Once in a while, you meet folks with the right attitude, skills, and self-drive. These are people any executive dreams of. People with the right attitude always go far because they look at the silver lining in any situation. Whereas other people love to travel just to earn per diem, winners travel to look for opportunities, network and explore new possibilities. I learn a lot looking at the automation in the kitchen of some of the top hotels. You need to get a back-office tour of the laundry processes, for example, to appreciate the power of automation. As a consultant,…

While Uganda’s financial sector grew in size with assets growing by more than 14.3%, the sector performance declined significantly with more financial institutions reported as undercapitalized, lower asset quality, increased number of loss-making banks, and lower return on investment. Below are a few sector highlights: There was a new entrant in the banking sector, Afriland First Bank from Cameroon, the bank that believes in creating a lasting impact on customers, through a pact, one client at a time. Capital Adequacy dropped significantly Capital Adequacy measures the solvency of the banks. Basel III Guidelines recommend a capital adequacy ratio of not…

If you are one of the folks who love great management insights, you open the pages of the Harvard Business Review magazine – old and new issues alike. Me too. Today, I landed on the May-June 2017 issue. On page 19, is an advert by Microsoft Cloud, with a captivating title: “The Mission What is technology could stop the next epidemic before it happens? Microsoft and its partners are using smart traps to capture mosquitoes and sequence their DNA to identify new diseases early.  Machine Learning New mosquito traps are getting smarter every day. These traps measure distinct patterns of…

Aga Sekalala Snr’s brilliance for business and risk-taking shines in this compelling easy to read 175 pages book. In the first quarter of Aga’s biography, he recounts how a chance encounter with Joseph Nyerere, brother to Tanzania’s statesman Julius Nyerere, a great Pan- Africanist, changed the course of his life. Just like that, “Joseph unexpectedly asked me whether I would represent them at a conference in Denmark, despite not being Tanzanian…” Thanks to Joseph’s recommendations, Aga applied and got a British passport. And on he travelled to Denmark and got the opportunity to traverse Europe which changed is life’s perspectives…

Figure 1: CERUDEB’s jaws ratio year-on-year If you follow the developments in the banking sector, you could have noticed published financial reports by banks as 1st May 2020 approached. At Summit Consulting Ltd’s summitBI, we collect and publish the annual banking sector report.  Based on our analysis, 2019 was a year of mixed fortunate for banks, see Figure 2.  Seven banks made losses, two more compared to 2018. Keep in mind there was no coronavirus in financial 2019. Based on the published financial statements, the industry average cost to income ratio was 81.4%. That means for every Ugx. 100 made…

I have fond memories of my early life because I was brought up by a woman, my mother, who never tolerated laziness. Her favourite advice was always: “don’t feed the stomach before the brain. When the stomach is empty, it makes the brain think. When the stomach is full, it makes the brain to switch off.” By feeding the brain, she wanted us to read first before eating. She always encouraged the right behaviours (going to school and doing house chores) despite having not gone far in studies herself. Thank God she was educated, not trained. She knew what critical…