What to look for in a Uganda Airlines CEO

Uganda Airlines is back in the news. This time, it is over the controversy surrounding the appointment of the company’s new chief executive, Jennifer Bamuturaki.

As usual, the wrangling is divided into three camps.

The first is the pro-NRM or pro-government camp that supports any decision or appointment by President Museveni, regardless of how right or wrong it is.

The second is the Opposition or anti-NRM camp that opposes or criticises everything the government does or plans, simply because it is the NRM government.

The third camp is a mixture of genuinely patriotic people who wish the best for the country and those envious of the appointee because of the high salary and status this appointee will get to enjoy.

Many were taken aback by the fact that, as Bamuturaki herself admitted before the parliamentary committee, Cosase, no sooner had she put in her application than she discovered that she had been appointed.

So, once again, this seems to be one of those orders “from above” that go past procedure and legal requirement.

READ:Uganda Airlines' CEO search that never took off cost govt Shs98.1m

The advantage of being selected by direct orders of State House is that one’s appointment is guaranteed, whatever the objections of the public and parliamentary vetting committee.

The disadvantage, of course, is that the new appointee is now fully beholden to State House and will have little room for independent decision-making when this is required.

If I were on Parliament’s Cosase or chairman of the board of Uganda Airlines Corporation, I would focus on the following attributes in a prospective chief executive officer.

Requirements

The first would be the ability to take firm action, final decisions, and be able to withstand political pressure, especially from State House.

These are prestigious, well-paying jobs.

There will be plenty of phone calls and WhatsApp messages from State House to personal friends and Cabinet ministers to “fix our son” in the company.

It will require firmness and principled character to turn down these requests.

The way Uganda is currently run, State House will inevitably have an interest in the airline and, often, be an interfering presence.

Since January, to take one example, a Uganda Airlines Bombardier jet flew President Museveni’s son, Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, on two regional trips, the first to Kigali and second to Nairobi.

We can only hope that government paid Uganda Airlines for these two chartered flights.

If it hasn’t yet, how would the CEO go about sending reminders to clear the bill and, if they fail, threats of legal action against State House?

It was the tendency by government ministries and officials to fly Uganda Airlines on credit in the 1970s to 1990s on the promise of paying later, that bankrupted the airline.

That is how Uganda Commercial Bank and Uganda Telecom, as well as other State-owned corporations ended up insolvent.

Assuming a CEO of Uganda Airlines can withstand this political pressure and interference, the second quality would be to have a keen interest in the latest technological and lifestyle trends.

As the global economy becomes increasingly digitised and Internet-based, every business today and in the future, particularly one that operates mainly in the international market, must be up-to-date with consumer technological trends.

Uganda Airlines would need to have both a website and a mobile app. It would need to have a prominent, visible place on social media platforms.

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The company’s management would need to keep abreast of changing consumer habits, from the way they book flights and pay in digital formats to how they search online for travel destinations.

Secondly, the international aviation industry is about more than just transportation. It is lifestyle, tourism, social status.

In Uganda Airlines’ marketing drive, style, sophistication and aspiration would have to feature prominently.

The CEO, therefore, must look, speak and act the part. We are talking about one of those glamour industries, like the fashion, music, film, tourism, and now the social media industries.

It is as much about the product as the image it projects.

An airline CEO is not just a technocrat crunching numbers and drawing up budgets, although that’s part of it. He or she is the heart of the company.

In the interviewing process that he or she will lead, the CEO must be able not only to look at the academic qualifications of the job applicants, but be able to sense charm, humour, style, and warmth in the candidate.

It takes a charming CEO, one with personal magnetism and flair, to see this in others and to regard it as important for the company’s culture and mood.

Since the arrival of the Internet, smartphone and social media era, global society and business have moved beyond just services and products, to something called the experience.

Unlike in previous centuries and decades, the consumer today is drowning in variety and spoilt for choice.

Any airlines departing Entebbe International Airport is good enough. Any three-star hotel is good enough. For a customer to choose your airline or your brand now requires that they enjoy the experience.

This is why “influencers” are now a growing segment of the marketing industry. It’s not just the product; it is the face, the charm, the personality, the aura around it that makes or breaks a brand.

Not only are the above traits and attributes crucial for the prospective CEO.

The interviewing panel for the CEO, as well as the parliamentary committee vetting the CEO, should also have a good grasp of international business, lifestyle, and technological trends.

After all, the only way for Uganda Airlines to get a suitable CEO is for the parliamentary committee or the interviewing panel to know what, in the first place, makes for a good CEO for an international airline.

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While Parliament’s Cosase panel was doing its political oversight duty by questioning Bamuturaki’s academic qualifications, it should in future go a step further and have its own imaginative criteria for some of these jobs.

We need to start holding job interviews that reflect the new, digital, social media era.