Skip to main content

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR GRADUATION, ITS NOW TIME TO WORK….


Thousands of students will be graduating from their respective universities in coming days and months.


Makerere, our country’s oldest university will kick off its ceremonies on January 15th and the other universities will follow.

The graduates have already had a taste of the real life, having finished their studies mid last year and tried to get employed.

Many know by now that the world can be harsh and unforgiving. I hope many are tightening their belts in readiness for the struggle ahead. Some may have decided to kick the tin down the road bycontinuing with school. And others may have given up altogether.

My prayer is that there are more of the first and less of the last kind.

In talking to young people, I find that what is needed is a reorientation of their minds – a mindset change. Let me share with you certain facts to help manage their expectations of the world and how they can fulfil their potential in our context.

First of all, the world owes you nothing. It was here before you. It has seen more brilliant or hopeless people than you are, right now. It can very well do without you.

Harsh? Yes! But it’s a truth we need to internalise. You might be the hottest kid in your class, in the country. Regardless, you are entering a stage in life where practical results are everything regardless of what you did at school.

All you have learnt at school will be turned this way and that, revised or even rejected by the real world.

Think of it as a reset.

Regardless of what course you have done, the biggest skill you must make sure you leave the university with, is the ability to learn and to learn continuously.

This is important, even critical and will be the difference between whether you survive or not, or better still, whether you thrive in the years ahead of you.

The world is changing at a faster and faster pace and to keep up or stay one step ahead of these changes, your ability to learn continuously will hold you in good stead.

As a businessman who has started from the ground, I have had to learn to grow from selling sugar as a teenager to currently overseeing businesses that range from retail outlets to power generation plants to hotels to real estate developments.

They say the knowledge that has gotten you to where you are is not the same knowledge that will take you to the next level.

And I am not talking about upgrading your academic credentials only.

You need to set upon an independent program of learning about the world around you -- how it came to be the way it is and where it is going. This self-initiated quest for knowledge will come by reading
books, exploring the internet and through regular interaction with mentors.

The world demands that you become an insatiable knowledge sponge.

If this is the only thing you take away from this, my work will have been done.

As a final thought, you are young the world is literally at your feet.

You have the advantage of time. Use it well, make every day count. One important thing you will need to learn is financial literacy. This will not only help you spend your money wisely but will eventually lead to having your money work for you, which is the ultimate goal of financial literacy.

In this regard I urge you to Google -compounding, which Albert Einstein called the eighth wonder of the world. Put very basically it is building on what you have, be it knowledge or relationships ormoney. Whether you will be financially secure in your older years will depend on whether compounding works for you or against you.

One of the smartest things you can do for your future well-being is to understand and employ compounding to your benefit. The sooner you start the better.

And my very last word is that you are lucky to be alive and well, in this country, at this time. The potential of this country is largely unexploited, which means that you will be getting in at the ground floor of whatever you do. Don’t be distracted by tales of how moving to this country or the other will be better for you. The action is all here.

There is a price to pay to unlock this potential. Bucketful’s of sweat and copious amounts of faith will be needed. From my experience I can promise you that if you stick the course there will be a pot of
gold at the end of the rainbow.

Congratulations to our graduates. Celebrate your success. But not for too long, because there is work to be done.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WELL DONE UGANDA REVENUE AUTHORITY BUT …

Over the weekend President Yoweri Museveni commissioned the new head office of the Uganda Revenue Authority, an imposing structure that is set to dominate the Nakawa skyline for some time to come. Congratulations are in order to URA for the construction of such an aesthetically appealing building, which I hope wills set the pace for other developments not only in the area but in Kampala and even Uganda as a whole. I know the pride that comes with having completed such a massive build for the initiators and implementors. The new 22-story structure has allowed the tax man to fold back all his offices from around the city back to the head office, a move they estimate will save them sh7b annually. Using simple math the sh140b will pay for itself in 20 years. The move is seen as precursor to a government move to build a ministerial compound in Bwebajja, where all ministries will be relocated sometime in the future. I have seen comments that such actions are evidence that...
Post a Comment
Read more

