MY UBC CHRONICLES Whither Financing? Contd Second lesson learned, its a question of attitude- negative energy attracts negativity, positive energy attracts positivity. These aint buzz words, how so? I will demonstrate to you. Just read on! Having obtained board approvals to open bank accounts with Stanbic and DFCU Banks, I now proceeded to negotiate financing in form of an overdraft for opex and further sought mortgage finance for equipment leasing- capex. I obtained board approvals for both and ministerial consent in that order. I then hit Kitili Mbathi and Anne Aliker, CEO and ED Corporate Banking respectively. I had no experience in these negotiations, but I was all positive- Anthony Wanyoto and Andrew Femin had sealed fairly promising revenue streams from their outfit ZK Advertising by giving us Celtel and coca cola ads. Banks like to deal entities with records of accounts - like audited accounts, a going concern. Start ups are a huge risk and indeed if you checked quarterly and annual reports of BOU theyll show you the picture of credit extended to start ups as compared to going concerns. UBC was risky business, any risk analyst will tell you organizations dependant on political machinations for decision making are damn risky- no go areas. I had at this point in time also sealed a partnership with Jump TV a New York stock exchange listed company for live streaming on the internet and for just over 9 USD a month Ugandans could stay in touch with home. There was to be revenue split. All these were futuristic cash projections - risky business. To improve the credit rating, I turned to UBC land for security. UBC owned prime land in Ntinda, Kololo, Nakasero, Bugolobi (about 70 acres) and Naguru. You will be shocked to learn the big names in Government, opposition and media who grabbed some of this land for a song, but i will mention the names in the book, even the owner of Aya Kampala Hilton, her name will appear. I digress, security for the finances and the story of UBC land. The challenge with the UBC land is that its titles were in Uganda Land Commission, I needed approval of the ULC to present the land as security. Voila, Hon. Joash Sikyalawo Mayanja-nkangi is an old time family friend and my parents neighbor for over 20 years. He was so helpful, he gave approvals, so quick, and off I set to have the properties valued. Problem, I had to use Stanbic appointed Valuers. Steven Bamwanga I chose, he was at Siniya (Kigezi College Butobere) with Dad and his Mrs is from that place called Kisoro (Legend has it that God spends His winter there lol) - see what I mean? I didnt ask for these contacts, I kept a positive mind and these persons roles began shaping up! Had I gone in with a defeatist attitude, I doubt I would have gone past meeting and chatting with the executives at Stanbic. You may argue, somewhat rightly, that I was using personal contacts to do business! For crying out loud, I wasnt doing family business - it was for the benefit of the public, not my mother, dad or whatever -. Dare, we must. The persons who bettered this world are those who dared, right? The best time to have bettered things in Uganda was yesterday, its gone time- cant reclaim it, the second best time is now (now now in Ugandlish lol)..... no one, I repeat, no one is going to do this for you. Its gotta be me and you!! That, the foregoing, was a necessary distraction, meant to energise you, and hope it does. I got the financing and then set off to rebrand and relaunch UBC, fun time- a whale of a time. I, the CEO on the streets - branded T-shirt distributing flyers, the insults, tantrums from snobbish drivers and oh yes - my university heartthrob whose heart I (sadly?) broke, on seeing me distributing flyers, had her moment of revenge. This babe literally and actually .... In next episode
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 03:36:45 +0000
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