Illustration: Sanjay Rughani, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Standard Chartered Uganda. PHOTO/NMG
Monitor's Deogratius Wamala sits down with Sanjay Rughani,the chief executive officer (CEO) ofStandard Chartered Uganda, to discuss something that often goes overlooked: the youth of Uganda and the issues that hold them back. From skill gaps and poor education to mental health struggles, Rughani shares insights on how we, as a society, can come together to support the next generation of greatness—if they want it, of course.
As we sit down in his office adorned by quite poetic paintings and fresh flowers, he gives me a candid look and first tells me about the institution he works for – the bank that has been around for more than 170 years globally, and in Uganda, for more than 112 years.
So, I do ponder, wondering aloud whether competition truly matters for a bank that has been around for this long. After all, their customer base has shifted, the products have evolved, and even the workforce and management have changed. It feels like a question that deserves a deeper answer.
He leans in and gives me exactly that—a thought-provoking perspective. “This isn’t about competing with other banks,” he says, leaning forward with a sense of conviction. “This is about doing what’s right for Uganda.”
His words resonate, but he’s not finished. “With 78 percent of our population under 30 years of age, the future of Uganda is in the hands of the youth. We believe it’s our responsibility to nurture that future.”
It is as if he has drawn a parallel to a gardener tending to young plants in a fertile, yet uncharted garden. The competition might be among other gardeners, but his real focus is pegged on cultivating the future—providing the right environment and tools for growth.
But he does acknowledge a critical issue facing the youth of Uganda and Africa at large: unemployment.
“It’s not just about job availability—it’s about creating the right opportunities,” he says. "It's not just a Uganda problem. It's an Africa problem. Our continent is growing rapidly, and by 2050, at least 25 percent of the world’s population will be African. And a huge chunk of that will be youth," he adds.
But the numbers don’t lie: about 15 million youth graduates in Africa every year, but only three million find professional, formal employment, the United Nations data shows.
The rest either navigate the informal economy or struggle to find their way. In Uganda, many end up in informal sectors like the boda boda industry or mobile business, trying to make a living however they can.
It is a reality that the bank sees up close. As an employer, Rughani understands that even with first-class degrees from universities, young graduates often lack the practical skills to thrive in the workplace.
“They come in with degrees, excited, but we still have to retrain them to get them ready for the work environment,” he says, noting that this gap between academic qualifications and workplace readiness is a significant challenge.
But why does this gap exist? "The mismatch lies between academic training and the skills needed for work," Rughani notes.
“It’s not just about knowledge, but about skills like decision-making, negotiation, influencing, communication, time management, and even basic financial discipline. These are the skills that the academic world often overlooks.”
And this, according to Rughani, is where companies like Standard Chartered come in.
“We’ve put a lot of effort into developing skills. We have to go beyond just hiring young people; we need to train and equip them for the challenges ahead. It’s about creating opportunities, not just filling jobs.”
But there is this one problem often overlooked – the disparity between the opportunities for youth in the developed world compared to Africa, and he knows it.
In developed countries, young people graduate and step into jobs because the opportunities are there. But here, it’s not just about jobs; it’s about creating an environment that nurtures these opportunities.
The challenge, though, is our education system, even though it’s undergoing reforms on the lower level, but as I learn from him, he argues: "We can’t just rely on the education system to provide all the answers. We have to take responsibility and invest in the youth to ensure they have the skills to thrive."
A lot of what we are learning academically may not necessarily be what the world really needs.”
He raises a critical question: “Do we truly understand the demands of the world so that we become fitter for those needs?”
In his view, the future of the youth in Africa, and Uganda in particular, depends on the kind of foundations built to help them adapt and pivot in a rapidly changing world.
This foundation, he argues, needs to be far more skill-focused than the traditional academic models.
“Education needs to be more purposeful around building real-world skills,” Rughani states, emphasising essential life skills like financial management, mental health awareness, and coping mechanisms for stress—skills that traditional education systems often overlook but are essential in the workplace and daily life.
But he argues that since it is a continental problem, we need a more transformative change, not just incremental improvements.
One example is Africa’s ambitious 2063 goals, which include increasing trade within the continent and integrating the youth more deeply into society.
