Forward
Mr. Dison B. Okumu, CEO
I take this opportunity to congratulate the ICGU Council, Management and Members for successfully completing the first quarter of the year, 2023.
In addition, I have the pleasure to recognise the new Members who joined us in the last quarter of 2022 and welcome those that have just joined us in quarter 1, 2023.
As guided by our Council Committees, the Secretariat focused on implementing four (4) Strategic Objectives, namely: 1) Training, Membership Growth and Engagement, 2) Increasing Revenue, 3) Digital Transformation of our Operations, and 4) Marketing and Brand Visibility.
It is important to note that, ICGU is on a mission, and we believe that if we can achieve our goals, we will have gone a long way in leaving a lasting legacy in Uganda and the Region through championing the Public and Private enterprise sectors that uphold internationally acceptable best practices in corporate governance.
The Institute is proud of working with each one of you individually, or collectively as leaders of organisations, facilitators, consultants and sponsors. By extending our services to others, we jointly make the Institute better.
Below is a report on our operations in Quarter 1 for your information and we expect feedbacks that will allow us improve as we go forward.
I wish everyone a good reading.
1.0 Training:
The Institute conducts two types of trainings, namely: Customised Trainings and General Trainings.
1.0.1 Customised Trainings: these are tailored to an organisation’s needs and preference, and each facilitator assesses the organization’s needs together with its top Management team, prepares and delivers the desired training material contents. These usually take the form of Board Inductions Board and Management Trainings in various areas of corporate governance.
In quarter 1, the Institute trained the following NGOs, Public and Private Institutions:
| No. | ORGANISATION | DATE | DURATION |
| 1. | Program Technical Committee – USMID | 08.01.2023 | 2-days |
| 2. | ICON Enterprises | 21.01.2023 | 1-day |
| 3. | Makerere University Council | 06.02.2023 | 1-day |
| 4. | Kawempe National Referral Hospital | 09.02.2023 | 2-day |
| 5. | WSUP Advisory CIC | 14.02.2023 | 1-day |
| 6. | UPENDO Familia Investments Limited | 16.02.2023 | 1-day |
| 7. | Uganda Air Cargo Corporation | 14.03.2023 | 2-days |
| 8. | General Training | 16.03.2023 | 1-day |
| 9. | CoRSU Rehabilitation Hospital | 17.03.2023 | 1-day |
| 10. | National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) | 17.03.2023 | 1-day |
| 11. | Kayunga Regional Referral Hospital | 17.03.2023 | 3-days |
| 12. | International Development Law Organisation (IDLO) | 27.03.2023 | 3-days |
| 13. | Post Bank Uganda | 27.03.2023 | 2-days |
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1.0.2 General Trainings: The Institute organises at least one (1) General Corporate Governance training every quarter. The training covers the 12 standard corporate governance modules and upon completing all the modules, the trainee gets a Certificate of Attendance in Corporate Governance.
This training attracts organisations with specific people in their teams or individuals that want to attain knowledge and practical skill in Corporate Governance Practices. In the quarter under review, ICGU organised a General Training covering the following topics which will subsequently be followed by the remaining modules in subsequent months:
1.2 Consultancies
These include Board Evaluations, Corporate Governance Audits, Test of Independence of Non-Executive Directors, developing Board Charters, Organisation Strategies, and Recruitment of Senior Managers, among others.
In Quarter 1, the Institute conducted the following consultancies:
| No. | Organisation | Date |
| 1. | Research and Education Network for Uganda (RENU) Strategic Plan Review | 08.01.2023 |
| 2. | Engineers Registration Board Strategic Plan Review | 22.03.2023 |
| 3. | Cairo Bank board Evaluation | 25.01.2023 |
1.3 Planned training and Consultancies
It is important to note that customised workshops/ Trainings for individuals and organisations are on the rise and participants are continuing to apply. The following organisations are some of the prospective ones for Quarter 2.
| No. | Organisations |
| 1. | General training Workshops |
| 2. | Makerere University (Top Management Training) |
| 3. | RENU Board Induction |
| 4. | Alliance General Insurance (Board evaluation) |
| 5. | Mulago National Referral Hospital Board Induction and; |
| 6. | Arua Regional Referral Hospital Board Induction. |
1.4 On Boarding New Facilitators
To manage the growing number of Board engagements and Consultancies, the Institute called for expressions of Interest and brought on board a new pool of great facilitators from amongst our Membership. We thank the facilitators who applied and appreciate their commitment to the ICGU cause. We are still calling for more Members to join the band wagon so that we ably manage any stretch of Corporate Governance trainings and consultancies that are coming.
