When you give your word to yourself or to others, keep it. Do not break it, period. That is the secret of success. Keep Your Word From as far back as the mid 1980’s, Ugandan businessmen and women have been traversing the globe looking for the ‘deal’ of their lives. From Kenya to Dubai, to India to China, to London and onto Tokyo, many a hopeful Ugandan businessperson has traveled to fix that deal. Many have cast their lot but very few have been chosen. The irony is that very few business people know why they have not been chosen.…
Why a career in cybersecurity? Part 1
Diploma in Cyber Security and Forensics pioneer class at Institute of Forensics & ICT Security on 12th August 2019 orientation talk by Mustapha B Mugisa. A career in cybersecurity offers unlimited opportunities across industries and countries. Governments and multinational companies alike have open opportunities for expert cybersecurity researchers, bug hunters and true professionals who don’t just have paper qualifications but the skills needed to safeguard systems. As we talk, at the start of August 2019, Apple offered US 1m to anyone who could hack into their latest iPhone and compromise its security. That is how a career in cybersecurity is…
The Power of Customer Service
As you read this the News of The World (NoW) tabloid is dead. It ‘died’ on 10th July 2011. Ironically, on its last print day, it sold seven million copies. After 168 years of print, the World’s most popular tabloid just folded up on the cusp of a potentially debilitating phone-hacking scandal. The gory details of this scandal are just emerging, but for 168 years, NoW played the part of chief malice cheerleader. With no regard to its readers and the wider society, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. International made money while it mocked the rest of the world. And the…
The Power of Networks
There is a proverb in some of the East African cultures to the effect that ‘show me your friends, and I will tell you your character’. Others say ‘birds of the same feathers flock together’. So the rich flock with the rich, corporate types flock with corporate types and well, laggards flock with laggards. People tend to identify with those with whom they share the same economic status or better. What is true for folklore is also true for business. The story of many business successes is filled with amazing coincidences and opportunities that entrepreneurs chanced upon and made good.…
The Power of Knowledge
Businesses often fail because founders and investors neglect to look before they leap, surging forward with plans without taking the time to realize that the base assumptions of the business plan are wrong. Most successful businesses are the result of more business knowledge than anything else. In the Graham Hancock’s classic, Lords of Poverty: The Power, Prestige, and Corruption of the International Aid Business, Hancock vividly recounts how “experts” in charge of a World Bank project attempted in vain to set up a fish farming project in the remote rural areas of the Egyptian Sahara. Despite their best efforts and…
