By D E Wasake, FCCA
May 2020

Introduction

I cannot tell you if I am a modern prophet, but the fact of the matter is that in 2014 I told a high profile Ugandan investment convention in London in 2014 that “every business is a digital business”. The Vice President, Edward Ssekandi was there as guest of honour but I don’t know if he heard me. There were many MPs (like Aida Nantaba), dignitaries and so were prominent business representatives. I believe BMK (of Hotel Africana) and Wafula Oguttu...

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By D E. Wasake, FCCA

Every year we write an analysis on the trends that will shape business in Uganda.  2017 is no different.

Summary of 2017 trends

These are expected to be:

1. Power shift in global economy - a desire for fairness and sustainability
2. A reduction in Uganda government expenditure – Worrying information from World Bank and Moody’s rating.
3. Improvement in access to credit for business. Exciting trends from Mobile Money, FinTech and the FY 16/17 Budget.
4. Improvement in ease of doi...

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By D E Wasake, FCCA

If you are in business or considering doing business in Uganda, there are 3 areas you can no longer afford to ignore (or which you must pay more attention to if you have not done so already);

•  Facebook
• Google analytics and;
• Stocks/bonds on the Uganda Securities Exchange

Click here to read the full article.

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By Isaac Sewaaya, General Manager at Inachee

Article summary
Despite many reports indicating Uganda is one of the most entrepreneurial counties, the Uganda business environment is increasingly challenging judging by the World Bank’s ranking of ease of doing business - which indicates that Uganda is getting worse (based on the last 5 years). 

In addition other indices of an economy's performance such as foreign exchange movements, disease and crime all indicate that the Uganda economy is going...
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In this article, Inachee principal D E Wasake, FCCA gives his view on what he considers to be the key priority issues Top business leaders for doing business in Uganda in 2015.

Dickson discusses technology innovation disruptors (like Air bnb), the rise of mobile internet in Uganda as well as the effect of the young population to the work place.

Read the article here.

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There is a hotel in Japan — Hoshi Ryokan — that has been run by the same family for approximately 1,300 years. Forty six generations have managed to maintain control of the business. Until 2010, the Guinness book of records considered it the oldest hotel in the world. In 2011 the title passed to another hotel in Japan, that had been founded in 705 AD compared to Hoshi’s 718 AD.

In Uganda, as most businesses are family businesses, a large number fail, including on death of the patriarc...

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By Julius Masaba Business associate, Inachee

In this article, Inachee business associate Julius Masaba thinks of Investment for the future to be "akin to an egg laying many eggs".

He goes on to discuss some of the investment options in Uganda available including Savings/deposit accounts, NSSF savings and Treasury Bills/Bonds.

Click here to read the article

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By Ronald Emojong, Business Associate, Inachee

In the bible in Hosea 4:6, God says "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge". In business, this verse seems to apply as well - we need to obtain financial literacy.

Ronald Emojong, a business associate at Inachee drives the point home with his guide to financial literacy for doing business and ac...

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By Grace Khaukha, Business Associate, Inachee

"Have you ever had or seen a great business idea that looked nice on paper but when you set it up it did not turn out as easy as it sounded? Abracadabra!!?" 

Grace Khaukha, a business associate at Inachee and also a business owner shares her views in this article about the steps to business success (or is it magic).

With a high failure rate of business in Uganda, estimated at over 50%, perhaps understanding business magic is the solution.

Click her...

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By
By: Miriam Nansubuga, Consulting associate, Inachee

"Millennials do not like to talk on the phone to strangers. We like to click, touch and swipe for information. What we need is easy access to said information to help us make a buy decision quickly so that we do not delay the gratification any longer. "

So declares Miriam Nansubuga, a Chartered accountant with Bank of Uganda, and who also provides some consultancy support to Inachee. She shares her views on how a Small and Medium Size Ent...
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20 signs your business is succeeding... or failing

D E Wasake, FCCA

If your business exhibits 10 of the first signs, then you know that your business is on the right path, on its way to success?  You are hot! However if on the other hand, your company exhibits the latter 10 signs, its time to re – think. You are heading towards the cooler of failure... You need to be afraid!

In this article, I explore from my experience (with help from various business sources) the tell tale signs of succe...

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D. E Wasake
In Uganda, companies do not seem to care about the importance of websites. The Top 100 firms for example, companies which have revenues of at least Shs. 360m (and maximum Shs. 25 bn) are doing quite well. Especially considering that 67% of Ugandans are vulnerable to poverty (hence on about Shs. 3,000 a day).

However when a Ugandan firm did research on how many of these top companies had a website, the results were shocking.