2.0 Digital Transformation and Branding Strategy
2.1 Digital transformation of the Website
As guided by the strategy to increase automated Membership engagement and Visibility, the Institute has embarked on a digital transformation agenda in line with recommendations made by the Education and Training Committee of Council.
This is being worked on through revamping the website and getting rid of the manual processes. To ease membership interface, communication and online payments, the following plugins will be added to the website:
| No. | New Website Plugins |
| 1. | Monster insights for membership acquisitions |
| 2. | Member press plugin for membership management and; |
| 3. | Easy pay Application for mobile money integration (MTN& Airtel) |
An IT expert, Mr. Isaac Mpagi, has been outsourced through the procurement guidelines for the Institute. We expect the first phase of the assignment to fully get done by end of May 2023.
- 0 Branding
The Secretariat recognizes that the Institute is in dire need for better branding and improved visibility. However, this has lagged behind due to limitation of funds but the Institute continues to reach out, share information and call for member participation through social media platforms, webinars, trainings, website and referrals. The following activities are being pursued in this direction:
| No. | Strategies for Branding & Visibility |
| 1. | MOUs with Authorities, Professional Associations and Activity Partnerships: The Institute has signed MOUs for partnerships to increase engagements and visibility with different organisations including COVAE on ESG training and promotions. Discussions are underway for a MoU with URSB for training of SMEs on corporate Governance.
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| 2. | E – Magazine and News Letters: The Secretariat is putting together a Corporate Governance E – Magazine for the first Half of the year 2023. The magazine will cover various CG topics and will feature a number of Topics contributed by our Members. The Magazine will be published in June, 2023.
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| 3. | Corporate Governance Reviews and Presentations: In the first quarter, the Institute was invited on several platforms to give Corporate Governance perspectives notably, invitations by: (i) the Parliamentary Select Committee on NSSF, (ii) Reviewing the CMA Corporate Governance Regulations, (iii) Public Corporate Governance Lecture for University Students at Cavendish University, and (iii) Public Lecture on Corporate Governance at Makerere University College of Business & Management Science. |
4.0 Stakeholder Engagements
In quarter 1, the Institute intensified stakeholder engagements. This effort focused on membership – new recruitments and renewals, more so, for corporate membership.
From this effort the number of new members has gone up from about 650 – over 800 individual Members and from 114 to 120 Corporate members. We particularly thank and welcome the following Corporate Members who joined us in quarter 1:
| No. | New Corporate Members |
| 1. | Allied Health Professionals Council |
| 2. | Uganda Aids Commission |
| 3. | Goldstar Insurance Company Limited |
| 4. | Uganda Road fund (URF) |
| 5. | Liberty General Insurance and; |
| 6. | Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA)
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4.1 Meet the CEOs Campaign
Meanwhile, the Institute has also engaged various companies for funding and business partnerships. The CEO has initiated a drive, dubbed: “MEET THE CEOs”, purposely for paving ways for partnerships to boost visibility, generate more income and promote Corporate Governance services offered by the Institute.
During the 1st Quarter, he has engaged CEOs of the following organisations:
| No. | Organisations Visited by CEO |
| 1. | Electricity Regulatory Authority |
| 2. | Uganda Communications Commission |
| 3. | International Development Law Organisation (IDLO |
| 4. | MTN Foundation |
In the same vein, discussions are in high gears to meet with the Country Director –International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group in Uganda next quarter to discuss possible support in financing critical corporate governance interventions in the country including sponsoring an Integrated ESG Programme for Uganda.
4.2 Recommendation of Members to Board
During the quarter under review, the Secretariat received requests and recommended our interested Members to be considered on Boards of the following Institutions:
- Guaranty Trust Bank
- Liberty General Insurance Ltd
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the first quarter has been a successful one and I wish to thank the ICGU Council, Council Committees, Staff and the Members for their moral and material support and guidance to the Secretariat. I also wish to reiterate that we can do much more to sustain the Institute especially through encouraging our friends and colleagues to join the Institute’s membership, partaking of its services and approaching corporations to extend financial and non-cash support to the Institute towards its budget support. Let me take this opportunity to call upon Members who wish to become Facilitators and Consultants to contact the Secretariat to be added on the database.
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