Siima Sabiti Explains Her Strategy for Flair Magazine and The Future of Print in This Digital Age

Plus, what it was like taking over from the late Keturah Kamugasa

Under the leadership of Siima Sabiti, Flair for Her Magazine is evolving into a women’s publication that doesn’t just cover fashion and beauty, but a dizzying array of topics that impact Ugandan women. For example, in the latest issue, there’s an interesting article titled ‘Sex and the single woman’ which tackles something we all never talk about – how single women handle their sexual urges.

Sabiti and her team held an ‘African prints’ inspired event to launch the issue, and we were lucky enough to have a chat with her.

During her performance on stage, Solome Basuuta said that you’ve brought ‘a new flair to Flair magazine’. Was this your strategy for the magazine?

Well, I’m very much about quality content. I wanted to do a product that whoever reads it, literally reads it from cover to cover. And I wanted something that was all encompassing because I feel that as women, there’re so many roles that we have to play. You have to be a boss or you’re an employee, you could be a girlfriend or wife, mother, sister or friend. And so, there’re so many aspects to our lives. So many people think that magazines are just about fashion and beauty. My team and I wanted something that would cover all that. That’s why we have these profiles of these women, who are very inspirational, but very relatable, real and accessible. We also wanted to talk about some of the hard-hitting issues as a Ugandan society we tend to shy away from. In the first issue I talked about sexual harassment in the workplace, we talked about postpartum depression. There are a lot of women going through these things but you’re not supposed to talk about it. Also, women want to talk about sex. They do. Things like, I’m a single mum but I want to have a boyfriend. Or, I’m a single girl, I don’t have a boyfriend or a husband but I want to have sex.

So, I really want to bring those conversations that maybe women are having in Facebook chat-groups and bring them to the magazine. As well as the fashion, makeovers and tips. We also wanted very much to have a section where you can kind of kick back. That’s why we brought back fiction, we have a humour section and travel. For the travel, we’re very much excited to promote domestic tourism. There are so many places that you can go to right here in Uganda. You don’t necessarily need to go to Dubai. We really wanted to give our readers tips on how to plan a road trip with the girls, that kind of thing. We want to relate to the average 25 to 40 year old Ugandan woman who is aspiring; she’s running her own business, or she’s working in the corporate world and trying to figure herself out.

With the internet, women can access content everywhere; from Twitter to Facebook and the web. Do you think print magazines are still relevant?

Yes, I do. We live in a world where things are so quick. As soon as you tweet it it is gone, you can delete it or it can go viral. But, even if something goes viral, it sticks around for like a week at most. I think the beauty of print magazines is it’s something you can hold onto. To read somebody’s story and to keep those beautiful pictures, that’s where magazines will potentially maintain their longevity. But, definitely, print media has to look at the question of longevity in this digital age. It’s a potential threat to the business!

Lastly, this is a question everyone out there asked. How did you feel taking over from someone like Keturah who was larger than life?

To be honest, I was nauseated for like three weeks. I was just like “wow”! I was nervous, and quite terrified too. But, I was lucky that there was already a great team that was in place. And, that Keturah had already set such incredible standards. I think that’s also partly what made it so scary. But, I have to say, really all the credit goes to the team especially Lucy, the editor of Bride and Groom and our magazines stylist, Rebecca. They really helped me. The second issue wasn’t as scary. My mum said that it’s like when you have your first child, it’s terrifying. It all goes to the team, senior management and the editorial team.