The late Francis Onapito Ekomoloit during a Paint & Sip team building session. His death marked the loss of a man remembered for his unwavering dedication to unity, development and humanity. PHOTO/COURTESY
Tomorrow is another day! This statement was an embodiment of Onapito Ekomoloit. Ona, as he came to be fondly called, never had a panic button.
For all his virtues, his ability to remain calm in the storm is what we, his department team at Nile Breweries Ltd, where he served for 17 years found intriguing. Early in my over six-year journey as part of his Legal and Corporate Affairs team as Communications Manager, I recall countless times when I called him or walked to his desk in panic when a crisis was looming.
He often took a minute of silence, stretched a bit in the case of physical encounters and casually asked about some facts, then recommended a simple solution that left me wondering why I had not thought about that.
“Organise, don’t antagonise!” Ona would say.
One could argue that in an industry prone to a crisis, this was the perfect attribute for one charged with building and maintaining the reputation of an alcohol maker.
The man and his job fit perfectly, you could easily say when you saw him work the room at an event or in front of the cameras.
He had a great sense of humour, often punctuating high-level meetings with NBL leadership or stakeholders with a joke or two. Colleagues loved to engage with him because of the humour he brought to the table. Satire was in his nature as well. Let me just say that he had jokes that some people would never figure out.
Ona stood tall as the star of the show at work and outside, and he loved it. This was an enigma, for he could also be described as a humble man. What a paradox! Much as he knew his place, which could be seen in his love for his community, given his humble beginnings, he also believed in standing out from the crowd. For him, this meant pulling off a unique feat.
Working with Ona was thus intriguing because his ideas were audacious. And he never took no for an answer until the idea had been tried.
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He often casually mentioned things and never carried a notebook but did not forget anything he said - Good luck dodging his instructions. During the NBL Covid-19 vaccination drive, he suggested that beer be given after one received their jab so that people would enjoy it later at their homes.
As the project lead, I will confess that initially, I was shocked! As expected, Social media took a dive at NBL, but Ona was not moved.
“Why should we be ashamed of our product? Let anyone who has issues with this produce scientific evidence.”
Internally, colleagues thought our department had run mad but we stood confident against the pillar that he was and the fuss died out.
In another incident, he suggested a twist to an entrepreneurship campaign by creating a quiz format akin to Game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?.
The catch was that the questions, which he created himself every week were meant to be general knowledge but not as obvious as one could imagine.
The participants and team, I must confess, were left angazi a couple of times. The questions and entrepreneurship were parallel, but he argued that a successful business person must be sharp and have a world view.
Then there were the stunts he loved to pull off at events!
At his farewell party that doubled as his book launch, one minute he had 150 guests and the next over 500, and we had to call each of the guests for confirmations!
He was not having his book brought to the stage by any of us, it had to arrive dramatically when the guests least expected, on a drone. The party was nicknamed “Corporate Affairs Wedding” by staff.
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My colleagues Faith, Clare, Naume and I often had a good laugh as we contemplated how we were going to make his grand ideas happen.
The writer of this article, Flroa Aduk, and the late Francis Onapito Ekomoloit. PHOTO/COURTESY
A couple of times our colleagues in other departments chuckled at our grand ideas “with little budget” but well, we found our way around.
‘Lovely Ladies of Corporate Affairs’
Ona was a man who hated formalities.
It is no wonder that working on his team felt like being with family. He knew how to draw in people and earn their respect. Despite his larger-than-life demeanor, he never left his team in his shadow. He was confident enough to attribute successes to the team leader of the said project, often calling us up at staff town halls to present a thing or two.
“The lovely ladies of Corporate Affairs”, he called us. He was that manager whom you never wanted to disappoint by falling short on your work because it would reflect badly on him and because he completely trusted you with a task, believing that you could do it and encouraging you every step of the way. I greatly admired him.
But make no mistake, the reprimands were there too. We worked hard to fit his bill.
So powerful was Ona’s ability to influence and intrigue people, that all the people who have worked under him have a WhatsApp group called Team Ona.
Not every day do you find a leader who draws in people that way. Just a year ago, Ona threw a bash for us all, celebrating each one and taking time to follow up on our lives. In hindsight, it should have been his way of saying farewell.
His family played a big part in his work life too.
We grew to know his wife Cathy, aka Sweetie, and every so often shared a warm gesture like sending her flowers or cake on a significant day or scheming surprises for him. The way he doted on her was admirable. We suspect that he ate most of those cakes, thanks to his sweet tooth.
Ona was wise, often interjecting into a situation regarding the past with an important learning. I will admit that there was some pressure to impress when he engaged you in non-work related conversation.
Nonetheless, we loved those moments when he let loose and indulged us in “kojja” talk.
At a time when the team was a bunch of single ladies, he advised, “You should make sure you stand out by saying something, even just move around a room so they see you. Even at a funeral, you make sure to move around or do something so that they see you,” he said.
We had a good laugh, but less than a year later, the department had a wedding and then another. He sat proudly at those events, joking about his key role. His fatherly advice extended to our community of students under the NBL Equality Scholarship.
Oh, how they enjoyed the often familiar engagements with him on and offline!
We loved having the privilege to know this side of Ona. It allowed us to have a good laugh and tease him during team-building events. Watching him eager to learn how to paint better from us during the Paint & Sip team building we had once or how to mix spices at a cookout, was heartwarming.
Watching him yield to the photo craze we ladies have was something else. The department’s high scores in the company’s engagement surveys are a testament to the fun times we had, our colleagues teasingly called us “The Happy Department”.
Some of the friends, relatives, former workmates and journalists who turned up for the funeral service for the late Francis Onapito Ekomoloit at St Luke Church Ntinda on Tuesday. Onapito died on September 25 and asked the family members to bury him after 60 days. PHOTO | STEPHEN OTAGE
These are but a handful of the memories that I hold dear, as I reflect on the part of the journey of life when Ona’s path and mine crossed each other. It was an honour.
Rest Well Ona.
