18th December 2025
END-OF-YEAR MESSAGE TO STAFF
College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS)
Makerere University
Dear Members of Staff,
Dear Partners and Friends of CoBAMS,
As the year 2025 draws to a close, I extend my warmest seasonal greetings and heartfelt appreciation to all members of staff of the College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS), our collaborators, partners and friends across the globe. The end of the year provides us with a valuable moment to pause and reflect—on the relationships that sustain our work, the trust built over time, and the shared values that continue to guide the College’s unwavering commitment to excellence in teaching, research, and policy engagement.
Appreciation for Collective Effort and Service
I sincerely thank all colleagues across our academic, research, administrative, and support units for your relentless dedication to advancing the mandate of the College. Your collective efforts remain the backbone of our success and institutional resilience.
Recognition of Excellence and Achievement
I warmly congratulate colleagues who received the Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Awards and Best Teacher Awards across the different staff categories this year. These achievements reflect individual distinction and collective pride for our College. I encourage you to sustain this excellent performance, and I am confident that many of you will once again be recognized in the coming year.
Research, Publications, and Visibility
I deeply appreciate colleagues who have remained committed to publishing research in peer-reviewed journals and contributing book chapters. These scholarly efforts significantly enhance our visibility, credibility, and impact as a leading academic institution. We must remain focused and consistent in this endeavour. In a special way, I commend colleagues who successfully attracted research grants—at the University, national, regional and global levels. Notably, several colleagues secured funding from MakRIF and international development partners, including the Gates Foundation, UN-PAGE, GGGI, the World Bank, Erasmus+, among others. These achievements speak to the quality of our scholarship and the growing trust placed in CoBAMS by the global research community.
Partnerships and Institutional Growth
I appreciate colleagues who have initiated and advanced Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with domestic and international partners. These partnerships are trusted platforms through which we broaden our stakeholder portfolio and strengthen relevant academic training, impactful research, and policy engagement.
I commend Schools and Departments that have developed new academic programmes aligned with the evolving needs of our economy, country, and communities. This responsiveness ensures that CoBAMS remains relevant, forward-looking, and development-oriented.
Policy Engagement and Societal Impact
I also appreciate colleagues who actively engaged in policy dialogues through workshops, conferences, and seminars, thereby strengthening the bridge between academia, research, and policy.
Allow me to recognize, in particular:
- The School of Business for the highly successful Entrepreneurship Congress and Expo;
- The School of Economics for the successful PIMS Conference and sustained policy engagement under the Environment for Development (EfD) Initiative and the Inclusive Green Economy Programme for Senior Civil Servants and Policymakers;
- The School of Statistics and Planning for its strong national engagement, including participation in Uganda’s National Population Day 2025 in Kayunga District and the Africa Statistics Day 2025 commemorations, and for authoring a book in honour of Dr. Jotham Musinguzi. The book is titled: Advancing Population, and Development in Uganda and Beyond.
CoBAMS Working Paper Series
In a very special way, I congratulate all faculty members whose papers were included in the CoBAMS Working Paper Series. While this is not an end in itself, it represents a major milestone for our College. It provides a strong pipeline toward publications in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters and holds significant potential for the establishment of College-based or School-based academic journals. Once again, in FY 2025/26, the College disbursed modest research grants to staff members. I therefore encourage each of us to work diligently towards the shared target of producing at least one research paper before the end of the financial year.
Promoting Staff Welfare, Team Cohesion, and Shared Prosperity
During the year, we deliberately strengthened staff welfare and team cohesion through targeted initiatives. Notably, the College launched the CoBAMS Physical Fitness Programme to promote wellness, healthy lifestyles, teamwork, and collegiality. I encourage colleagues to continue participating in the weekly Aerobics Workout sessions held every Tuesday from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm at the College premises, and I commend the Deputy Principal for providing leadership in this important initiative. In the same spirit, I commend the Deputy Principal for spearheading the processes that culminated in the establishment of the Mak-CoBAMS SACCO, and I thank the Interim Committee for the extensive sensitisation efforts. I have personally enrolled as a member and am encouraged by the steady growth in membership. I reaffirm my full support for the SACCO and encourage all members of staff to join and actively participate in its programmes as a pathway to collective financial resilience and shared prosperity.
Strengthening Infrastructure to Support Teaching, Research, and Policy Engagement
I am pleased to update you that Government has allocated resources to commence the CoBAMS Infrastructure Expansion Project, and the University Council has approved two strategically located pieces of land for its implementation—one currently hosting the School of Statistics and Planning, and the adjacent land separated by the access road to MakRIF. Owing to their proximity, the two developments can be physically integrated, allowing for functional connectivity between the buildings. The University has also initiated the procurement process to engage a design consultant. Importantly, as a College, we shall actively engage the consultant to ensure that the designs are fully responsive to our specific teaching, research, innovation, and policy-engagement needs.
Solidarity and Shared Humanity
As we celebrate achievements, we also acknowledge life’s challenges. I celebrate with colleagues who registered success on various fronts this year, and I extend my heartfelt condolences to those who lost loved ones during 2025. May you find comfort, strength, and renewed hope.
Season’s Greetings
As we step into 2026, I wish you and your families a year filled with God’s abundant blessings, good health, professional fulfilment, and personal joy. To our Christian brothers and sisters, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. To all, I extend my best wishes for a peaceful and prosperous festive season.
With sincere appreciation and warm regards,
Edward Bbaale, PhD
Professor and Principal