6 reasons people know so little about money

1. Financial literacy was not taught in school which was the only source of learning for many people.
2. They did not know anybody who had applied principles that made them financially better off. The examples they had were of people who stumbled from one financial crisis to another or people who pulled themselves from one financial hole to the next. They therefore concluded that becoming financially content, stable or successful was impossible.
3. They knew people who were financially better off than they were but these people might be unwilling to explain how they got to where they were. That made their watchers conclude that financial success was a matter of luck – being at the right place at the right time; (yateba dilo ne kafumbe)  – being the child or spouse of a wealthy person or having the right connections.
4. Man was said to be a creature of habit. For instance, we take particular routes to and from work, eat particular foods, and sleep in particular positions. There were people who also managed their finances according to habit and would not have time to examine new information that could positively impact on their finances.
5. State patronage going back to Idi Amin’s ‘magnanimity’ in expelling the Asians and allocating their fully stocked shops to the fastest-running Ugandans continued to foster beliefs that one had to get lucky.
6. Success was often attributed to a corrupt deal with government, murder of a partner, robbery, going under water or detaching human heads. From this perspective unless one was connected or knew a good butcher, what hope was there?

More...

Read the book Make Sense of Your Money. Available at Akamai 

Global | B209, 2nd Floor, Amber House

P.O. Box 6742, Kampala, Uganda
Tel. +256414573506|Cell +256754472109
Email: info@akamaiglobal.co.uk 

Kampala Personal Money Training

Learn how to beat inflation and more...

Akamai Global is happy to invite you, your family, friends and colleagues to the July 2011 intake for the Personal Money Management Course.

Benefits of attending the course

         Achieve your life goals and stop being frustrated by unfulfilled New Year resolutions

         Take control of your money

         Understand the real difference between the rich and the poor

         Know how to succeed with debt & escape the debt trap

         Learn how to invest whether you have little or much

         Understand and speak the language of money

Classes run from 6pm to 8pm for eight (8) consecutive Mondays.

The course fee is Shs 260,000 per person.

Booking and payment: Akamai Global, B209, 2^nd Floor Amber House (opp. Workers House). Tel.0701724783 /0754472109 /0751516118. Email:info@akamaiglobal.co.uk   

Topics covered

• Introduction to Personal Money Management (Wealth Mindset)
• Managing Savings and Expenses
• Personal Debt Management
• Personal Vision, Values and Goals
• Economics and your money
• Investment Principles
• Interactive Session - investment options
• Interactive Session - investment options

Be Wise, Be Hopeful

There is a lot of gloom around, courtesy of the roaring inflation that hit 11% during the period February to March 2011. The cost of living is going up as households lose purchasing power. A litre of petrol is costing Shs 500 more now than what it cost at the beginning of the year. The cost of food and other things such as transport has gone up too.

A story is told that one day mother bed bug and her children were resting in a mattress when they were suddenly hit by scalding hot water. A young bed bug was so scared by the water attack and cried out to mother bed bug who gave it this assurance, "every hot thing will eventually become cold." We can also take heart that the inflationary pressure will eventually ease of.

Economic challenges are like cold winds blowing into a room. An Arab proverb provides useful wisdom in response to this, "Close the door from which the wind blows and relax." Let us take encouragement from the current economically difficult times and acquire attitudes and habits that will lead to future financial success. Attainment of financial literacy is an effective way of closing the door through which the wind of financial challenges blows. We need to acquire knowledge about financial systems and services on the one hand and then go on to apply that knowledge to earn better income, save part of the earnings and invest effectively.

Just like the ressurection of Jesus gives hope of a better future to the christian, let us be hopeful as we look forward to the Uganda of tomorrow and begin to live out that hope by investing even if it is in a vegetable garden for starters.



To download the full April 2011 newsletter in pdf, please use this link
Akamai Newsletter April 2011

Kampala Investment Group Seminar with Tony Wainaina

Creating Wealth Using Investment Groups
* Are you a member of an investment group, a SACCO or Merry Go Round (Circle)?
* Is your group thriving or striving?
* Do you have questions on how an investment group should operate?
* Do you want to improve your individual financial security?

