We need to re-orient Uganda’s commercial diplomacy

Growing up in the Rugaaga area of Nkore, one hilarious story trending in the 70s was about Mzee Kagubaara talking to the radio. Hearing it often deliver messages (especially death announcements), he concluded that this talking box always said what it had been sent to deliver. Thus he sat down and told it to deliver a message to Ssenkubuge, his son in-law, regarding the latter’s wife. It is this age-old wisdom that I have borrowed to communicate to His Excellency President Museveni. I believe Mr Ofwono Opondo speaks to the President, so I am sending him to deliver my message. This message is itself an anti-thesis to what Mr Opondo told Ugandans in the wake of the recent reshuffles and appointments within Uganda’s diplomatic corps.

According to Mr Opondo, the new appointments were largely to reflect the changing trends in international diplomacy, where commercial diplomacy is becoming more crucial than traditional diplomacy as hitherto known and practiced. He argues that the new appointments are to do what career diplomats had failed to do. Partly right in diagnosis, but totally wrong in prescription. Not so long ago, one career diplomat, Ambassador Mull Katende was recognised for promoting Uganda abroad. And this was not because I share a natal village with Ambassador Katende, but because he had done and still does a good job! I equally recall attending receptions at the Ugandan High Commission in Nairobi during the tenure of Ambassador Francis Butagira, where Ugandan delegations were hosted while on business and learning tours in Kenya; and during my calls of duty in Burundi, I often met a student of mine deployed there as a diplomat who had a knack for Ugandan goods penetrating Burundi.

True, we need to refocus our attention to commercial diplomacy, but the argument as advanced by Mr Opondo in respect to the recent appointments tells us another story. Perusing the list of the new appointees, one can read the standard Ugandan language of ‘mobilisation’; ‘sensitisation’; ‘stakeholder participation’; ‘citizen involvement’; ‘gender equality’; ‘religious balance’; ‘regional balance’; ‘empowerment’; et al. This is not the language spoken in commercial diplomacy. Commercial diplomacy speaks the language of ‘segmentation’; ‘targeting’ ; ‘positioning’; ‘market analysis’; ‘ the primary 4 Ps’; ‘demographics’; ‘ penetration pricing’; ‘income bracket’ ; fast-moving consumer goods’;
‘features and benefits’; competitor analysis’; ‘incoterms’; ‘FOB’; ‘CIF’; Ex-works’; ‘delivered duty-paid’; ‘ airfreight’; sea-freight’; ‘landed cost’; ‘bill of lading’; ‘telegraphic transfer’; ‘letters of credit’; ‘terms of payment’; ‘ mode of payment’; ‘exchange rate gains and losses’; ‘branding’; profitable growth’; et al
My humble message, therefore through Mr Opondo is thus: We need a total reorientation of our commercial diplomacy at two levels. First, the physical positioning. Embassies by their nature are places not frequented freely bila mpango. One must have a strong reason to undergo the hustle of visiting a traditional embassy.

We should instead establish Uganda centres in select countries where we target to have Ugandan products penetrate as well as attract tourists, researchers, and true investors. These should be located away from embassies, in areas freely accessible to those seeking information about Uganda. A typical Uganda Centre would be a replica of what we offer as a tourist attraction, investment destination and exporting country, actually a ‘living museum’ of what Uganda is.
The second level of reorientation is the manpower deployed there. Mr Opondo, the Ugandans who will take us to our desired commercial diplomacy will be ‘poached’ from successful exporter-manufacturers: export managers from Mukwano Group, Movit, NOGAMU, NICE House of Plastics, Uganda Baati, Roofings, et al. They know the secret.

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