How PwC’s Kabajwara found and crystallised her niche as one of Uganda’s leading tax advisors Crystal Kabajwara is no ordinary woman and neither is her job. She is an Associate Director – Tax, at PwC, Uganda, a business advisory services powerhouse. She has held this role since July 2019 and currently leads the transfer pricing business unit which she helped set up in 2012.

Although she confesses she can sometimes be impatient, she has for the last 15 years and for that matter, in all her post-school life, worked for only one employer- PwC. She has risen through the ranks from an entry-level in 2007 to where she is now. 

Over the last 15 years, she has garnered a wealth of experience that among others includes, general tax compliance management, carrying out tax health checks and due diligence reviews, managing tax controversies and dispute resolution, transfer pricing and international tax advisory and general tax and regulatory support to businesses. 

A lawyer by training, Crystal, holds a Master of Law in Taxation from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Laws from Makerere University. She also holds a Diploma in Legal Practice from the Law Development Centre and is a member of the Uganda Law Society. 

In this interview with CEO East Africa Magazine, Crystal opens up about her career, her evolution from just being a tax specialist to a solution to businesses’ problems as well as staying sane in the fast lane and the next 15 years.

How do you describe yourself- personally and professionally- or rather how would you want to identify out there?

Professionally, I am a business advisor. I’ve learnt over time that one must be versatile/adaptable. While I am a tax specialist, businesses don’t only face tax challenges; therefore, my role is to be the solution to businesses’ problems. Often, I meet business leaders with all kinds of challenges be they governance, performance, legal etc. and they expect a solution from me. You can’t just walk away and say “I am a tax person; I don’t do governance…!”

Regarding my attributes, I can only tell you what people say about me – the words that keep coming up are committed, loyal, resourceful, and friendly. I can also be quite impatient.

How did you come to join the legal profession and then tax practice eventually?

I studied law at Makerere University (although at that time, I hoped that I would study Economics). After completing my post-graduate legal studies at LDC, I was privileged to get admitted to the London School of Economics to pursue LLM studies on a full Commonwealth scholarship. I opted to pursue a Master of Laws in Taxation, partly because my mum who had worked in the URA her entire life had hopes of me following in her footsteps and partly because I needed a challenging course unit that straddled legal, accounting and economics. 

When I was writing my dissertation – I reached out to a gentleman called Francis Kamulegeya, who at that time was a tax partner with PwC Nairobi. I needed some information from him for my dissertation as I had come across his name while researching. After speaking with him, he asked me whether I would be interested in joining PwC Uganda’s tax team. I asked for time to think about it. However, before I could even blink, he had asked a fellow Tax Partner in PwC Uganda, Russell Eastaugh to travel to the UK and interview me (perhaps in those days, we didn’t have many virtual options that we do now). I met with Russell for what should have been an interview but turned out to be a very long friendly conversation and the rest is history. That was in 2007 before hiring became as complicated as it is today.

I blame those two gentlemen for opening me to a world of endless possibilities.

Work-life balance in the fast lane is critical to success: How do you stay sane and keep your life organised amidst tight schedules?

I follow a very simple principle – I separate the meaningful from the urgent. Meaningful is timeless – what is meaningful today will be meaningful tomorrow and will remain meaningful forever. At the beginning of every week, I try to categorise my activities into those two – meaningful versus urgent. This enables me to keep my eye on the bigger picture and helps me to avoid getting lost in the frenzy of life. For example, people take precedence over organisations/ deadlines/ things. If a member of my staff has a problem or a client or a friend, I will deal with that before I handle a filing deadline. Deadlines can always be renegotiated. Most times, people can’t wait. Sometimes, it’s too late.

Spending 15 years in the same workplace takes a special kind of employer and employee. How do you describe your last 15 years?

PwC is a great community (and that’s not because I want a pay rise). I normally tell our new graduate trainees (who always ask me this question) that PwC is one of the few places that allow you to be anything that you want to be. You are not limited. I joined as an Assistant consultant in the Tax & Legal team in 2007, although at that time, being from a legal background, I found myself mapped to the legal team. However, I found tax to be more exciting and I eventually gravitated towards the tax team. After two years, I was seconded to PwC London where I became part of a specialised transfer pricing team. After my secondment, I returned to Uganda and set up the International Tax & Transfer Pricing Unit, which I have led since then.

I advise and interact with all kinds of large corporates and multinational businesses. As you can imagine, these are quite diverse, across several industries, peoples and cultures. Therefore, there are lots of surprises at every turn and this has kept me hooked.

Above everything, the people are wonderful, and I have had great mentors who have taught me well.

What would you say are some of the key highlights in these 15 years?

The key highlight has been my personal growth. Having only worked for PwC, I have over time become defined by the firm’s values – trust, integrity, care, teamwork, and making a difference…these values have made me a better and more well-rounded individual. Therefore, despite the promotions that I’ve had over the years, the badge that I wear proudly is the time in 2021 when my colleagues voted me as the individual who makes the most difference to them.

What key life lessons have you learned along the way that you would like to pass on to those coming after you, especially the girl child? 

I would like to think that my advice applies to both genders. Simple principles – ask, and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and the door shall be opened. When an opportunity comes your way, say yes. Repeat. In sum, be proactive. Don’t sit back and let life happen to you. Make it happen for you.

In the next 15 years, where do you see yourself or where do you want to go?

I’ve already begun the journey for the next 15 years – making the most of every opportunity to guide, influence and impact positively; whether it is one person, five or one hundred. A time comes when one must live more for others than for oneself. I am working on becoming more outward-looking than inward; having a greater sense of community and a wider purpose for myself and others. My belief is that leadership is not an event. It is the small things that one does every day to make a difference.