Saturday, 16.3 – This is it.

Is it? No, it is not. The past four weeks were absolutely exciting and both Felix and I did not regret at any point in time that we had the opportunity of going here, working on the MMU project and meeting so many great people in Uganda. We will keep in touch with the University and the students, since we both share the same interest of bringing forward MMU and support them wherever we can – whether it is out of Uganda or Germany.

We are parting today, since Felix will stay for another week with his wife who will arrive tonight, and I am going back to Frankfurt this afternoon.

I will now finalise the blog for the time being and thank all readers for coming along and accompanying us on our path during the last four weeks. However – stay tuned or sneak in from time to time, since there may be updates in the future in case any follow-up activities with MMU or students are kicked off.

Thank you and good bye from Kampala!

Friday, 15.3. – The longest Night

Wrap-up of the 4 weeks that are behind us with Christoph, Oliver, Geoffrey and Irene in our hotel in the morning. Right after the meeting and saying good-bye for the last time, I take a Boda-Boda to Dr. Tom to do some fine-tuning on my new dental equipment.

The afternoon is quickly spent with packing my stuff and arranging tomorrow’s logistics to the airport. We decide to spend another evening at the Emin Pasha since we liked the venue so much and have a terrific dinner in the beautiful garden.

For our last night, we close the circle and move over to the Capital Pub in Kabalagala, where time quickly passes by with the Friday night crowds flooding into the club.

Thursday, 14.3. – Day 0: The longest Day

Pickup at the Sheraton at 7:40. We sprint through the remainders of the night’s thunderstorm and pouring rain into Oliver’s pickup and crouch into front and back with 5 other students and our luggage. Luckily, the ride to Hotel Africana is not that long and Oliver knows some tricky shortcuts to circumvent the Kampala morning traffic jam.

It is good that we are there so early, as we still have to do some fine-tuning on the arrangement of tables and chairs in the three rooms we have booked so that it is perfect for the event we have planned. At 9AM, we are more or less done and the first students arrive and register.

Around 9:45 I am getting a little nervous, since only two banks have appeared so far. This does not change at 10, our officially planned kick-off time for the workshop and neither at 10:15. We decide to delay the kick-off by 30min and again by 15min, so finally start with the welcome at 10:45 and three banks being present.

During the presentations, we welcome one more bank and move over into our networking session with four banks in total. In groups, the students move from bank to bank and for the first time have a direct interaction with their potential future employers – a very exciting moment for all participants.

Opening the session with Geoffrey

Luckily, we see two more banks appearing later during the workshop, so that we extend our networking event into lunchtime until after 2PM.

Joseph giving insight into Barclays

Doreen and Solomy from Stanbic surrounded by students

Intensive discussions with Rachel from Citi

Reading from the faces and comments we receive from the students and the banks, the workshop proves to be a full success – everyone is very excited and impressed about the opportunity to meet with each other, and we realise this is the first time ever that such an event is being conducted in Uganda. So we are really pioneers!

After lunch, it is time to say good bye to 'our' students from MMU, since they are leaving to Fort Portal on the same day. So we use the time to have some final memory pictures on the lawn of Hotel Africana.

Saying good bye to 'our' students

There is not much time left until our afternoon cocktail reception at the Emin Pasha Hotel begins, so we directly move over and have a coffee there.

Around 5PM, our guests join us for the closing event and we have a beautiful evening with speeches from the German embassy, the Vice chancellor of the Mountains of the Moon University, followed by inspiring discussions among all participants from the university, GIZ, the German embassy and participants from KfW.

Welcome reception with MMU, GIZ, KfW and the German embassy

The 'official' part with the German embassy

Wednesday, 13.3. – Day '-1'

Again, a tight agenda for today, and, as every day, some surprises coming along. We meet with Geoffrey at 9:30 in the hotel and leave for our visit to United Bank of Africa, which is supposed to be a 15min walk. After 15min, I ask Geoffrey where the bank is and he indicates a building 200m away from us. I freeze – this is not United Bank of Africa, but Bank of Africa! So where is United Bank of Africa and how do we get there within the next 10min?! We ask a police officer who luckily guides us into the right direction and – more luckily – the bank we are looking for is also just 100m away.

