Mugisa. Mugisa. Mugisa. Where are you? You did it. Went a loud voice calling out my name. It was a Tuesday afternoon in 1996. I had just gone to fetch water from a nearby open well. In the era of no mobile phones, communication was tough. I saw my elder brother running towards me excited. “Fr. Cosmas Adyebo is at home looking for you. Hurry”, intoned my brother. I knew Fr Cosmas. He was our Head teacher at Munteme Fatima College. I was expecting my Senior Four (Ordinary Level) results. I left the water full Jerrycan with him and ran…
Managing yourself
Many of us do not know how to bring ourselves to order. This is one of the biggest challenges of so many people. But even those ones who are struggling don’t know how to manage their time. The ultimate reason why you need to manage yourself is to be able to take yourself from level A to B. Many people are always living below their true potential. If your potential is 100%, you find people have only achieved 40%. They don’t get to break-through the ceiling. The best way to break through the roof is having a clear feedback mechanism.…
Innovation vs creativity
Most people tend to confuse these two words. What is innovation? When somebody else is doing something great, you study it so that you can apply it to your own context, then you are innovative. Today, the business model fad is the sharing economy. Uber is already in Uganda. Many business people are trying to copy the Uber business model. They are trying to be competitive so that they don’t run of business. In that case, they are copying and pasting but with a twist thus are being innovative. On the other hand, to be creative is to make something…
Personal finance: How do you spend monthly earning of Ugx1m?
Many of us especially accountants and people who are well educated have a feeling that we are so much literate about money. But issues of money are very challenging. You need to take some discipline, accept your condition because there is no good medical doctor who treats themselves. I have a mentor, tax consultants and investment advisers. I seek their guidance every time I need to invest say in stocks. Keep  asking yourself who is that person who provides you guidance about how you invest your money for your retirement? Many people are putting money into agriculture. When it comes…
How do you make decisions?
Most people especially leaders make decisions based on hearsay. Hearsay might be good but it can’t be a basis against which you make decisions. You get hearsay to provide a foundation against which you collect the facts and confirm. You have to be very concerned with somebody who says I am telling you this thing but don’t tell the other person. That is not good. If you are a leader who keeps encouraging this kind of behaviour, you create room for hearsay and lies. You begin feeling annoyed. You are not getting the opinion of the other person who is…
Thinking proactively, standing out
On Thursday 23rd February 2017, I had a privilege of speaking to over 80 Head teachers at their regional meeting in Namagunga. We discussed on the topic of personal finance: If you lost your job today, how long can you maintain your lifestyle? Whether dependent or not, salaried earner or not, self-employed or not, as long as you spend money, you earn something. How much of what you earn, do you save and invest? Remember it is not about how much you earn, it is what you save and invest wisely that makes a difference. I want you to take a…