Nairobi — One of the greatest public relations officers ever to serve this country, albeit for no salary, was Winston Churchill. While concluding the manuscript of My Africa Journey, he summarised his whole experience in three word: "Concentrate on Uganda."

His advice still rings true and now, here are the remaining hot investment tips in this land of opportunities. Some are so fresh not many people are into them yet, so read carefully.

The fad of the moment is real estate. With a deficit of several million housing units, there is a killing to be made in this field. Of course, many people are still cash-poor while being land-rich; they do not know yet how to turn their fertile land and wonderful climate into cash. But that is set to change in a few years, what with the rising demand for foodstuffs all over the world. But for the moment, there is effective demand for a few hundred thousand housing units in the urban areas and an actual crisis requiring some 60,000 units in Kampala area alone.

As a result, anybody can today become a real-estate developer so long as they have some money. There are hardly any standards; as long as you can put up some walls and a roof over them, you are in business.

In the mid to late 1980s, there were probably less than a hundred good houses on the market in the city, and they were being chased by a thousand expatriates who were paying top dollar for them.

But as security improved in the suburbs, more residential area were opened up. Then your average expatriate ceased being that white person from Europe or America. The 1990s saw many Kenyans coming in by private arrangements, as did many West Africans working for intergovernmental organisations. These new expats looked like any other Ugandan, did not have several thousand dollars a month to spend on a house and thus constituted a new market for $400-$500 houses outside the traditional upmarket neighbourhoods. More developers joined the market to meet this demand, which was swollen by more Ugandans getting better paying jobs in the multinationals that were setting up.

SOON THERE WAS NO MORE SPACE AND the apartment craze set in. We are still at that stage. Whoever has a few hundred thousand dollars wants to build an apartment block with a few large units, or many tiny units. Still there aren't enough of them, so join the fray if you have the means.

The people the apartments are being built for have become health-conscious and need a place to ease their stress and generally service their bodies. Health clubs are the answer. But they also tire of them quickly. People are always on the lookout for a new health club and are ready to ditch their "favourite" one once they hear of a new one with better machines, better instructors etc.

In the 1980s, your average gym only had free weights and even car tyre rims served as dumbbells in some places. A treadmill was a novelty. Today, electronic heart monitors and power plates that work on a selected body part in a short 30 seconds are taken as a basic right by clients in Kampala's upmarket health clubs. So while this is a fast-growing area, to join it you have to think like a mobile phone seller - always look out for the fanciest new product from the manufacturers.

Concentrate on Uganda.