In Uganda, the government’s Parish Development Model (PDM) aims to empower the youth through agriculture and other sectors, but Rughani cautions that incremental steps may not be enough to keep up with the scale of the challenge.
“We’ve got to do transformational things,” he says.
So, what are the key steps to creating real change? He does outline some priorities.
Reimagining education: Education needs to be restructured to focus on practical skills, not just academic knowledge.
Leveraging technology: The digital revolution offers huge potential to create new models for youth employment and entrepreneurship.
Fostering private sector synergies: “Business is not done by government, it’s done by the private sector,” he emphasises. In Uganda, most of the population works in the private sector, and creating synergies between government and business could open new doors for the youth.
For Rughani, these opportunities aren’t limited to traditional sectors. He points to Nigeria’s burgeoning Nollywood film industry as an example of how alternative industries like arts and entertainment can provide millions of jobs and opportunities.
The $50 billion question
While young people grapple with these challenges, Uganda has set its sights on an even loftier goal—expanding its economy from $50b to $500b in the coming decades. But how?
The government plans to pour funds into these aforementioned sectors over the next decade but here's the catch: while there’s enormous potential, it's still untapped.
Why? Well, the road ahead is blocked by challenges like infrastructure gaps, regulatory bottlenecks, and a shortage of skilled labour—making it more of a “work in progress” than a “done deal.”
“We’re still doing much of work [in those sectors] in a traditional way,” Rughani says, adding that the way forward, lies in technology—“How do we use drones? How do we use GPS - to modernise agriculture?
Similarly, the tourism sector holds immense promise, although Uganda lags behind neighbouring Tanzania in terms of development.
Minerals and mining are also high on his agenda. “Uganda is very rich,” he says, but the country is only “scratching the surface.” One reason he gives is because there’s a lack of understanding about the minerals sector in Uganda’s education system.
“Do we really teach how to optimise and process minerals?” he asks, highlighting the need for more education and expertise in this crucial area.
When it comes to science and technology, Rughani emphasises that Uganda has made strides, particularly with its digital agenda.
“How does that national agenda become part of academics, part of skills building?” he questions.
Skills over degrees
Despite more students earning degrees, employers are hunting for skills, not just certificates and the disconnect is glaring.
So, I chip in to ask him if the education reforms the government is doing aren’t solving the problem. One thing is that they are pegged on the move from a knowledge-based system to a competence-based education system.
While many other countries like Kenya and Tanzania have faced challenges with this shift, Uganda has made strides, but the transition remains difficult.
Rughani notes that education has been democratised, thanks to the Internet and technology.
“It’s all available in technology to a large extent,” he remarks, emphasising that the focus should be on building the right foundations today to be prepared for the future.
“Competency-based education systems are more relevant,” he affirms, but he stresses the importance of starting small and learning from success. “Let’s give it time, give it confidence, and ask harder questions,” he advises, acknowledging that while the transition may cause disruption in the teaching system, “at the end of the day, it’s going to be worth it.”
This is where he shares a piece of wisdom from his time at Standard Chartered Bank: “You hunt for progress, not for perfection. By the time you think you’ve become perfect, the world has changed.”
The constant pursuit of perfection, he says, leads to dissatisfaction, and ultimately, a stagnation of progress.
“If the world was perfect, there would be no opportunities. The best thing is to hunt for progress.”
To see why this matters, consider the difference between generational poverty and generational wealth.
What is the real fix?
It’s something so mind-bending to overcome. So, when I bring it to Rughani, he gives me a passionate response, framing the issue from a broader perspective: “We are in a world of abundance.” He explains that poverty is not only about the lack of money but also about the lack of opportunities.
“If there is no opportunity, there is poverty,” he states, highlighting that while monetary poverty is a challenge, the greater issue is the lack of access to opportunities. What he emphasizes is the need to create opportunities for the youth, adding that “this is the best time for us to look at where the opportunities are.”
He also points out that policy reforms would play a crucial role, especially when it comes to Uganda’s high tax rates on employment, the highest in East Africa. These high taxes, he notes, drive people to adopt new technologies and efficiencies, but also limit opportunities for the youth.
“The best thing is to hunt for progress,” Rughani says. But for Uganda’s youth, the question remains: Will the system let them?
