I hope you had a fantastic Easter holiday. Me too. Today, just like I keep telling you, I want you to remember that life is about making choices – of what you do and what you will not do. Successful people make the right choices at the right time which others fail. Consider an investment example, when Umeme announced their initial public offering (IPO), those who made the right decision to buy shares made a fortune. Also, Uganda Clays share price once peaked, and then fell flat. Those who decided to sell at the right time, made a killing. Every…
Who keeps your feet on the fire?
Most of the time, we want to remove our feet from the fire. Our minds are configured to look for easy life. Anything that requires some persistence or effort, we want to run away from it. The setup of the human nerve and sensory systems are to alert the brains of any danger and take off away from them. That is true when it comes to hard work. It therefore requires deliberate effort and special conditioning to persevere. When you step onto a hot stone, you want to quickly remove your feet. Just like when you step into fire, you…
How to transform your NGO in these tough times
Sustaining an NGO requires mindset change, where leaders think business wise. You are not sustainable if you have to first beg in order to serve your beneficiaries. NGO sustainability is the ability to continue its core activities even without local or international donor funding. Many NGOs now look at sustainability in the context of being free from international donor funding. That is half the picture. Do you have sustainable revenue streams to deliver your mandate and satisfy your beneficiaries’ without recourse to donors? Can your NGO pass the sustainability test? Do you have the six building blocks of NGO success?…
Growing the topline
Customer focus is critical to enable topline growth. A business is about putting money on the table. How do you grow your revenue daily? How does a company ensure growth of revenues while lowering costs? If you are not selling, chances of going into cash flow challenges are high. Most businesses fail due to lack of sales growth. Even if you cut costs, there reaches a time where you cannot cut costs any further without closing the business. That is why focusing on revenue growth at the beginning is the best strategy. The first line, 1. Turnover is the topline.…
The Law and you
The L in the PLANTS is a key pillar for your career success. The Ugandan society is increasingly becoming litigious. You are your best lawyer. As you succeed or grow, you will knowingly or unknowingly step on some people’s toes. Many won’t let it lie down. You will most likely receive intentions to sue. Some people may deliberately come into your life with intention to benefit from you. You need strong mastery of the law. The second most important document you must read from cover to cover after the Bible is the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda. This document defines…
What is the role of the board?
A popular saying goes “a fish starts rotting from the head.” Why? That is not what is popular. According to Biology, a living thing starts to rot from the point where bacteria enter it. For fish, it is the gut. So fish starts rotting from the gut not the head. It is a well-known fact that when an organization or state fails, it is the leadership and not the lower cadres that are the root cause of the failure. And that is how the saying came about: the “fish starts rotting from the top.” For a business, the…