GIVE OUR TRAFFIC POLICE A CHANCE

Last week during an investor interaction   Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) officials called on police to stop overriding traffic lights while directing traffic. KCCA argues that the traffic lights are large investment and it makes no sense for police to countermand them. In a classic case of “The importance of the river was not known till it dried up” on Friday the traffic police desisted from directing cars at the traffic lights leading to the worst traffic snarl-up in the city’s history. People were stuck in traffic jams around the city for hours and long into the night. Maybe it was the unhappy coincidence of the traditional Friday traffic and pre-Christmas excitement but without the traffic police directing traffic it was a mess. They made their point. It of course points to the bigger issue of a revamping of Kampala’s road network, which has remained   largely the same since independence but with an exponential increase in cars in the last three...
Post a Comment
Read more

KEEP UP PRESSURE ON CORRUPTION

There has been a flurry of activity surrounding corruption in recent weeks, with a few public officials caught red handed taking bribes. The public deprived of services because of a few greedy individuals are understandably gleeful.  However they are also those who are a bit sceptical, wondering whether this campaign will last or will peter out along the way. It is heartening to see that President Yoweri Museveni has put his full weight behind the latest attempt and provides a positive signal to all parties concerned. He should be supported by every well-meaning Ugandan so that this drive does not fizzle out in a few weeks. I choose to be optimistic about this anti-corruption drive, because rolling back the endemic that corruption has become, is one of the first steps we need to take towards attaining middle income status as a nation and for any other meaningful development we hope to see in the future. We see it in our daily lives. Beyond the moralit...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE KEYS TO OUR HEALTH ARE WITHIN OUR REACH

I prefer to speak about business. But it is obvious to me as it should be to everybody, that the fruits of business can’t be enjoyed without good health. As we progress in age we need to take care of our health more than before, focus on prevention because our bodies can no longer bounce back from illness as fast as they used to. The other day I happened upon a Facebook video from Dr Luke Coutinho, an Indian doctor who treats cancer patients. He made a wonderful video that moved me -- “Four things people with cancer have in common.” Look it up. Coutinho, in the video said that when he looked at the data from hundreds of patients, from all over the world, that had been treated at his facility he found four commonalities. The first one he said was chronic constipation. He explained that constipation, infrequent bowel movement, means the body is retaining toxins that should not be there. These toxins then find their way back into our bodies and provide the environment fo...
Post a Comment
Read more

SPORTS AS AN ANALOGY FOR BUSINESS

Like everybody else I know, my spirit was lifted by the success of our athletes at the World Athletics Championships last week. The diminutive Halima Nakaayi showed the heart of a lion, sprinting over the last 100m of the women’s 800m event to snatch victory from a more favoured American runner. It was so uplifting to watch. Subsequent stories about the challenges she has had to overcome to get where she is now were testament to the determination of the woman. Joshua Cheptegei’s victory, while no less inspiring, had a different quality to it. Cheptegei was the man to watch going into the event. He won previously at the Commonwealth Games last year and the in the just concluded Golden League. He was a silver medalist in the 10,000m at the last World Championships in London, pipped to the tape by the now retired Mo Farah. Cheptgei still had to battle the Kenyans and the Ethiopians all the way. But as a favourite he lived up to expectations, which sometimes is more diffic...
Post a Comment
Read more

SOROTI FRUIT FACTORY, A POTENTIAL GAME CHANGER FOR EASTERN UGANDA

On the weekend President Yoweri Museveni commissioned the Soroti Fruit Factory, which promises to change the fortunes of fruit farmers in the Teso region. "According to reports, the factory can process 129,000 tons of fruit annually or the equivalent of 3,225 trailer loads of fruit. There are 8.2 million fruit trees in the region, if each tree produces 80kg, the 656,000 tonnes resultant production will be more than sufficient to keep the factory running well into the future. Upgrades of the plant’s capacity is foreseeable very soon.... The factory’s products – packed juices, are to be sold locally and to the region. The Teso Tropical Fruit Farmers’ Co-operative has complained that they have been receiving sh200 a kg for their produce but have seen a doubling of the price to sh500 a kg by the factory. The cooperative is a 20 percent partner in the enterprise. Government through Uganda Development Corporation (UDC) owns the remainder. The factory is a $10.2mln...
Post a Comment
Read more