Moses Mudima Mudii

*FINANCIAL SERIES* *Opinion 28: The Sauna Millionaires* One evening, I was relaxing in a sauna when a discussion about business started. Before long, everyone had become a business consultant. Every person had an idea, a success story and of course, impressive figures to support their arguments. The numbers were so convincing that you could easily start questioning whether you were in the right business. Someone would tell you how poultry farming could make you a millionaire. Another would explain why tour and travel was the next big thing. Before you left the sauna, you would probably have three new business ideas and a serious identity crisis! One gentleman, however, remained unusually quiet throughout the discussion. When he finally broke his silence, he shared something interesting. He had picked up a piggery business idea from that very sauna. The gentleman who introduced the idea had presented such impressive figures that he became convinced he was sitting on a billion-shilling opportunity. Unfortunately, the story did not have a happy ending. By the time he was sharing his experience, the bank was demanding UGX 400 million from him following the collapse and closure of the business. This is what I call the sauna business school. You enter with a towel, receive an MBA in poultry farming, a doctorate in real estate and graduate with a billion-shilling business plan! _My friend Dr. JB calls it Gossip Business._ The problem with many of us is that we are easily persuaded by other people’s success stories. We rarely ask about the failures, the capital invested, the operating costs, the management challenges and the years it took to build the business. In Opinion 29 tomorrow, I will share what my friend JT and I discussed about *decorative business.* We see someone making money in a particular business and immediately conclude that we should also join. We copy and paste business ideas without understanding the market, our capabilities or the risks involved. We always think the grass is greener on the other side. Meanwhile neglecting the garden in our own backyard. Today we are in poultry. Tomorrow in real estate. Next week we are importing cars. By the end of the month, someone has convinced us to invest in fish farming or watermelon farming. No wonder some businesses struggle to celebrate their first birthdays. Their owners are already attending the naming ceremony of another business! Building a sustainable business requires patience, discipline, resilience and a willingness to learn from failure. Not every promising business opportunity is meant for you. Sometimes, the best investment decision is to stay away. And please, the next time you are in a sauna and someone starts explaining how UGX 10 million can become UGX 1 billion in six months, enjoy the conversation, finish your steam and go home. You might just have saved yourself UGX 400 million! *_Sabiiti Herbert*

*FINANCIAL SERIES* *Opinion 16: Recognise Your Season and Make It Count* In an earlier opinion 12, I asked a simple question: _Which season are you in_ Understanding your season is one thing. Utilising it wisely is another. I once had a client who was struggling financially. By chance, he rode the first wave of NUP and became a Member of Parliament. After his victory, I called him and advised him to be careful with money. Political fortunes can change and there is no guarantee that the next wave will carry you back to Parliament. I encouraged him to invest UGX 1 billion in government bonds before his term ended so that, regardless of the next election, he would have something substantial to fall back on. I became his accountability partner. He started with UGX 20 million and gradually built his bond portfolio to UGX 1 billion. Today, he uses the interest earned to support his constituency activities while preserving his investment. Fortunately, he won another term and we have agreed to build a second UGX 1 billion bond portfolio. He has already started. This is what it means to utilise your season. When an opportunity comes, do not just enjoy the benefits. Build something that will outlive the opportunity. The lesson goes beyond Parliament. Your season could be a good job, a thriving business, a political appointment, a profitable contract or an investment opportunity. Whatever it is, use it to build assets rather than merely upgrade your lifestyle. Remember, you may be one election, one job loss, one contract or one business crisis away from financial distress. Do not wait for the season to end before you start planning for the next one. *_Sabiiti Herbert* sabiitiherbert.com

