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Andrew Ssekamwa, FCCA, formerly the CFO at I&M Bank Uganda, has been appointed the Chief Finance Officer for Uganda Airlines, the national carrier.
His appointment took effect in March 2023.
In his new role, the CFO will be responsible for all financial and fiscal management aspects of company operations as well as provide strategic leadership and coordination in the development and implementation of the airline’s 5-year business plan, financial management, accounting, budgeting, program, and system management efforts of the company.
He, among other roles, is responsible for enhancing the cash position of the airline, developing the financial and operational strategy as well as ensuring appropriate and robust finance, accounting, billing, and auditing procedures. He is also responsible for developing and implementing ap purchasing and supply chain management strategy.
Ssekamwa, who was in October 2022 named the Young CFO of the Year at the Sixth Edition of the annual Chief Finance Officer (CFO) organised by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Uganda and Deloitte Uganda. He was recognised for exhibiting solutions, driven leadership of the finance function, and leveraging existing technology to solve challenges hence improving performance.
He also scooped the Strategy Execution Award for providing and executing innovative solutions for the financial reporting processes, which he achieved through identifying and enhancing systematic capabilities that scaled-down reporting timelines at I&M Bank.
The loss-making airline that has been struggling with a number of finance-related challenges will strongly benefit from Mr. Sekamwa’s rich experience, especially in strategy execution, leadership skills as well as private sector experience.
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According to the Auditor General’s report, the airline in 2021/22 has losses grow from UGX164.6 billion the previous year to UGX266 billion- a development that management blamed on the Covid-19 pandemic that among others, slowed down the Airline’s expansion efforts into new markets like China. Out of the total expected revenue collection during the financial year of UGX 348.4 billion, only UGX 141.8 billion was realised, representing a 40.7% performance.
As a result of the losses, the airline also reported a negative return on assets, which worsened from-13.1% in 2020/21 to -23% in 2021/22.
The Auditor General also found out that UGX.22.8 billion was collected in airport tax from passengers through Entebbe International Airport on behalf of the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) but remained un-remitted for over two years.
The Auditor General also identified a number of issues with IT, finance and cargo systems as well as procurement gaps all of which fall under the finance function, which Mr. Ssekamwa heads.
Prior to I&M Bank, Ssekamwa, was Head of Finance at Movit Products Limited, Finance Manager at Standard Chartered Bank, Financial Reporting Accounting at SABMiller (now AB InBev) in South Sudan). He also worked at PwC Uganda for 3 years in the audit function.
He holds an MBA from the University of London and Bachelor of Statistics from Makerere University. He is a Certified Public Accountant by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU) as well as a Certified Chartered Accountant (ACCA).