04/07/2023
*Stolen from another group* Long but summarizes Ugandan work ethics👇
*Honesty - Is the Missing Currency in Doing Business in Uganda 🇺🇬
When a group of investors were asked "Why they seized building factories and creating employment for the people in the country” they burst out in laughs….But one of them responded:
Most people here in Uganda are lacking employment because they’re thieves! They are dishonest.
He continued…… I run 2 businesses, a manufacturing and a trading business.
The biggest challenge in my manufacturing business is not government taxes but my biggest challenge is getting HONEST WORKERS!
Everyone we hire appears to be on a mission to steal as much as possible. They’re experts in inflating invoices, recording less than the actual number of units produced or sold ; basically utilising their skills and talent to beat the system.
The worst part of it is that all the fraud we have uncovered is NOT done by a single person, it is usually by a network of staff from across the departments - production, sales, finance, and even top management.
There was a year I overhauled management 3 times.
But I have found a solution. I use Indians! They are competent, honest and straightforward.
I thought they were expensive at first with all the visa fees, accommodation, house staff, but compared to the losses I incurred by using local staff, the Indian staffing has turned out to be cheaper than the local one!
All key positions involving cash, management and handling goods are located to Indians and the management has deployed our fellow Africans in other non-sensitive positions like unskilled labour and cleaning.
I used to criticize indigenous Ugandan companies like the Cocacola or Spearmotors Group for hiring many Indians yet we have many unemployed Ugandans, now I understand their painful decision.
In my trading business, my biggest challenge is the same - getting honest staff. My trading company engages in open market trading where sales sta
