By Kabugho Elias
KAMPALA — Nyanzi Martin Luther says he built his media business with money he earned himself, driven in part by people at home who doubted he would succeed.
The 16-year-old began exploring the idea in 2023 after watching a science-fiction film. He became curious about how radio stations broadcast sound and how images reached television screens.
At the time, he knew little about live streaming. He initially thought running a channel meant uploading films to YouTube. Then he found an online radio station, clicked on it and heard it playing.
He wanted to understand why that station worked while his own idea did not. He began reading about servers, playlists and the equipment needed to run a station.
His curiosity attracted little encouragement from classmates, some of whom joked that he would run mad. He recalls walking around with books as he tried to understand the technology.
There was no investor at the beginning, he said. The early money came from his work as a media strategist and writer, providing services to schools and other organisations.
That work, he says, has received less attention than his business, yet it helped finance the project. An investor only came on board in 2026.
“You have to do something that can attract people. Then you’ll get funders,” he said.
Nyanzi also says the doubts he faced at home became a source of motivation. He recalls a time when his parents saw his ambitions as a waste, and says he became determined to prove that judgement wrong.
He believes one of his parents may now regret those earlier views but is unable to say so openly. His relationship with his father, Ssekaayi Simon, has also been difficult.
Nyanzi says he has learnt to welcome challenges because they force him to improve his work.
The business has since moved beyond its original concept. Apex Media Services was rebranded Block Media Services Ltd, and on August 27, 2026, Nyanzi announced that he was stepping away from day-to-day operations to focus on his education.
He said the board appointed Aloysious Ssekanjako as chief executive, with Ssekanjako becoming the majority shareholder. His mother, Joan Vumilia, remained company secretary.
Despite stepping aside, Nyanzi says the experience has shaped how he views entrepreneurship. He cautions young people against copying other people’s success without understanding the work behind it.
Everyone, he says, has a different way of earning a living. Young people should begin with what they have, develop their own ideas and remain open to help when it comes.
His advice is summed up in three words: sit, think, do.
He also warns against a generation that measures success only by the businesses other people have built. If every young person looked at a school owner and decided that building schools was the only worthwhile ambition, he argues, the country would have classrooms but too few people pursuing other ideas.
“Start your own. Think your duty is to be entrepreneurs. Your business is not being consumers,” he said.
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