Orobia: MUBS’ first female full professor

As the world was counting Covid-19 induced losses and grappling with whatever life had thrown on their plates last September, Prof Laura Orobia was celebrating yet another milestone in her career. 

It is in that month that she attained full professorship, a position that made her the first female professor at Makerere University Business School (MUBS), where she has served as a lecturer for 20 years. 

Orobia’s curriculum vitae makes her a pillar in Uganda’s education sector particularly in the field of finance and accounting. “There is so much associated with attaining the PhD,” says the scholar who is also a certified public accountant of Uganda and a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda governing council.

Her grind with books has elevated her into the head of department of accounts and finance at MUBS regional campus, Mbarara. The professor feels she has hit the pinnacle and is only left with mentoring others in accounting, entrepreneurship and research.For a journey so demanding and tasking, she persevered to enjoy the rewards. She currently sits on a number of boards, has a hand in the university curriculum development and reviews, contributes to other universities’ accreditation processes for the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) . She has served as an external examiner of business courses within and outside the country. Orobia has become a mainstay and jewel at MUBS because of her dedication to teaching and research.

She is reaping and living the full professor’s dream, but what inspired the sowing? Looking back, mathematics was Orobia’s nightmare as a student at Kibuli Senior Secondary School. She, in fact, saw herself pursuing a different profession.  

 “My dream was to become an air hostess. I desired to serve people on the plane and travel across the world. When I was young, we used to travel a lot and so I loved travelling,” she recounts.

A career twist

Orobia did not stop at dreaming. She went ahead to apply for a course at the International Air Transport Association (IATA) upon completion of A-Level. She was determined to achieve her childhood dream until things took a different twist.

Her guardian, Bob Obetti, who was then teaching at Uganda Prisons Training School and part-timed at Kibuli, had a different idea.

“He wanted me to pursue accountancy, and so he pushed me in that direction,” she says. Her pleas of being poor at maths as an excuse to run away from accounting, fell on deaf ears.

She was so poor at mathematics that its column on her report card was easily recognisable. “I used to get only F9’s in maths, yet scored highly in other subjects,” says Orobia.

It took the intervention of her headteacher, Hadji Abasi Kaawaase to improve her performance. “He gave me a good lecture on how a ‘9’ in mathematics would make me miss a first grade in O-Level finals. I was subjected to coaching to improve my grades,” she recalls. 

Change of attitude

The coaching experience made her change her attitude towards mathematics and within a short time, she enroled at MUBS for a diploma in accountancy after Senior Six.

She would proceed to obtain a degree in Business Administration (BBA)-Accounting in Makerere University, where she emerged the best student in the course.

She later added a master of sciences in Accounting and Finance at Makerere University to her list of academic credentials. Then came CPA-U and a PhD, where her research project was on Working capital management in small businesses.

Orobia not only grew to love accountancy, she also achieved remarkable things there. She has no regrets on shelving her air hostess fantasy, because she has excelled with flying colours in academia and wants more women to follow her path.

Over the years, she has taught both undergraduate and postgraduate students. “Teaching is not all about standing in front of a class and delivering what you have prepared. It has everything to do with supervision, counselling and guidance,” she explains.

Learning opportunities

 “What I enjoy about teaching is that I learn, unlearn and relearn every day. You may think you know it all, but there is always something you get to learn each day that passes by,” she adds. 

Orobia adds that teaching offers opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others through shaping their mindset. I have seen perceptions change and people have rediscovered themselves through teaching,” she adds. As an academician, one cannot run away from doing a PhD. It is a requirement she needed to continue lecturing and supervising research work for university students.  Orobia says the PhD has enhanced her personality, competency and opened doors of opportunities for her. She does, sees and thinks about things differently. “The way I approach assignments improved. My leadership skills improved. I became more patient and accommodative with people,” she adds.

Achievements

It has also been a humbling experience that has kept her grounded while making an indelible mark in the education sector in different ways. 

In terms of research, she has supported MUBS Mbarara campus to register more research activities, increased research publications and reduced students’ research completion rate.

“Many people fear research, and after the ‘fire’ I went through, I have pledged to hold other people’s hands and walk the road with them and give them confidence that research is actually something doable,” she clarifies.

Women and PhDs

In early 2020, the Minister of Education and Sports, Ms Janet Museveni probed Makerere University to find out why just a handful of women were graduating at the postgraduate level.

