of Silence, At the Cross Roads among many others.
He is also a co-founder at Listen To Africa, a literature magazine that has published over 30 keynote African authors.
He is also an International Ambassador of Peace with the Global Forum for Literature and Human Rights and a contributor at Listen to Africa magazine.
A writer of two books, Golden Arrow and Culture of Silence, Daniel, together with other two African authors, Daniel founded The Academy of Literature, an e-school that trains young writers in copyrighting and editing.
He was nominated as a 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 recognition 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 for the design of ‘The Ride To Sunset’ book cover.
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 community.
In September, 2021 at the world day of Literacy, he was a panelist at 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 News, paper, and The Scholar Media Africa in Nairobi, Kenya.
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, Daniel sees himself among the leading mechatronics engineers on the continent and one of the answers to the leadership crisis in his country.