We have a good meeting with the UBA HR department and can win them to participate in our workshop tomorrow. 

The three MMU musketeers at UBA

Until noon, I maintain my daily routine of calling the banks that have not confirmed their attendance so far and receive more positive feedback, so we are gradually increasing the number of participants into the direction of 10.

At 12, Christoph Zipfel picks us up and we go to Hotel Africana (coincidentally the venue where we will have the event tomorrow) and have lunch with Joachim Düster, the Deputy Head of German Embassy in Uganda and his Colleague Mrs. Blume, who just spent her first 10 days of a 3-year stay in Uganda. 

Lunch with the German embassy at Hotel Africana

On the occasion of being in Hotel Africana, I meet with the hotel manager to discuss tomorrow’s event and arrange the setup of the three conference rooms we have booked. A while later, Jackie from GIZ joins our discussion and kindly gives me a lift back to the Sheraton once we are done. The rest of the afternoon is spent with more calls and emails to banks, and at the end of the day it seems we have finally reached all banks we have initially targeted. If everything comes as planned, we hope to see 7-10 banks on tomorrow’s event. We will see! Our pickup for tomorrow to Hotel Africana is agreed for 7:45. It will be a busy day!

Tuesday, 12.3. – Gaining traction

A busy day. After breakfast, I reach out to the banks that have not reacted so far and have to find out that in some cases my mail was just not delivered without having received a failure notice. Since it is not that easy to get hold of the respective people in the HR departments, I find myself calling various numbers and talk to all kinds of bank switchboards. Finally, I can arrange for one more meeting that is now scheduled for 10 AM tomorrow.

At 11 AM, we meet Geoffrey in front of Crane Bank, where I had arranged a meeting with the head of the HR department. Our discussion is good and we agree to see each other for our Thursday event, which now makes 5 participating banks in total. So our minimum goal is achieved, any further bank won for Thursday is the ‘extra mile’!

Welcome to Crane Bank

After a quick lunch at the Sheraton, we are picked up by our driver and move over to AMFIU (Association of Micro Finance Institutions of Uganda), where we meet a group of project managers from various Micro Finance Institutions. 

At the AMFIU

The afternoon is reserved for an interactive session on the products they offer in the local market (such as Microfinance Leasing, Mobile Banking, Agricultural Value Chain Finance and Group Lending), followed by a presentation given by me on Product Management and Organisation. 

My AMFIU session on Product Management

It is a fruitful exchange of thoughts and we close the session right on time shortly after 5 PM before we move into the regular traffic jam back into our hotel, where we close the day with our ‘home-call’ with the Head Office in Frankfurt in order to update the team on the progress made to date and our plans for the rest of the week.

Monday, 11.3. – Welcome back to Kampala

We start the day with a healthy breakfast at the hotel buffet and I use the rest of the morning to call some more banks in order to follow up on those who have not reacted on my mails so far.

At 11, we meet Christoph Zipfel from GIZ and debrief him on our time in Fort Portal and discuss potential next steps in the MMU project. For lunch we meet Martha Gutierrez, GIZ country director and Alan Walsch, Regional director for international services at GIZ and exchange our thoughts on the GIZ work in Uganda and potential future co-operations with Deutsche Bank on a more general level. A very fruitful discussion for both GIZ and Deutsche Bank, as we share the same interests in how we can further work together and in specific push forward our joint project with the Mountains of the Moon University.

Alan Walsch, Christian Hausherr, Martha Guiterrez, Felix von Schmeling and Christoph Zipfel at the 'Il Patio' in Kampala

On the occasion of having lunch, my 3-weeks old souvenir from Dr. Tom, my favourite Kampala dentist takes its leave. So his work was precisely on the spot and I am only grateful it happens today and not earlier while I was in Fort Portal. So the program for the rest of the afternoon is easily defined: Meet my old friend Dr. Tom again and fix the issue – this time hopefully with a longer-lasting solution...