Despite having more women graduating in general, less are making it to higher education levels such as post graduate diplomas, master’s degrees and PhDs. According to a story published by Uganda Radio Network only 36 women graduated at the Postgraduate Diploma level in 2020 out of the 119 graduands at the university.

At Master’s level, Makerere University recorded 471 out of 1,173 graduands and only 17 out of the 61 were awarded PhDs.  Orobia is aware of this pattern.

“There are women who would like to pursue PhD programmes but have failed to do so. There is also a category of women that have not given it a thought,” she says.

She adds that while many women would have loved to pursue a doctorate, many factors come into play. Lack of funds, family pressure, children and home care, reluctance to study abroad because of consequences of leaving their families behind, lack of a strong support system and fear of being ahead of their husbands careerwise are some of the factors she highlights.

She also mentions workplace workload, fear of blocking opportunities of potential suitors as men fear to court women with higher education levels than them as factors that hold back a woman from pursuing PhDs.

Lack of role models

She says being single and having one child provided an enabling environment to undertake her studies with less interference. Orobia adds that for some women, a PhD is a preserve for academicians.

“They lack interest, lack role models while others are making money and see no need of spending years studying,” she adds.

Orobia says there is need for sensitisation through various avenues. “Women need to be told that a PhD is achievable. Men, on the other hand, need to be told that it is possible for women to advance their careers, acquire PhDs and still remain respectful. Men need to be supportive and not feel inferior,” she insists.

She adds that people need to be sensitised about the benefits of pursuing a PhD. For men, Orobia says, a woman with a PhD, indirectly helps them to step up and upgrade themselves. But she is quick to note that it should never appear like a competition.

“We need to work on the mindset and culture,” she says.  She longs to see more scholarships availed to women.

Orobia believes it takes research skills, IT literacy, perseverance, teamwork, and networking for a woman to excel in academia in the 21st Century.  In her 20 year-long academic journey, Orobi says a strong support system, having a clear vision, determination and focus kept her shifting the gears.

Challenges

“That does not mean I have had a challenge-free career. I have experienced rejection, infights, social stress and labouring while someone else takes the credit for my work, among others. But my outlook to challenges is that through them, we draw important lessons and we are strengthened,” she says. 

Away from books, boardrooms and softboards, Orobia is a strong believer in God, loves travelling, listening to music and watching detective movies.

Publications

Orobia’s top cited papers or publications include Action and action-regulation in entrepreneurship: Evaluating a student training for promoting entrepreneurship.

Extracted from a collaboration project between Leuphana University of Luneburg in Germany and MUBS, funded by DAAD, Orobi says the project developed an action-based entrepreneurship training programme code named STEP- Student Training for Entrepreneurship Promotion.

Orobi says the programme exposed trainees to a step-by-step start-up, management and commercialisation of a business and emphasis was placed on learning by doing.

Another publication she has championed is How do small business owners manage working capital in an emerging economy? A qualitative inquiry? These studies assume well-established reporting frameworks, characterised by well-structured tasks and measurable outputs.

Self-improvement

One of the things that favours Orobi is the flexible working environment. “At MUBS, we use the team teaching method; when you are not in a lecture room teaching, you are supposed to use that time to do research, supervise students, read books, or even do some short courses for self-improvement,” she says.

“Alongside the flexible environment is having a schedule of activities for the day, in other words, I try as much as possible to order my day, have a diary, set reminders – this way, I am able to balance my time.  And lastly, self-discipline because I knew what I wanted,” she says.

Applied research

Asked how research can be used to foster positive impact in communities across the country, Orobia says this can only be achieved through conducting applied research or experimental research which focuses on topical issues. 

She also adds that advocating for policy papers should be shared with concerned ministries, departments and agencies for implementation.

Way forward

“Most people see research findings as a threat to their cake; jobs or positions. So you may come up with wonderful ideas through your study, but fail to have them operationalised because it is not in your powers to have it done. Unless, people appreciate research and innovations, the hard work will continue to remain on paper on the university shelves,” she explains.

Appreciating research

Orobi wants to see a deliberate effort of linkages between government and universities. She says this will go a long way in propelling tailored researches to address topical issues as opposed to focusing on building on existing literature.

“The power to implement these ideas lies in the hands of our leaders.’’

Orobi also appeals to government to finance agencies that support research activities and make use of the data collected to inform policy.