60% of them have no website!

Why is it shocking?

Well for sta...
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Google, the world’s largest search engine on an annual basis analyses worldwide trends of what the world searches for. It presents this analysis annually including the latest:  “Google Zeitgeist 2013”.

On a global level, the world was searching for People (like Nelson Mandela and Oscar Pistorius), Events (like the Boston Marathon, Typhoon Haiyan and the Chinese New Year), Movies (like Iron Man 3, Despicable me 2 and Django Unchained) as well as YouTube Videos (like Ylvis’ the Fox, ...

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High-Performance Research

The Center for High Performance (CfHP) believes that high performance starts with the work environment.

To determine the specific characteristics that are necessary in a high-performance work environment, CfHP conducted a study of more than 3,000 knowledge workers around the world. The study–the largest and most in-depth of its kind–identified a global standard for high performance based on 45 work-environment attributes. Workgroups that scored high on these ...

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There is a second revolution coming to Uganda. It is the Diaspora revolution.

Who are they? What do they want? But more importantly, how can a Ugandan business reposition itself to take advantage of this group of people who now contribute about $1bn or 25% of Uganda’s budget?

Who are the Diaspora?

In summary Diaspora is a term used to refer to persons with a similar heritage or homeland, but who are no longer living there. In Uganda, these persons are commonly referred to as “Ugandans...

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D E Wasake, Principal Inachee.com

"To be successful in business, you do not necessarily have to be an inventor with a completely original idea.  Some of the most successful companies in Uganda are “copy cats”. "

The companies listed here are based on a list from inc.com. I have analyzed some of them to give you a summary.

Why are these companies “crazy”? You ask?  Well, the inc.com article uses the word “audacious” which really means bold, fearless, courageous etc.

I use the wo...

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I'm pretty pissed off. A friend woke me up on Saturday morning seeking tax advice. But what he really wanted was advice to ensure he doesn't pay a cent in taxes!

This article provides a “tongue in cheek” look at the culture of tax non compliance in Uganda and provides a few options on how to deal with tax planning in ways which can save the business the “head ache” of having to deal with “Caesar the taxman”.

It also provides insights into changes in the global economy that might sh...
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Not everyone buys on price, period! If people really bought on price all the time then there would only be one model or kind of anything: the cheapest. Why then do price objections feature heavily when dealing with customers? This article provides tips on how to handle price objections.

The full article is here. 
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Every time something goes wrong, it has most likely been because the watchman was asleep or away.

Hollywood movies of course mostly portray the watch man or security guard to be too inexperienced for the super hero (or thief); this is an exaggeration of course. 

In real life, a company’s watchman: The owner/manager, the board of directors, the independent financial advisor or lawyer is usually well experienced and can significantly help a company in its corporate governance.

But firs...

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It is a well known fact that typically 80% of your business comes from your existing clients (80/20 rule).

Businesses that excel create what is called a “value proposition”. A set of unique benefits that they alone can provide to customers.

In the following two stories or examples, we clearly demonstrate two unlikely sectors whose owners created an excellent value proposition.  The first is a dentist and the second is a taxi driver (or a special hire in Uganda).

To read the article cli...

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In this latest article we share practical (or shall we say “advanced thinking”) tips on how you can win more business from your gold mine: existing customers. 

If you are not yet in business, don’t worry; read on, the stuff will work for you soon or you should be including these tips in your marketing strategy.

First a little honesty..... the Free tips we are giving in this article actually cost us a bit of money...

To read the article please click here.

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Fact: The poor will always be with us, the good Lord (if you subscribe to religious beliefs) knew it (Matthew 26: 11). He was however re echoing a mosaic law in Deuteronomy 15:11: There will always be poor people in the land, therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy .

Fact: The world has never been fair. It will never be. The richest 1% own 99% of the world’s wealth. Yes it is true that Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Carlos Slim the 3 ...

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About the Writer

D E Wasake (FCCA) is a principal at Inachee.com a thought leadership firm in Uganda.

I have collected this information from my experience with clients in Uganda, review of tax laws in Uganda as well as from insights from an associate of ours, an experienced officer currently working with Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).

How can you avoid or reduce tax payment? This is the objective of this article. It provides tips to reduce your tax exposure including through tax avoid...

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Another load of marketing rubbish?

If you are in business (rather than an NGO or charity or perhaps not selling a necessity like electricity), you have one primary aim: To sell more.

It is so difficult to get credit from banks and other parties in Uganda and as such selling more means seems like the only key means of growing your business. It is why we are passionate about sales.