Sunday, 10.3. – Transit to Kampala

All in all, a ‘no-frills’ day. Final good bye to Heleen and Michael from the Dutchess and their lovely staff, and after breakfast we leave together with Oliver’s wife Bettina, her daughter with maid as well as one more MMU staff member for Kampala. It is however noteworthy that after nearly 3 weeks in Fort Portal this is the first (and obviously last) morning where we have breakfast inside and not on the terrace, since the rain that started last night still continues and has quite considerably cooled down the air.

Luckily we can leave the clouds behind us the closer we get to Kampala, and, once arrived, we are back in sunny weather. The evening is spent with an early dinner, calls with home and preparations for next week.

Editorial comment:
Closing the circle of cross-referencing, we are happy to see our mission being reflected on our employer's webpage:

https://www.deutsche-bank.de/csr/de/mitarbeiter_engagement/8061.html
https://www.db.com/csr/en/corporate_volunteering/two_deutschbankers_on_education_mission_in_uganda.html

Saturday, 9.3. – A Ugandan Hike

Our last full day in Fort Portal starts with an early breakfast at 7:30 and a walk to the close-by meeting point where the local Kabarole Rotary Chapter is gathering for a hike into the Ruwenzori Mountains. The gathering is Ugandan-style, i.e. proposed time to meet is 8AM and around 9AM we leave by car to our starting point, the Kichwamba Technical College.

There is a sad story about this college we learn about when visiting the well-secured campus and mass-grave of 80 students who were killed in a raid in 1998, when ADF rebels from Kongo attempted to ‘free’ Uganda and attacked villages and public institutions over night, leaving a trail of death and destruction behind them.

Finally, at 10AM we kick off with a group 50 to 60 people and walk down the main road, just to turn left after 1km and move into the mountain. The terrain is surprisingly steep and the group quickly falls apart into faster and slower hikers. It takes me about an hour to get up to the intermediate destination, a very basic military camp about 1000 meters in height above our starting point. The rest in the cool wind, enjoying a gorgeous view over the sunny valley well compensates every hiker for the quite exhaustive climb up there.

We made it!

Felix mastering the last meters

Accompanied by a team of armed soldiers (protecting us against wild elephants, rebels and any other threats the terrain may offer) we follow our guide into a deep, jungle-like bamboo forest along a well hidden ‘Ho Chi Minh’-style single trail. Luckily, there are no rebels, unluckily, also no elephants... 

Safely guarded in the bamboo forest

A very green environment

After walking another hour and turning back the same way, we take the tour down again, and due to the steep terrain, going down unfortunately is not much easier than climbing up.

Half way down, Maria from Kluge’s guest farm has arranged a quick bite of goat meat and rice, and – sensing the daily weather change after some quite sunny hours – we continue our way down. Right on time – since the rain just starts when we sit in the car. On the way back, we are going through an extraordinarily violent thunderstorm and pass a telephone pole that gets struck by a lightning and explodes in the very moment we pass it. Quite an event...!

We spend the early evening with the hiking party at the Toro Golf Club for more goat meat and local food and later continue joining Philipp’s party at his home.

On business, I receive another confirmation from one bank on their participance in next week’s workshop – this already makes four banks at least, which is good news. Our transfer to Kampala is booked for tomorrow at 10AM, so that – depending on the traffic – we hope to be there during late afternoon.

Friday, 8.3. – Closing off

Fourth and last lecture for Felix today, all student groups presenting the results of their field studies. The session – originally planned for 3h, is extended until 1:30 in order to settle all questions from the students, who turned out to be quite active in presenting their cases. The lecture is closed with Felix handing over the 'bible' on treasury management to Geoffrey.

Completed Balance Sheet - happy faces!

Triple C: Cash conversion completed

The Kiko Tea Company Team in action

Hold on tight - the whole wisdom of bank treasury management

In the meantime I draft the feedback questionnaires for next week’s workshop we will hand out to all participants in order to get an insight on how the event was perceived by everyone and what can be improved the next time.

Student's feedback questionnaire for 14. March

Bank's feedback questionnaire for 14. March

At 2PM, I meet Geoffrey at HOFOKAM, a local microfinance institute where we want to discuss potential internship opportunities for MMU students with the branch manager. It seems that the branch currently has no need for further interns as the message at the front door clearly says:

The message is clear ...!