*HOW TO MANAGE A FINANCIAL CRISIS* *Opinion 8: When Your Position Retires, Some Friendships Retire Too* In Opinion 7, I wrote about how a financial crisis can shrink your network. But sometimes your network does not wait for a financial crisis to disappear. It begins shrinking the moment your position, income or influence disappears. This became clearer to me after following the experience of my social media friend, Afande Asan Kasingye; a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIGP) who shared a reflection about retirement. If I remember correctly, he said that while he was still working he had a group of friends who visited him every Sunday. However, when he retired, those visits stopped and so did the friendships. That experience exposes an uncomfortable truth: some people are not attached to you; they are attached to what your position gives them access to. Some people become part of your network because of your position in an organisation or in society. They may appear to admire you, respect you and value your friendship, but what they truly value is the influence, access, money or opportunities connected to your position. The moment you retire, lose your job or no longer hold power, the friendship retires with you. I have a friend who is over sixty years old. He once told me that his network had shrunk for several reasons. Some of his friends had died. Others had disappeared because they were struggling financially, while others had simply been swallowed by the demands of life. Then he made a funny but thought-provoking statement: *“The only friend that does not grow old is money.”* There is some truth in that statement. Money remains useful throughout life but it cannot replace genuine relationships. Unfortunately many of us spend a great deal of time, energy and resources maintaining transactional friendships while neglecting the people who truly stand with us through thick and thin. These may be our family members and the few close friends with whom we have walked through different seasons of life. They may not always have money or influence but they offer something more valuable: loyalty, honesty, emotional support and genuine concern. Those are the people you should value more and invest in. *_Sabiiti Herbert*

*HOW TO MANAGE A FINANCIAL CRISIS* *_OPINION 6:_ ARE YOU BUILDING WEALTH OR JUST TRYING TO IMPRESS YOUR FAMILY?* Last year, I was invited to speak about financial matters at a married’s fellowship. During the discussion, someone asked me whether it was a good idea to build a country home. My answer was straightforward: *A country home is a good investment if it serves a purpose beyond giving you somewhere to sleep when you visit the village!* If you have agricultural projects or other income-generating activities in the countryside, building a home there can make perfect financial sense. Even if you simply want a retirement home and you are financially stable, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But if you are struggling financially, have outstanding loans, cannot comfortably meet your family’s basic needs and are still determined to build a country home that you may visit once a year, then we need to have an honest conversation! I was “careless” with my answer forgetting I had no life insurance. I was at risk of being “lynched” by the ladies in the room for daring to question the country home dream! Jokes aside, this brings me to a bigger financial problem: Sometimes, we make expensive financial decisions not because we can afford them but because we want to please the people we love. A man may take his children to an international school when his income cannot sustain the fees. He may take a massive loan to build a country home because his wife wants security. He may buy an expensive car to maintain a certain family image because everyone expects him to own one. The intentions may be good but the consequences can be devastating. You end up borrowing to sustain a lifestyle you cannot afford. Your salary is consumed by loan repayments and school fees. You have no emergency fund, no meaningful investments and no financial protection for your family. Every month becomes a struggle to survive until the next payday. Ironically, in trying to give your family a better life, you may end up exposing them to greater financial insecurity when you suddenly die of pressure or stress related illness. *_Sabiiti Herbert*

*HOW TO MANAGE A FINANCIAL CRISIS* _*OPINION 5:_ ONE STUPID DECISION, TWO YEARS OF SLAVERY!* Have you ever made a decision that took you just one day to enjoy but two years to recover from? That is the danger of poor financial decisions! When I received my first salary, I was excited. I called my friends and we headed to the then Bujagali Falls for a good time. We hired a car and spent all my money enjoying ourselves. But on our way back, disaster struck! We ran out of fuel in the middle of Mabira Forest. Fortunately a stranger came to our rescue. That was not my biggest problem. I had not paid my rent and had not set aside money for my personal expenses. I had spent everything celebrating money I had barely learned how to manage. The consequences? I lived on salary advances for close to two years! Think about it. One day of excitement cost me almost two years of financial freedom. I had to keep asking for salary advance just to survive. Every payday became an opportunity to settle yesterday’s problems instead of building tomorrow’s future. One careless decision can imprison your finances for years. Make wise decisions today so that tomorrow you are not forced to work for money you have already spent! *_Sabiiti Herbert*