My Dad’s best friend, Mr. Joseph Businge, used to own three shops and a restaurant in Masindi town. His wife, Beatrice, was an employee at Support Organisation for Micro-cent Development (SOMEDI) head offices in Masindi. They had five children in school who were very promising. Joseph was a successful man providing employment opportunities to other ten Ugandans working in his small businesses. He owed his success to SOMEDI Microfinance which gave him a small loan, through a group of five friends. In 2008, SOMEDI Microfinance once one of the top Microfinance institutions in Uganda with operations in over eight districts,…
Tool #40 of 104 is use the watertight principle for your life’s success
John 16:12-15: Jesus said: ‘I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now… He will glorify me, since all he tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: All he tells you will be taken from what is mine.” The watertight principle applies to your life just as it works for anything that holds water. Be it a jerrycan, bottle or even a boat. The principle states that “however firmly you tighten the lid, if the container has a…
Transfer Pricing: The ticking time bomb for MNCs
Uganda, like many other countries in the region and further afield introduced transfer-pricing regulations in 2011. The regulations became effective on July 1st 2011 and are based on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) transfer pricing rules. The Commissioner General of the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) issued a Practice Note guiding companies on how to deal with related party transactions. The authority for citation is S.90 and S.91 of the Income Tax Act, Cap. 340 read together with the Transfer Pricing Regulations 2011 and the Transfer Pricing Practice Note 2012. Why TP? Transfer pricing refers to the way…
The rise and fall of Victoria Basin Savings and Microfinance Cooperative Trust Ltd (VBS)
The demise of Victoria Basin Savings and Microfinance Cooperative Trust Ltd was a big blow to so many people’s livelihood. Founded in 1990, this once vibrant entity started operating as a building society and then transformed into a SACCO. It became an immediate success. However, changes in the legal status (from a building society into a SACCO) called for better ways of doing things especially an effective and independent Board of directors to provide effective oversight, risk management and going concern. Unfortunately, its leadership and members did not respond to the new realities. It was reported that one of its…
Story of a football game, how to win at the work place
It is a game of two objectives: Score many goals and do not concede. All the 11 players and the coach, and club administration focus on the winning any match the team plays both in the short term and long term. Much as the keeper is responsible for stopping balls from entering his goal (not conceding a goal); any opportunity a Keeper has to score, they attempt to score. You can see this usually in world cup matches where the Keeper sometimes runs to the other goal to try to score a corner kick at a huge risk to the…
Are you driving in the rear-view mirror?
If you drive a car or use a taxi, you have seen the driver looking ahead through the main driving screen or looking tilting the head to see what is behind through the side or rear-view mirrors or the overhead mirror. When the driver looks in the rear-view mirror, s/he is trying to take note of what is coming from behind. When the driver looks through the main driving mirror, they are looking ahead of the road – to see where she or he is heading. A great driver knows that both mirrors are critical for a safe drive. To…
