The Savvy Entrepreneur: Navigating Business Realities in Uganda

My name is Nicholas Aruho from Uganda. I am an economist, tax expert, entrepreneur, and personal development author.
My journey is one of writing books that I wanted to read, but failed to get and therefore decided to write them for myself and others.

I developed an interest in reading at a young age. However, growing up deep in the villages of Western Uganda and attending the so-called third-world schools meant that the reading materials were limited. Nevertheless, I could read anything I came across, ranging from old newspapers to old books left by my late father which were now in tatters. I can’t tell you the titles of those books because most of them had neither covers nor preliminary pages. But it didn’t matter as long as I read something.
Later in my teenage years, I developed an interest in writing, beginning with articles in a Teens’ magazine (Straight Talk) and later in newspapers when I came to the city to pursue university education.

When I finished university (after almost 18 years in school), I thought I had learned enough to navigate the murky waters of life after school. You can guess what I discovered. Reality quickly set in and it was apparent that what I learned in school did not include how to solve real-world challenges. It was clear I had to teach myself these things if I was to be competitive.
I started looking around for a perfect book that could guide a fresh graduate on how to maneuver life after university. And I failed. I therefore made it my goal to write one. Three years after university, I wrote my first book, “The Breakthrough: Moving Beyond the Sticking Points.” The book was based on the research I had done and my own experiences trying to survive after university.

After spending about 8 years in the “field” I realized there were many other soft skills that one needed to thrive in the workplace or business environment. I again looked around for books. I found different books addressing different topics separately. You needed to read so many books to get the information you needed to develop these skills.
I decided to put together the soft skills I felt were crucial such that someone can access them in one book. The result was my second book, “Beyond Education: Powerful Hands-On Tools for Solving Real-Life Challenges.”

Last year I published my third book, “The Ideal Startup: Practical Strategies for Getting Your New Business off the Ground.” This was after realizing that most business books on our shelves were written by American or UK authors based on their context. The Ideal Startup is based on the East African (especially Ugandan) context and covers all the topics someone starting a business needs to know.