4 BUSINESS TITANS YOU SHOULD MEET IN YOUR LIFETIME

‘NEGOTIATION SKILLS’ is the theme for the Authors’ Forum for Wednesday 5^th August, 6-9pm, at THE HUB (Oasis Mall). Even before I mention the names of the 4 extraordinary entrepreneurs we shall be hosting, let me make this clear: there is little we can achieve professionally or in business and investment if we do not know how to negotiate.

Negotiation is one of the key habits that differentiate those on their way to success from those on their way to failure. If you have been keen, you have noticed that successful people always negotiate for a discount. It’s only the poor who feel ashamed for they are worried of what the seller or the observers might think. On the other hand, the success-minded are only concerned with how much value they will gain or save by bargaining.

Negotiation is most probably not among the skills you were taught in school, yet it is as important to career and business as oxygen is to the body. Everyday, we find we have to negotiate over something. When you get to dating, there’s negotiation. If you are looking for, or giving a job, you negotiate the terms. If your colleague is influencing you to go to the bar instead of going for an inspirational event such as the Authors’ Forum, you have to negotiate your way out. Even governments have to negotiate with their enemies!

Negotiation skills will always help you get the best deal. If you are the one paying always negotiate to give the minimum and if you are the one receiving always negotiate to get the maximum. Avoid always being on the losing end. Don’t always be the one to sacrifice and give so much all the time; you are not Jesus the Savior of the world. If I am giving to charity, I give wholeheartedly. But if it is business, then I must make sure I am at the best end of the bargain. Do you know someone could charge you UGX 100,000 for an item whose actual price is UGX 10,000? If you are ashamed of negotiation, good luck!

I could go on and on and on… But let me leave the subject to be handled by those more qualified than myself in that area in a mind-provoking debate at the 5^th August Authors’ Forum. And that’s where I introduce the 4 panelists:

BARBARA OFWONO: Her story is big, touching and almost miraculous. She started small in a ramshackled house with just a few kids and everyone was laughing at her crazy dream of building a school, but today she literary owns one of the biggest education empires in Uganda, with a huge chain of schools serving thousands of pupils and employing hundreds of staff. Her testimony is so powerful that it could inspire an ailing patient to get up and climb Mt. Kilmanjaro while carrying a sack of salt in pursuit of his/her dream!

DR EMMA NALUYIMA: She is a revolutionary farmer who has won global fame. She started with borrowed UGX 2m and a borrowed piece of land, but today, one decade later, she has turned her farming into a fortune. People come from far and wide and pay money just to see what she’s doing. She has often been referred to as the number one farmer in Uganda. She’s also building a school worth billions where she wants to teach primary children farming and business. This is going to be the second time WORLD OF INSPIRATION is hosting Dr Naluyima at the Authors’ Forum. Her full story is in WI-Magazine (Issue 3, 2015) which you will find on that day. If you listen to her and you still remain adamant on acting on your dream, then know that witchcraft is real (jokes!).

VINCENT TUMWIJUKYE: If you attended any of the 3 Authors’ Forum episodes where he spoke on Financial Intelligence, Divorcing Procrastination and Customer Care, you know that Tumwijukye needs no introduction. He’s a young man who has seen it all – from starting with very little money, walking hungry for years, watching his business partners give up on the dream and him becoming a laughing stock amongst his pears, but he kept focused on his dream of building an ICT company that would go global. And this has come to pass. His first breakthrough was when UNDP Zambia bought licenses for his software at more than UGX 30m. His software, SavingsPlus, was then recommended by World Bank for SACCOs and Microfinance institutions throughout the developing world. The rest is history. Today, his company FLT earns hundreds of millions every month.

STEPHEN ASIIMWE: He is the Executive Director of Uganda Tourism Board where he has done wonders. But many people know him for The East African Business Week, a newspaper he started and to which he is former Executive Director. This is a man who literally succeeds at whatever he lays his hands on – in terms of business and investment. He succeeds, not because he doesn’t get tough challenges, but because he is tougher than those challenges. I must confess that I have not met many people that are as knowledgeable about business as this man. If you want to know what I am talking about watch the Authors’ Forum DVD where he spoke on ‘INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN UGANDA’. Well, come 5^th August, he will be live, at The Hub, together with the above 3, inspiring the Authors’ Forum.

The Authors’ Forum is Uganda’s number one inspirational event organized by WORLD OF INSPIRATION. It is open to the public. You can attend with your family, colleagues, neighbors, friends, enemies, neighbours... If you are an employer and leave behind your employees while we learn negotiation skills, it’s you to lose. There are two ways by which you can attend. First is by annual membership whereby you pay a subscription fee of UGX 250,000 and it makes you a member for 12 months. With that you don’t need a ticket to attend; you just walk head high with your membership card and enter. The second option is to buy an entry ticket in advance. Each ticket goes for UGX 40,000. THIS WEEK'S OFFER is to promote families’ and organizations’ attendance; so this week if you pay for 2 tickets we shall give you 3 and if pay for 5 we shall give you 10 tickets! Amazing; isn’t it?

To secure your ticket(s) or subscribe for membership, please contact 0704666851 (Bake) or 0774107287 (Winnie); we shall find you right where you are. Remember, the DVD for the last Authors’ Forum featuring AMOS WEKESA, SAMUEL BAKUTANA & JERRY SESSANGA on the theme ‘HOW TO MARKET YOURSELF’ is already on sale at only UGX 15,000. You can use the same contacts above to secure your copy of this treasure or any other DVD of the past episode of the Forum (we have over 70 DVDs in stock).

NB: Forward this message to anyone and everyone you care about so that they don’t miss out.

Stay blessed and inspired!