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The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID) Odrek Rwabwogo was the Chief Guest at the Makerere University Convocation Graduation Luncheon yesterday, Wednesday, January 15, 2025, at the Convocation House. The event celebrated the best-performing graduates of different colleges at Makerere University Business School (MUBS).

In his remarks, Rwabwogo tipped the fresh graduates to embody values of responsibility, discipline and entrepreneurship as they step into the professional world.

Here is his FULL SPEECH.

The Chairperson of the Makerere University Convocation,

The Secretary, Prof. Buyinza Mukadasi,

The lecturers and staff of Makerere University Members of the Convocation

Students,

It is a great idea to bring the alumni of Makerere University once in a while to meet the graduating students. In a country where a thing called mentorship at industry and vocation level or even in the public sector, is low, this kind of forum creates opportunities for young people to find mentors. To mentor is to guide using one’s experience, to support, to build up, to share knowledge so that the listener or the mentee watching the life of the person ahead of him/her in age, years of work, and experience, can do better when their time comes to make decisions, often sometimes decisions that determine the survival of an institution, a family or a community.

As you enter the field of work, I would like to share with you a story of two captains whose decisions in a moment that demanded leadership, were vastly different affecting their professional lives, their families, and the families of many others. The first is Capt. Francesco Schettino. He was handed a USD 540m luxury cruise ship whose shareholders had borrowed money in 2016 to make the largest ocean cruiser. He took a job as its captain. On January 13, 2012, Capt. Schettino had over 4000 passengers on this ship in the Mediterranean Sea. The ship weighed some 114,000 metric tons (about 5000 loaded containers); it had a crew of 1100 people and was three football pitches long with a height equal to a 15-story building structure!

Schettino, that evening at 9 pm at sea, deviated from a planned route simply because he wanted to make sail by salute to his hometown island of Giglio. He wanted to please his people and show them how good he is! It was dark, the ship was at high speed and he misjudged its position. The ship suddenly hit underwater rocks which tore a 50-meter gush hole in the hull and it capsized killing 32 people! Capt. Schettino on the ship had a girlfriend, half his age having dinner yet he was married with children elsewhere (Distracted yet on a dangerous mission carrying thousands of lives). He quickly took off on a raft boat, abandoned the ship, and watched at a distance as it capsized, something trained captains never do. He earned the nickname “Capt. Coward”. He was later charged and sentenced to jail for 16 years. The Ship, Costa Concordia, bought so expensively was cut into pieces and never fulfilled its purpose leaving the company in debt and loss. The rescue operation and the environmental damage alone cost USD 1.2bn!

There was another Capt. His name, Chesley Sullenberger. On January 15, 2009 (15 years today), he took off from La Guardia airport in New York with 155 passengers on Flight 1549 at 9 am. There was an immediate bird strike and both engines failed quickly. He had to make quick decisions performing landing activities just after take-off. To avoid crashing into buildings, he guided the aircraft and landed it safely on the Hudson River. Everybody survived and Capt. Sully was the last to leave the aircraft. This is skilled execution, taking responsibility for what you have been given, offering calm leadership in your profession or industry, and teaching others the ability to make hard decisions under stress!

These two captains teach us:

  • The meaning of responsible behavior in our industry and lives
  • They signal a question: what have you packed in your life in the past? Decisions of this nature are not made in an instant; they are packed in our lives with disciplined effort in the past.
  • We have a reservoir we need to build ahead of storms! Have you been filling your cup so that when the time comes you are not found wanting?

Question: Which Captain will you be when you step out of the university and why? To pack good lessons in life and execute better, perhaps, these three things might help you:

  1. Seek silence and find out who you are because we are all surrounded by crowds and we flow with them many times. But, remember, crowds can be very deceptive! There are many crowds today because of flattened access to the internet and social media, parties, weddings, etc. – All Entertainment. Please remember: Entertainment can be a source of mental, emotional, and structural containment of your purpose and who you need to become. In solitude, there grows an ability to help others by finding yourself. In crowds we can often get lost and think we are doing well yet at some stage we do not recognize who we are and what we set off to do with our lives. In solitude, you learn to ask the right questions about life, to deal with bullies and jerks, to deal with those who will disrespect you at work or in life. You learn to handle rejections; you learn how to respond to life and chart your course. You rise above bullies and ‘disrespectors’. You in the end take control of your life and help others.

I know no leader in science (see Albert Einstein), technology and design (Read Steve Jobs), faith (Study the life of Jesus and Paul the Apostle), or public leadership (Read Mandela or Gandhi) that has not grown without introspection or being misunderstood. Don’t worry, when you take an unbeaten path, when you are different in thoughts, you will be misunderstood. The main thing is to find out who you are and what God intends you to do with your life. I invite you to read the story of a young man called Joseph in Genesis 41.

He learned all his leadership lessons in solitude and was able to save a whole society from famine. He had, however, to change his name and all, to wear a new outfit so he could be different and execute. He learned how to deal with people; he learned how to forgive and forge ahead for the greater good!

2-Drop Friends and peers who seek to extend ‘childish behaviour’ into adulthood; the ones who don’t help you on the journey to maturity. There is a story in the bible book of 2 Samuel 13 about a young man; his name was Amnon and the fellow had a crush on his half-sister! (Idleness and Temptation). His friend called Jonadab instead of helping him, devised a crafty plan to have Amnon’s half-sister Tamar to come make some cakes for Amnon who pretended to be sick. The father of these children, David, fell for Jonadab and Amnon’s trap and allowed the girl to go. Left alone, Amnon raped Tamar, his own half-sister! Amnon was later murdered by his own half-brother Absolom! A life taken young because of peers who are wring headed pretending they are friends!

Question: Which friend is telling you to be rich faster than others without hard work and innovation? Which friend is telling you to go to a bar every evening to hear rumors of what is new in town? Drop them! They are a burden on the journey you are now embarking on. With time, you will get others who share your purpose and cause! Do not worry about dropping the wrong characters!

3-Enterprise – the only thing I know that can raise the fortunes of a country, a family and give pride to the ingenuity of a people! Entrepreneurship gives you the freedom to think, innovate, and bring your ideas to life, into products or services without waiting on anyone. I say, wait on God and ask for wisdom. Do not wait on relatives, friends or politicians to help you. At PACEID, the committee I chair on exports, we aim at one million jobs through manufacturing and exports. This is because we know that any business that can sell its products or services outside the country, will learn and grow; it will pay taxes and it will innovate better for our society.

But even a domestic market serving business, which stops importation of things we can make here, gives you lessons on maturity, on how to deal with relationships, how to deal with different behavior and cultures at work, how to deal with regulations and yet stay ethical. Entrepreneurship is a form of leadership. I invite you on this journey. I can now take questions.

Thank you.