The Japanese ambassador to Uganda His Excellency Fukuzawa Hidemoto has called on students of the College of Business and Management Sciences to diversify their knowledge of trading if they are to contribute to the development of the country.
H.E Hidemoto gave a public lecture to the students on 2nd March 2022 at the college where he shared his general trading knowledge and experience gathered while working across Africa and world over.
In his welcoming remarks, Professor Eria Esali the principal of CoBAMS thanked His Excellency Hidemoto for walking in the foot prints of his predecessor in international business knowledge sharing with Makerere and the people of Japan for always choosing to work with Makerere University and Uganda at large. “We want to expand the relationship even further through coworking with prominent Japanese universities and engagements with Japanese big business management brains to foster knowledge and international experiences to both our students and staff,” Prof. Hisali said.
H.E. Hidemoto a graduate of Kobe University Japan and an International business expert rooted his speech onto “Sogo Shosha” a Japanese meaning of General Trading. Before the ambassadorial deployment in July 2020, he worked for Somitomo Corporations a Japanese general trading company dealing in Real estates, oil and gas, Logistics, Telecommunication, mineral, energy & Electronics, media and steel milling. He represented the company in African countries including Kenya, Angola, Mozambique, Rwanda and Egypt.
“Japan has diversified the textile industry, automobiles and Machine Electronics since 1955 as they are our biggest export, I want you all to adopt the somitomo business management mindset fronting value addition and technology advancement because it is sound business activities through diversity and flexibility that impact the world”. H. E Hidemoto also urged students to keep their eyes on all not one, to always be curious and professional as Sogo Shosha’s strength is flexibility.
The Japanese government through its embassy in Uganda runs a number of programs to financially support young business minds and seekers of higher education in business, these include but not limited to the Japan-Uganda graduate scholarship program and the “NINJA” initiative that focuses on financially empowering Ugandan startups through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
His Excellency Hidemoto unpackaged a business mentorship program for students at CoBAMS aimed at instilling international Business modalities in minds of young business gurus in Uganda.
Professor Hisali closed off by thanking the ambassador for his resourcefulness, urged attendees to internalize all the shared opportunities and assured them all that the administration at CoBAMS shall ensure that they benefit from the collaborative relationship between Makerere University and the Japanese Embassy in Uganda.