Come listen to and interact with Tony Wainaina, an investments guru from Nairobi, Kenya with over 21 years experience in the investment industry.
Tony is the former CEO of Trans-Century Ltd, which started as an Investment Group with 29 members and is now a major investment and equity firm operating in several African countries including Uganda.
Tony’s passion for group investment and wealth creation led him to found Origins IGA a firm that is committed to transforming the ENERGY of Investment Groups into sustainable wealth creation.

Date: Saturday March 12, 2011
Time: 7:30 am—11:30 am
Venue: Imperial Royale Hotel, Kampala
Fee: Shs 50,000 per person
Booking: Akamai Global, B209, 2nd Floor, Amber House
Tel.0414573506 /0751516118 /0754472109/0701724783
Email: info@akamaiglobal.co.uk

This event is brought in partnership by Competitiveness Investment Climate Strategy Secretariat and Akamai Global

When help is (un)kindness

It is an open secret that, 4 years after the 2006 election, the idea of prosperity for all Ugandans has had anything but questionable impact on the wellbeing of poor Ugandans. Now poverty is a serious problem in Uganda, no wonder the people in government thought of the idea of prosperity for all. According to a recent poverty study, one out of every three households in Uganda is absolutely poor meaning they live on less than Shs 60,000 per month.
The politicians have been telling us for several months now, that one practical approach the government has taken to make prosperity for all a reality is to choose a model farmer from each village and fund their enterprise to the tune of Shs 6 million and then use the success of this farmer to spur the rest of the village to climb out of poverty.
When I visited my village a year ago, I found that the area still did not have a model farmer who had benefited from the prosperity for all money. That is the time I held a discussion with an aunt who is a very hardworking peasant farmer but gets very little harvest from her efforts. From the discussion I concluded that one of the problems my aunt faced was the lack of high quality seeds.
I helped my aunt to get improved maize seeds for her two acre garden. When I went back to the village 10 weeks later the maize had begun to produce cobs and my aunt was ecstatic. The crop had germinated close to 100 percent and was producing 2 or 3 huge cobs on each plant. It was nothing she had seen before in her farming experience. I made a quick mental calculation and guessed that my aunt would earn at least Shs 2 million from her garden which would enable her to more than double the acreage for the next season.
After two more weeks, I paid another visit to the village and my aunt’s smile had turned into a scowl. It transpired that when the villagers saw the maize each of them made a goal of breaking off a few cobs to roast or boil before the crop dried. Considering that the garden is a few kilometres from a former IDP camp, the loss that my aunt got was significant. Instead of the 40 bags we had predicted the harvest was only 4 bags. This was far worse than the harvest my aunt used to get with the unimproved seed.
If my aunt had paid for the seed and fertiliser used then the money spent on them would not have been recovered from her crop. My aunt had become a target for the rest of the village instead of model farmer to be emulated. After this experienced I realised that at times it is better to leave villagers to carry on with their subsistence ways instead of killing them with kindness in the name of poverty eradication.
James Abola is a money coach and consultant. Email: james.abola@akamaiglobal.co.uk

