Are you a board member? Are you paid monthly or quarterly? I am asked this question frequently. Corporate governance has evolved so are board practices. Gone are the days of volunteerism. To attract and retain the best talent, you must consider some form of remuneration. There are two types of board – not-for-profit and for-profit boards. Most not-for-profit need volunteers. Do not join those boards expecting some form of payment. However, like all boards, you may receive a sitting allowance to help recover your travel costs to and fro the venue of the meeting. It is not good to expect…

Recently, a client asked me to help sit in the interview as a guest panelist for the role of Executive Director. These are some of the requests you cannot refuse. We are in the era of client retention and customer loyalty. This was my opportunity to deepen the client relationship. I quickly asked for the following: Was the job advert placed in the newspapers or the website? If yes, share a copy of the advert. A copy of the detailed job description with a clear scorecard and KPIs. Is it available? Share a copy. If not, The candidate’s curriculum vitae…

Are you a swimmer? Ever since I came face to face with the grim reaper a long time ago in my teens, I have always looked at any pool of water with suspicion. I almost drowned if it was not for a true friend who threw me his life jacket. Another time, years later, I gathered confidence and went to the Swimming pool in Kampala. Moving like a pro, I dived into the water. Little did I know that it was the deep end. It is tough to try to float on water if you don’t know. With a shock,…

There is no business that is too big to fail. Like any football team, if goals are not scored, matches cannot be won. Such a football club is heading south! The same thing applies to business. If money is not coming in, the business will soon have expenses piled up and no cash to pay the bills. Anything that stops money from coming in or leads to a sudden loss of cash, can cause the business to collapse. Fines and penalties due to non-compliance to laws and regulations. Lack of compliance could cause a profitable business to go down under overnight.…

This is a season of happiness and dreaming while awake. You need to receive calls from people who energize by leaving you happy or challenged? If someone inspires you to reach for the moon, why not receive their calls often as well as call them? “Is this Mustapha?” A caller on the other side of the line asked. I replied, who is this? I am xx, I attended your talk about team cohesion through frank communication with interest. I particularly loved your insights about the daily rituals that build trust among team members. How is your next Friday morning so…

It is that time of the year of strategic planning retreats. You can be brilliant by asking your colleagues a simple question: what is our captive market and how do we plan to leverage from it? A captive market is that niche of clients that are already yours, all you need is to provide new service offerings to optimize them. A telecom company, for example, have mobile phone subscribers on their network. The nature of the telecoms gives it access to all contact details of all its subscribers. One of the reasons Uganda telecom lost the market was the inability…