Now a lot the information I am about to provide comes from two of the world’s leading marketing experts (...

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Article marketing is a form of advertising where businesses write short articles about themselves, their products/services or their expertise. They then have these featured (often Free) in the newspapers.

Many Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Uganda including Start ups often struggle not only due to limited finances but on how to advertise cost effectively.

This article provides information on the oft ignored option of article marketing. Its benefits are significant. From a cost p...
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Scott Anthony wrote a thought provoking article in the Harvard Business Review (HBR) on the above subject. The full article is here.  One of the key observations he makes is that 90% of people identify themselves as above average performers.
The sad reality of course is probably the opposite, i.e 90% are average and 10% either star or poor performers.

You can however help your company stand out from the crowd by thinking in a particular way:

What makes our company special?

In his view the com...
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Our number 1 tip for business success for Ugandan businesses is to immediately outsource their bookeeping services to an accounting firm. This can cost as little as Shs. 300,000 a month compared to hiring a full time accountant of whom a qualified one would charge about Shs. 1,500,000 a month.

Read this and other detailed tips here.
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An Analysis of Google's Zeigist 2012 and how to turn this into a business opportunity.

P.S Part of this article also appeared in the New Vision of 3 January 2013. You can read that article here

Introduction

How do google find out what is important? In their own words:

We studied an aggregation of over one trillion searches (or queries) that people typed into Google Search this year. We used data from multiple sources, including Google Trends and internal data tools. We filtered out spam an...

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Andy Bounds won "Britain's Sales Trainer of the Year" award in 2009 and he is the author of the best selling book, "The Jelly Effect". I have attended two of his courses and they are transformational. Below are some of his tips on how to sell more and communicate more effectively.

1. Communication is only effective if it achieves the do, If there is no call to action, customers won’t act. e.g call us now, click this link etc.

2. In writing a proposal, think of two things from the client's pe...
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In American Beauty the 1999 Oscar winning movie featuring Kevin Spacey, one of the characters had a memorable mantra “In order to be successful, one must portray an image of success at all times”. This is true in almost all aspects of doing business.

A doctor dresses and carries on like a doctor, and so is trusted to treat disease.

 A lawyer dresses and carries on like a lawyer and so is trusted to litigate for their client successfully.

Their image and the way they are perceived th...

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A client who owns a Shs 350m($106,000) poultry firm hired a colleague's accounting firm to do some accounting work. As it turns out when they started preparing his accounts, they noted that for example whereas the books showed sales had been Shs. 4m the analysis showed they were infact closer to 32m!

They eventually had to make amendments to their original records as they had in some cases not recorded transactions worth at least Shs. 25m.

How could this happen?
The main problem is that the cli...
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Any seasoned sales person will tell you that the average person buys a product or service after 4 objections! Some even say customers only buy after 7 objections!
Let me paraphrase that, the customer will typically buy after you reach out to them between 4 and 7 times. We are going through a global slowdown and therefore customers are increasingly more careful about how they spend. It therefore means you need to reach out to them more than once.Some clever ways include online adverts that "fo...
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Extracted from teleconference call with Chris Cardell, one of the world's leading marketing experts

1. Re-activate Past Leads-People who have expressed interest but not bought
2. Test Direct Mail-Takes you direct to people’s homes and offices
3. Have at least a 7 Step Sales Process –You need on average 7 points of contact with potential customers before a sale is made.
   
4. Follow up enquiries with a telephone call 
5. Establish your customers' needs   What do they want?-Find out their needs and how you can m...

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Like myself, today's twenty-somethings were raised to find our dreams and follow them. But it's a different world. And as the jobless generation grows up, we realize the grand betrayal of the false idols of passion. This philosophy no longer works for us, or at most, feels incomplete. So what do we do? I propose a different frame of reference: Forget about finding your passion. Instead, focus on finding big problems.

Putting problems at the centre of our decision-making changes everything...

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Imagine what you could learn by interviewing 2 million people about their strengths*

Guided by the belief that good is the opposite of bad, mankind has for centuries pursued its fixation with fault and failing. Doctors have studied disease in order to learn about health. Psychologists have investigated sadness in order to learn about joy. Therapists have looked into the causes of divorce in order to learn about happy marriage. In schools and workplaces around the world, each one of us has ...

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“You cannot possibly think outside the box unless you understand the nature of the box that bounds your current thinking. You must come to know that nature deeply. You must have real insight into it. You must accept it, and embrace it at some level, before it will ever release you.”

 There's a Zen saying, "What you resist persists, and what you allow to be disappears." Thinking outside the box without understanding the box is a petulant exercise in resistance — every idea that come...

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