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Friends praise fallen Babirukamu as star
John Birungi Babirukamu
What you need to know:
- Babirukamu will be remembered as a vibrant and generous digital marketing expert who profoundly impacted his field and mentored many aspiring professionals.
“I apologise for being an inconvenience in death as I was in life. I have given it my all and now I find myself with only emptiness. I do sincerely love you all, and hope you will find it in your hearts to forgive me. Kiss my nieces and nephews for me. They are the last joy that I held onto,” read the suicide note, John Birungi Babirukamu, a digital marketer, left before he jumped to his death from Tagore Crescent apartments, on Mawanda Road in Kampala, last Friday morning.
Esther Mash will remember her friend as a jolly person who always had a joke and a smile.
“He seemed to always light up the room, he was that loud guy,” she emotively eulogises him.
Filmmaker Mustaque Abdallah says Babirukamu, known to many simply as JJ, “liked joking around a lot and was quite knowledgeable in that ICT world.” In fact, JJ introduced and interested Abdallah in online broadcasting.
“I first worked with him on a film 256 Writer’s workshop where he helped us with the live communication with the team that was in California,” Abdallah tells Sunday Monitor, adding, “We kept in touch and did a few more gigs in that line.”
Many people remember JJ for the digital footprint he left, especially on LinkedIn where he was so generous with his knowledge.
“His posts were often insightful. He had built a good brand as a digital guy. I’m shocked. He had just started a company. I thought he was onto bigger stuff in life,” says Eden Kironde, a public relations account manager at TBWA\Uganda.
Ms Allen Suubi describes Babirukamu as a digital marketing genius who loved his craft and was passionate about imparting knowledge to many.
“We spoke a few weeks ago. He had joined Moving Ads and suggested a partnership with PRAU,” Suubi says, referring to the acronym of a local PR association, where she is a general secretary. “We’re busy with plans for the National Symposium, so I requested that we speak after the event.”
A mentor
Ms Cynthia Kyofuna counts herself as one of Babirukamu’s proteges after stumbling into the digital marketing space. She speaks fondly about his generosity not just with templates on communication strategy but also contacts of “other industry mentors like John Ssenkeezi and Cynthia Mpanga.”
Now a communications specialist with Outbox, Kyofuna loved that she had proximity to him, and was always a call away.
“John Babirukamu has been an integral part of the programmes at Outbox and has always offered himself to train and nurture young professionals,” she says.
Edwin Danze got to know Babirukamu through the digital marketing communities, and from the Next Media Family.
“He was the one who set up the NBS Twitter and Facebook accounts. He has been very pivotal in leading the digital marketing conversation in the country,” Danze explains, adding that he will remember his former colleague as a humble genius.
Gentle giant
Journalist Moses Serugo met Babirukamu at St Mary’s College Kisubi through his brother Andrew Kataryeba. The two would later meet in life when Serugo worked as head of digital at NTV Uganda.
Babirukamu was working at NBS TV at the time. Serugo describes the fallen digital marketer as one who was passionate about leveraging digital media platforms for the dissemination of broadcast news beyond the first screen—the traditional TV set.
Babirukamu had more than 14 years of experience in marketing and communications. According to his LinkedIn page, he was a passionate and driven leader who strived to deliver exceptional results for his clients and team.
“I have a strong background in management of information systems, digital marketing, and digital transformation, as well as multiple ISO certifications that demonstrate my commitment to quality and security. In my most recent role as the General Manager at Hedge Marketing, I oversaw the operations, business development, and strategy of a growing mid-sized businesses that serve a diverse range of clients across various sectors in Uganda,” he stated, in part, adding that he always looked for new opportunities to expand, enhance his knowledge, create value, and most of all, pass on what he had learnt over the years to the next generation of marketers.
Mr Babirukamu pursued an eMBA from the University of Suffolk, and held memberships with the Chartered Institute of Marketing-UK, Uganda Marketers’ Society and a Vice Presidency with the newly constituted Uganda Digital Society.
His death shines the spotlight on the often-neglected issue of men’s mental health. For a man, who dominated his field, talk of a deep-seated “emptiness” didn’t make sense to many. By press time, his burial arrangements were not readily available.
