In March 2024, I received a call from a Nigerian bank, one of those institutions parading itself as digital-first while secretly running on analog thinking. They wanted virtual training on credit risk management, a noble request. I welcomed the opportunity with open hands-on condition that I gained context about their business model and banking philosophy. They nodded yes. As I dug into their strategy and risk appetite, the contradiction was glaring: they were talking cloud, AI, and fintech partnerships on their website… but inside, they were still underwriting like it’s 1995. Their loan officers were rewarded for paperwork. Their risk…
DTB Uganda, the bank with a trillion shillings+ asset base and no real ambition.
If DTB Uganda were a person, it would be that well-dressed executive in a Land Cruiser, parked all day at a cafe, scrolling Quora for motivation quotes, rich, respectable, and completely disconnected from the hustle that built this country. On paper, DTB has the makings of a powerhouse: 2.9 trillion in assets, UGX 2.2 trillion in deposits, and a regional brand with the muscle of a Kenyan parent. But scratch the surface, and you will find a bank running on autopilot, low returns, high costs, dead capital, and an outdated lending model still obsessed with land titles in a country…
How good people cross the line.
Fraud doesn’t begin with bad people. It begins with pressure. With a quiet “just this once.” With a system that looks away. To truly understand how fraud happens, forget the Fraud Triangle. That’s kindergarten. Step up to the Fraud Diamond a sharper, more dangerous model. It exposes not just why fraud occurs, but how the fraudster pulls it off. There are four points to this diamond. Each one cuts deeper. Motivation or pressure; the fire under the pot. I call it the boiling kettle. Pressure builds in silence. It could be school fees, a sick parent, a gambling habit, or…
Why actionTEAM risk management software is the best tool
In 2018, I got the opportunity to partner with a mid-sized Kenyan insurance firm that had just survived a UGX 3.1 billion fraud. After the high-level briefing, the Audit Committee chair turned to me and asked: “How do we prevent this from ever happening again?” The CRO proudly talked about their 200-page risk policy, written in perfect grammar but entirely useless. Why? Because they had no tool to translate risk awareness into action. That’s when I introduced them to actionTEAM. Six months later, the same CEO sent me a WhatsApp message: “This tool saved us from a costly customer onboarding risk we didn’t…
Transform your EXCO into board-level strategists
Dear CEOs, Boards don’t fail from lack of updates; they fail from lack of insight. When EXCOs merely report activity, the board fills the strategic vacuum. I have seen it across sectors: talented executives getting second-guessed not because they are wrong, but because they never framed the right question. Our Future Ready Board Training is built to solve that. It equips your executive team to shape boardroom conversations, link decisions to strategy, and manage up, not just manage down. Strategy collapses when executives treat board papers like paperwork. This training helps your EXCO turn operational data into board-level intelligence anchored…
Board’s role in risk management
In the cattle corridor of Uganda, there’s an old saying: “He who leaves his kraal gate open invites the hyenas to feast.” One evening in Kiruhura, I watched a young boy, barely ten, tie a thin strand of banana fibre across the gate and claim the cows were safe. “That is how papa does it,” he said. By dawn, three cows were gone. No alarm, no lock, and just misplaced confidence disguised as tradition. This is how most boards handle risk. They assume the presence of a “risk register” is enough. That someone somewhere is doing the real watching. Like…
