Simba Group: An East African Conglomerate of Businesses that Focuses Firstly on People

Patrick Bitature, Chairman of Simba Group, a leading East African conglomerate with interests in telecom, energy production, mining, media, real estate, travel and leisure, shares his philosophy on doing business at the Group level.

“My business is a conglomerate of businesses that focuses firstly on people. People come in different categories: the customers, then my staff, then all the other stakeholders. I listen to customers and I give them what they require. When I began the telecom business, I listened clearly to the customers. What did they want? What handset did they want? When Nokia was the biggest handset in the market, that is what I supplied and I was the biggest distributor for Nokia. When the market moved on, I listened to the customers again. Even though I was a dealer for Nokia, I could no longer exclusively sell Nokia. Surprisingly, today, it is not Apple or Samsung, but in Uganda, it is Tecno. It is priced right and gives the qualities consumers want. You must always listen to your customer and keep giving them the service. Then, you need to look out for your people, your staff. When I went into the hotel business, that was the major thing that differentiated us. We needed to make them feel like they were a family. So, I began working with people, I learned customer service from telecom, I took it to the hotel industry, tourism, and travel business. It was easy to get in because you make people relate to each other. You give people jobs and make them feel dignified. I realized that creating jobs for people is so important. It makes them feel that they are useful citizens in the country. It makes them feel that they are useful to their society and to their family. People not having a job for three or four years is debilitating. Because we are churning out so many young people from our schools, my focus moved from making profit to creating jobs. In the process, you will make a profit. If you employ these people gainfully, they will contribute. It looks like you are doing them a favor because you are recruiting so many people, but it is like building an army to take you up to the top of the hill. I reversed my priorities. It became people first and then profit. Now, it is people, planet, profit. Now, we are becoming more conscious of the environment. There are certain things that we cannot just keep doing. We cannot be driven just by profit. Much as we are coming from a very low base, the earlier we start recognizing the role of doing things in a sustainable way and being conscious of the environment the better. We must send that message across the board and lead by example”, says Patrick Bitature.

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