The world is experiencing yet another crisis, that is more aggressive and pervasive. Unlike the financial-economic crisis of 2008, the COVID-19 pandemic has been disrupted all industries, while giving advantages to select few like technology companies to thrive. Sectors like Aviation, Hospitality, Tourism, Entertainment, and main-stream businesses have suffered the wrath of the pandemic. It seems to worsen by the day. Did the economic crisis find you as a business leader? Or to put another way, are you managing a business during the present COVID-19 “tsunami” times? If yes, I bet your dominating goal is to navigate this period safely,…

 For any dynamic financial institution, the management of Public Relations is a key priority for its Board, and your organization is no exception. Many Board members lack the skills they need to succeed in positively influencing public perceptions. In April 2020, a prospect called asking for help over the leaked board papers. One of the board members had lost access to his cloud email access to a hacker, to which lots of board papers had been sent. They wanted us to help recover the board member’s email account and stop the hackers from accessing it. A very tall order, especially…

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…