Unfortunately there is no one there today, since it is a public holiday, so we decide to meet later to discuss next week’s agenda.

Back at the Dutchess, I meet Oliver Schmidt and Felix, who finally return from the university after a long session and crave for lunch. At 4PM, my student group arrives and we go through next week, their role and some logistical questions. It is the last time we see each other in Fort Portal and we agree to stay in contact, as I am also interested in their further career as students and bankers in spe.

Thursday, 7.3. – Invitation Day

‘Home Office’ day. Since there is a public holiday tomorrow, I have to shift my meeting with my student group and after some calls and exchange of mails manage to move it to tomorrow 4PM in the Dutchess.

The morning and early afternoon are spent with sending out 11 invitation mails to all the banks we would like to see next week, providing them with the latest marketing brochure and the agenda I yesterday have agreed with Oliver Schmidt.

Hard to believe this takes half a day – however, still true. The internet connection is so poor that some mails take an eternity to get through. Apart from that, the browser occasionally simply breaks down and dematerialises my mail drafts into unknown black holes of the Ugandan cyberspace. So, whoever received those mail drafts and feels invited – we will see next week in Kampala who will show up!

Anyway – by early afternoon I have managed to send out the invitation with all details to 11 banks in total and already by early evening have received three written confirmations from major banks they will attend. This indeed is rewarding since it demonstrates we seem to be on the right path with our concept.

I close my email odyssey with putting together a status summary for GIZ and MMU (which takes another 3 attempts and 1.5 hours) and finally join Felix and Oliver Schmidt for tonight’s excursion to Kyaninga Lodge, where we have reserved a table for an (early) farewell dinner for GIZ (Oliver & family, Felix, Philipp) and ourselves, since our time in Fort Portal is moving into its final phase.

No photos today. The ‘MMU Dutchess Garden Office’ – my primary working space today – is not really to new and my facial expression on various system outages while working on the mails should better not be documented...! Perspectives for tomorrow look much friendlier and less IT-driven, since I will meet a Microfinance institution together with Geoffrey at 2PM to discuss the German concept of 'Dual studies' and see my student group at 4PM in order to instruct them for next week.

Wednesday, 6.3. – Getting into shape

Felix (again) ‘early bird’ leaves at sharply 8:30 AM for MMU and – after taking some pictures of the university campus in the beautiful African morning light – sits together with the class to discuss their findings from the interviews they had with local companies on their balance sheets and their corporate cash conversion cycle. 

Saaka MMU University Campus in the early morning light

MMU's canteen kitchen staff preparing lunch for today

The majority of the students were quite well prepared and had actively looked for information in various sources – including Wikipedia. One group coincidentally had chosen KIKO Tea Company as the object of their studies – Felix had to admit he was a bit envious, since our visit to KIKO on last Saturday was not that successful!

'Mr. Felix' opening the lecture

Boiling brains in team of three ...

... and two students

and 'Mr. Felix' always in the middle

So it was a very busy morning for Felix since he spent the whole time with each of the five student groups, and he comes back to my ‘garden office’ in a quite enthusiastic mood.

In the meantime my morning is – again – on the phone with some banks in order to discuss details of the workshop. I have now won one bank as speaker for the conference, sharing their experience with one of BBDF’s students as intern.

The morning and afternoon is more or less spent with fine-tuning the agenda (collecting company logos from the internet and putting everything together in a neat manner) and a draft of the feedback questionnaire we are planning to hand out to the students after the workshop.

Our Workshop Agenda for 14. March

Late afternoon I sit together with Oliver Schmidt to discuss details for next week, as I am expected to hold another lecture for colleagues from GIZ in Kampala on Product Management and Organisation.

Having finalised the agenda, the event for next week now becomes much more tangible and we agree to send it out to all participants together with the latest version of the MMU Marketing brochure by tomorrow.

Tuesday, 5.3. – Powerpoint without Power

I start the day with calling some more banks from my ‘garden office’ at the Dutchess and have an early lunch before taking a Boda-Boda to the university campus.

