I never dreamt of becoming an accountant. I knew nothing about audit until I started working with EY Uganda as a French-speaking audit trainee. My father was a factory manager until he retired. I grew up looking up to him and dreamt of the same career.
I graduated with a degree in industrial chemistry, hoping to pursue a career in process engineering. I had several job offers in manufacturing and one at EY Uganda as a French-speaking audit trainee. As I loved the French language, EY was an obvious choice.
I went up through the ranks from audit trainee to audit senior in three years. I then joined information systems risk assurance and finished my time with EY in transaction advisory services.
Stanbic Bank Uganda was starting an IT audit unit, and I was thrilled by the idea of growing something from scratch. I joined as manager, responsible for IT audits. In three years I had grown the unit considerably, becoming regional IT audit head.
I set up a digital forensics services lab for the bank and oversaw several breakthrough investigations
In this role I witnessed several unsuccessful IT-related fraud investigations and realised the bank’s investigations unit was ill equipped for the task. I always imagined what I could do differently for the unit, so when the opportunity arose, I grabbed it. In my first year as the head of investigations and fraud risk unit, I set up a digital forensics services lab for the bank and then oversaw several breakthrough investigations. The laboratory now serves six countries in the Standard Bank Group.
Uganda has a very young population, most of whom are unemployed. This remains our biggest challenge by far. An unproductive generation could spell disaster for the country. On the other hand, it is an opportunity. If this generation is made productive, it could be a great growth machine for Uganda.
The battle against fraud rages on and fraudsters get more sophisticated every day. As professionals, we must not relent in our fight against them. For me, my own diverse training and experience in fraud examination, IT audit and across accounting has made my current role easier, especially for tasks that require integrated knowledge.
I enjoy my current role as it is the first line of defence. It lets me provide advice and implement controls in the moment rather than after the fact, as in audit. Sometimes the impact of my input is near-instant.
If I had law-making powers, I would overhaul education. Most of our laws and education systems were inherited from colonial times. We need laws that foster home-grown knowledge and innovations and focus on skills acquisition rather than accumulation of academic knowledge.
It is amazing to read about our forefathers’ inventions. Some of them are the foundation for modern science and technology. Most never went through the education system we went through, yet we can barely invent or innovate a thing.
My biggest achievement is yet to come. However, something which fits the description is the increasing wisdom that I have acquired, which enables me to thrive in unfamiliar territories or situations.
If I weren’t an accountant, I would have been a teacher or a football team coach. It would put me in a position to pass on knowledge and skills to others. It’s something that comes naturally to me and which I love doing.
I enjoy reading about leadership, strategy and entrepreneurship. Of late, I read on average a book every two weeks. And I always jump at a mentoring or coaching opportunity.
