FINANCIAL LITERACY & PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

 In the Daily Monitor of 26th February 2026 on page 26 there was a story about graduates turning to casual labor as the job crisis bites. This requires serious reflection and attention in a nation where over 70% of the population is below 30 years. In the mind of any graduate is to get a decent job after gradation. That is what our education system wires us to think and work upon after graduation. But with the unprecedented rate of change a graduate must take caution about their career. No longer can a student or graduate leave their future to chance. The education curriculum is being changed to match the fast rate of change .Even policy makers are at a crossroads. Today even traditional courses such as Law, Engineering and Medicine cannot guarantee a graduate a job. In the past when there was one university students would be head hunted by companies even before graduation. Today the situation has changed because even for a university student to get an internship placement is a tal...

 This week of February 2026 thousands of students are graduating from over 30 universities in Uganda. I want to congratulate the finalists upon this milestone. This is because completing a university degree is not a small feat. To the parents and guardians of the graduates, I extend my appreciation for the brave act of paying tuition for the students from nursery up to university. A degree is a mark of resilience and determination that the student demonstrated during their time at university. Where as it is a moment of joy for the graduate it is also a period of transition and such seasons require careful attention and preparation. There are students who after graduation are privileged to get jobs immediately and there are those who are uncertain about what awaits them. One of the biggest fears of any graduate is the difficulty of getting a dignified job. I have been there and it is not a nice experience. What can a university graduate do after graduation? That is where the meaning...

 How do we view our salaries? It is true one might be earning less than they expect. But thank God we have  jobs. There is someone who is praying for the job that we currently possess. The inability to appreciate what we have can make us misuse the resources we have . Out of frustration of inadequate pay, a certain working professional used her monthly salary to start a retail shop. Over time the shop has accumulated profits for her and she has been able to pay school fees for her children. I know of a group of university students who after graduation started an investment club and today is worth billions in investments and have invested in real estate. I know of another group of former students of a secondary school who out of their online group started an investment club. They pooled resources and bought land and subdivided it.  The valuable lesson for a working professional is that we need a paradigm shift in how we view our resources. There are countless entrepreneurs...

 There is no perfect human being. The question that I want to pose is, why is it that when some working professionals make a mistake they dwell on it for long? I met a young professional who lost money in a scam several years back when he was still at university but up to now he points it out as the reason why he is not financially successful. Did we know that some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world failed several times. Take an example of Thomas Edison who is said to have failed over 1000 times while developing a light bulb. Several of his critics advised him to quit but he had a different attitude. So many times the masses will advise us to quit since they do not understand what we are doing in the present. However that is not a reason to quit our good attempts. Take an example if one is determined to pay off debt but is in a group of people who discourage him or her that person is likely to give up. It is critical in this example that instead of the person dwellin...

 What explains one employee earning three times what another working professional is earning? There are several answers to this dilemma but the attention todays article is placed on the importance of asking the right questions. I have found out that the employees who earn thrice their counterparts are unafraid to ask questions. Some working professionals have applied for positions that are way beyond their qualifications and have been promoted simply because they dared to ask. In a knowledge based generation and with the advent of Artificial Intelligence, there are so many opportunities for making money but our education system does not train us to ask questions. We fear to sell our value thinking that our academic transcripts will do the talking for us. It seems that the courage to ask the right questions can open opportunities for mentorship and this enhances our opportunities to increase our value in the market place and improve our income generating opportunities. Most of the w...

 It is the desire of every working professional to widen their income base. A number of working professionals wake up every day to meet their financial aspirations. The major question is, is this easy? Probably not. The cost of living is increasing every day yet we have to survive. This calls for extra effort. It calls for brainstorming on ways through which we can widen our income base. A few days ago I happened to be part of a discussion where a group of young working professionals were discussing the challenges that they face in the competitive job market. One noted that the cost of living is high and his salary was not enough to meet the expenses. So in this case what is the solution to this predicament. Rather than suffer in silence it is a wise move to candidly discuss the solution. The solution to the financial shortfalls that working professionals face is widening their income base through passive income. Passive income is one that a working professional earns while not phy...