Calling Ugandan Banks from the 'MMU Dutchess Garden Office'

There, our ‘senior Banker’ Daniel (he is a retired banker from Stanbic and now works part-time as a lecturer for the BBDF Students) already expects me and guides me into the classroom where 20 curious students await my session on presentation techniques.

It turns out to be a challenge to explain skills in Powerpoint to students who do not even have that much experience in working with a Computer. So we start at a lower level and gradually work ourselves up into the idea of working on concepts and how to bring them on paper and communicate them to an audience. The session gets really challenging when the electric power is suddenly gone and the beamer does not work any longer. At that point, I am grateful for the battery in my laptop so at least I can continue with the presentation by explaining the contents I want to bring across.

Explaining Powerpoint without electric power

All in all the session is well received and I have the impression the students have just been introduced to a new universe. All I can do is encourage them to get their hands on a PC wherever they can get hold of it.

Daniel kindly gives me a lift to downtown in his car and over the afternoon I complete my list of banks that are going to be invited for the 14. March. All in all I have now touch-based with 11 commercial banks in Uganda and do hope we have raised their attention to the BBDF program and the event we are planning next week in Kampala. Together with a draft of the agenda for the 14. March I send over a package of the project documentation to Oliver Schmidt in order to give him an update and ensure we are on the same page.

Before closing the day, we have a follow-up call with Alexander and Michael in DB Frankfurt in order to discuss administrational aspects of the project as well as the status and progress made so far.

Monday, 4.3. - A different day

The day starts totally different from the routine we have got used to. After 2 weeks of absolutely gorgeous weather, the climate is much cooler after some heavy rain showers that went down over night and still go on during the morning. Secondly, Felix finds out that two Laptops (one from DB and one from GIZ) have been stolen out of his room. We suspect a guest who stayed for one night from Friday to Saturday and did not even pay when he left. So for Felix, the rest of the day is busy with a hell of administrational work and experiencing the Fort Portal Police universe – Michel from the Dutchess kindly accompanies him and offers help wherever possible. Our expectations of the PC’s turning up again are limited, however, investigations are ongoing.

I am picked up by Oliver Schmidt at 8:30 and we move up to the university since today the Banking ‘department day’ together with students from the management course is scheduled. We have a tight agenda and kick off with Priscilla’s presentation on Product development and management, which gives student a good basic insight of what a product is and how it can be managed along its life cycle.

Her presentation is followed by a breakout session with 5 student groups who are asked to think of exemplary products and present them in a 5-minute pitch in front of the class – which gives us all a great time in hearing from very innovative banking products and a magic telephone!

Creating new bank products

Breakout session

We conclude the session with a short break and continue with my presentation on the organisation of product management, sharing not only some insight on organisation theory, but also how to apply it to the task of product management in selected business scenarios along the product life cycle.

Organisational aspects of Product Management

After lunch in the classroom we continue with a session on career development in the banking industry with an extra loop into social media such as facebook, myspace, and linkedin. After a quite extensive group discussion on the pros and cons of facebook, we conclude the day with a presentation from Daniel as a senior ex-banker and – representing Felix in his absence – my final contribution on social networks as well as important aspects that should be taken into consideration when going for a career in banking.

After more or less 7 hours sitting together in one room with a group of 40-50 people no one opposes against calling it a day and we all head for home.

Sunday, 3.3. - The Ndali-Mahoma waterfall scramble

A day to be seized. ‘Healthy’ Breakfast at the Dutchess as every morning (Coffee / Tee, Fruit Platter, fresh Passionfruit juice and a muesli with homemade yogurt. At 9:30, Solomon picks us up with his 11-year old Toyota which makes us wonder how far we want to get with it. He proves to be a swift driver who knows his way flying across the gravel roads to our destination for today, the Ndali Lodge.

The lodge is a place with some kind of history, led in the third generation of an Englishman who was thrown out of the country by Idi Amin and was given back his land by the following and still acting president, Museveni. The place still emanates a distinct ‘colonial style’ and offers breathtaking views into two crater lakes to both its sides.