What to make of the NIC IPO

Uganda’s largest insurance firm, National Insurance Corporation Limited, is offering close to 40 percent of its shares to the public at a cost of Shs 45 per share. The IPO which opened on December 31 is closing on February 5 but with hardly two weeks to the close there isn’t the usual interest and excitement that marked east African IPOs of 2008 and 2009.
There are four factors that could account for the cool public reception to the IPO, namely:
i. Slow publicity. Although the IPO officially opened on December 31, 2009 the prospectus was not available to the public until about January 6, 2010. This meant investors did not have any information to base their decision on for a whole week. It was again another week after the prospectus came out before any brokerage firm issued its analysis of the IPO. In the meantime the only publicity some of us saw was the newspaper articles from the privatisation unit.
ii. The MUASA factor. The Makerere University Academic Staff Association (MUASA) has been making shrill noises about a dispute between itself and NIC. An investor lacking information could easily imagine the amount claimed by MUASA is so significant that it would it jeopardise the health of NIC especially when you consider the sparing way in which information is forthcoming from NIC and others responsible for promoting the IPO.
iii. The Safaricom recoil. Most investors are yet to recover from the loss and dashed expectations suffered at the hands of the Safaricom IPO last year. Speculators who want to make a quick profit are understandably recoiling from the NIC IPO fearing a repeat of the Safaricom experience where the share has traded below its IPO price for most of the time.
iv. Uncertain balance sheet of insurance firms. Insurance firms deal in risk and there is no shortage of risk in the economy both locally and internationally. Nobody is praying for a helicopter insured by NIC to go down but investors will be keen to know if NIC has any risk concentration that could hamstring its health as a business.
The above factors notwithstanding, there are several reasons why investors should take a closer look at the NIC IPO.
The income statement of NIC in the last 3 or so years have been fairly good. The company has been making a respectable profit and has good prospects of growing its income further. The company has also been having a strong cash flow which has enabled it to pay handsome dividends to its shareholders. If you are investing because of dividends then NIC is a candidate to consider.
NIC is certainly not a speculator’s best option but if you are ready to wait for three years or more then it is a good company to invest in. The business has prospects for further growth and would only be hindered by greed or something like that seizing its management and board of directors.
I am reliably informed that the MUASA factor should not be a matter of great concern because the money being claimed is well within the figures provided for by NIC in its balance sheet. Besides the concerns expressed by MUASA can only be good for NIC because the board and management know they are under great scrutiny and must put their best foot forward at all times.
From a nationalistic perspective if Ugandans do not buy all the shares offered, the foreign strategic investor is waiting to pounce on them and increase their stake in the firm. so what you make of the NIC IPO is your choice but it is a choice better made after studying the prospectus and speaking to your broker or investment advisor.

James Abola is a business and money coach. Email: james.abola@akamaiglobal.co.uk

Is it time to stop talking about the financial crisis?

Everybody, well many people, are talking about the financial crisis. To some the financial crisis and the credit crunch are one and the same thing. This blogger thinks there is a clear difference between the two.
In Uganda people love to give excuses for instance a person who is late for an appointment will blame it on the weather - it was raining or on the traffic - I am caught up in a jam. The financial crisis has become the new favorite excuse - everything is blamed by everybody on the financial crisis.
A friend of mine is so sick of the mention of the financial crisis that he does not want to read or hear about it. My friend prefers hearing people talking about opportunities rather than mourning about the crisis.
What is your view?

James Abola

Learn how to grow your wealth and spend it wisely

April 2008 Success Series Seminar

$uccess $eries Breakfast

Power of PERSISTENCE

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm. Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

· Have doors closed in your face before?

· How do you create opportunities and open doors where none are readily available?

· Does the taxman make you feel like throwing in the towel?

· Or is employee turnover in your firm driving you insane?

· How do you refuse to give up in the face of great obstacles?

As James Whitcomb Riley says 'The most essential factor is persistence - the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come.'

Come and listen to an individual who turned a bag of mishaps into sacks of success. Andrew Rugasira is a self made man who needs no introduction. His entry onto the International Coffee business scene has not gone unnoticed from the streets of Johannesburg to the super market shelves of London. Persistence is what got him here – and will keep him on top of the hill. Do not wait to be told how to cultivate a persistent spirit – just be there.

Date: Saturday April 05, 2008

Time: 7:30 am—11:30 am

Venue: Imperial Royale Hotel

Fee: Shs 40,000 per person

Booking: Akamai Global, Room 304, 3rd Floor,
Diamond Trust Building

Tel.0414573506/0751516118/754472109

Email: akamai.global@gmail.com

AKAMAI ADVISORY: Andrew Rugasira is a renowned speaker and this breakfast is expected to sell out! Early booking with payment is advised!

This is the second breakfast series which Akamai is running in 2008. The Goal Setting breakfast held in February was facilitated by business magnate Patrick Bitature and Leadership Icon Dorothy Kisaka. The chemistry of ideas produced by the speakers, left many listeners wanting for more.

About Akamai Global

The reason Akamai Global exists is to transform lives through sharing and application of business and personal financial knowledge. Akamai means "clever", "cool" and "intelligent"