 

One of the many volcanic craters - up to 180m deep

We start the day with a tour to the Mahoma waterfall, a remote place in the middle of the hilly area of volcanic origin. The waterfall hike requires a guide from the nearby campsite and with Steve we have a very profound expert of the local plant and animal life we walk through on the – partially quite steep – way to the waterfall. However, the way is worth the effort!

Our guide Steve

The waterfall scramble

Mahoma Waterfall

On our way back, we cross a farm where have the opportunity to meet some local folks and their children, who are quite interested in the Muzungus and their cameras.

On our way back

Tooro Handshake

Back in Ndali, we enjoy the cool pool with a view into the valley and finally have our lunch. The afternoon is quickly passed along with reading, calling home and enjoying the beautiful surroundings and two lovely dogs looking after us.

A dog's life ...!

Saturday, 2.3. – No cup of tea

Well – originally this chapter was intended to be named ‘A cup of tea’, since our plan was to visit the KIKO tea company today. However, once we had taken the trip with Boda-John and Company to the gates of the factory we had to learn it was closed. Quite disappointing after everyone had told us there is no point in calling someone at the company, but we should just come by any time we like.

Tee collection place and banana bicycle

Close to our (closed) destination

Anyway – the tour was still worth while, since we had an exciting trip out of Fort Portal through the beautiful tea fields around the town – and back.

Close to Fort Portal we ask our Boda-riders to stop by at the entrance of the Botanical garden and take a tour with a local guide there. This turns out to be one of the most exciting and interesting trips we had so far. The botanical garden itself does not look really pretty at first sight, however our guide turns out to be absolutely literate on all kinds of herbs and plants and takes us through the whole process of drying and packing herbs, which are also sold there. The garden itself is 100 acres big and we learn too much about local plants and their healing effects to record every detail. After picking some of the delicious little strawberries from the ground, we walk through a stunningly high forest of Eucalyptus with trees as high as 40 to 50 meters – amazing!

On the way out we buy two seedlings (one called ‘yesterday – today – tomorrow’) and a small mango tree for our hosts where we are invited tonight. Felix takes a bag of dried lemon verbena and I buy a tin of ‘Organic Justicia adhatoda’ mixed with honey, which – according to our guide – is the perfect medicine against all kinds of cold. Perfect for me, I have tried it right away. The taste? Hmmhh... must be very healthy!

We spend the afternoon with lunch, calls with home, reading and some work for next week before we are picked up by Christine and Moses for our dinner invitation at Oliver Schmidt’s house, where he and his wife Bettina have prepared a barbecue on the roof terrace of their hideaway house in the green depths outside Fort Portal.

Friday, 1.3. – On the phone

Felix ‘Early Bird’ breakfasts at 7:55 and takes a ride to the university with Boda-John for his second lesson on Cash Conversion. One of his experiences with his course’s participants (including staff) is that the students are not only eager to learn more on the topic but also demonstrate room for improvement regarding being on time – so the course finally starts shortly after 9:30 instead of the originally planned 9:00.

My plan for today: ‘on-boarding’ Banks for 14. March. After my quite successful and encouraging kick-off from yesterday with two banks having already committed participating in our MMU Banking Day, things turn out to be a bit more cumbersome today. I am working myself through a multitude of lists with contacts from various banks and – after the first 5 fruitless calls – get the impression there is bank holiday today. However, over late morning and into the early evening I manage to touchbase with the HR departments of 6 more local banks, so that already now we have a list of 8 potential banks participating in the event.

In the late afternoon, we sit together with Oliver Schmidt and discuss a number of topics around the event and the agenda for the week, which seems to become quite busy with a lunch on Monday with the Uganda Country head of GIZ on Monday, some appointments with banks before Thursday, a press event on Friday and a scheduled lunch or dinner with the German ambassador in Kampala.

We spend the evening with a stroll through Fort Portal ‘downtown’ and go for dinner and a game of snooker in the Forest Pub (no link available...). On the way back I decide to test my camera’s capabilities on night shots and manage to produce a snapshot from one of the local gas stations: