Rystar News

MAN OF THE WEEK: Don Wanyama disproves sceptics, returns Vision Group to profitability fueled by a record growth in revenue Vision Group, Uganda’s largest multi-media company, this October released its full-year results for the year ended June 2022, reporting a 36% jump in gross revenue. The industrial-area-based Vision Group reported that turnover in 2022 touched the UGX 111.4 billion mark, compared to UGX 81.9 billion in 2021. This is the first time; the company is crossing the UGX100 billion mark in its over 35 years of history. Don Wanyama is the Chief Executive Officer at Vision Group PLC (PHOTO/Courtesy). The increase in revenue, however, came at a stiff cost—the cost of sales increased by 47.7% from UGX59.9 billion to UGX88.4 billion. In a statement, Vision Group, said this was largely due to a UGX24.9 billion for printing published educational materials/books. However, the company reported that it was able to reduce administrative and other operating expenses by 7.3% fr

CUSTOMER CARE: Equity Bank launches 24/7 service centre to handle online criticism Equity bank has launched a high-tech contact centre to improve customer experience. The new Contact Centre will allow the bank to deliver improved support conveniently to the nearly 1.6 million customers 24/7. Customers will be able to interact with highly trained customer relationship officers using state-of-the-art technology to document, categorize and resolve their issues.   The contact center has a capacity to accommodate 70 customer relationship officers and shall handle all customer queries, and complaints in the 5 languages widely spoken across Uganda. The languages are English, Luganda, Runyakitara, Luo, and Swahili which were carefully selected to match the Bank’s branch footprint. The implementation of the new Contact Centre follows Equity’s strategic objective to become a massive retail bank that is highly digitized. In recent years, the bank has grown its customer base from 800,000 i

Copia Global announces new leadership appointments to support growth strategy NAIROBI– Copia Global has announced new appointments to its leadership as the organisation deepens its focus on regional growth and continues to pursue its expansion strategy. The company has today announced the appointments of Caren Robb as GlobalChief  Financial Officer, Mike King as Chief Technology Officer,  as well as the appointment of in-house leader Dominic Dimba to Managing Director, East Africa with immediate effect. Caren Robb is Copia Global's newly appointed Global Chief  Financial Officer. “These new appointments position Copia for long term success, while enabling us to  deliver on our ambitions and create more value for our customers, communities and  shareholders,” said Tim Steel, CEO, Copia Global. “These highly talented leaders will  provide additional global perspectives and regional experience across key facets of our  business.” Copia Global is the only B2C platform providing e-comme

LADY OF THE WEEK:  Sylvia Mulinge, MTN Uganda’s first female CEO who began her term in office this month Ms Sylvia Wairimu Mulinge is the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of MTN Uganda, replacing Mr Wim Vanhelleputte who has been promoted to a regional role as operating executive for the WECA Markets of Liberia, Guinea-Conakry, Guinea-Bissau, and Congo-Brazzaville within the MTN Group. Sylvia has been the Chief Consumer Business Officer at telecom giant Safaricom Plc Kenya. Mr. Charles Mbiire the Chairman of the Board of Directors MTN Uganda, said: “I would like to welcome Sylvia Mulinge to MTN Uganda. I believe that her experience will be beneficial to MTN, particularly given her alignment to our strategic intent of leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress. The Board is confident that Ms. Mulinge will continue the work of growing the Company as a leading provider of telecommunications and digital solutions.” This week on #RystarLadies we focus on her career as a to

MAN OF THE WEEK: PHILIP BESIIMIRE LEAVES MTN SOUTH AFRICA TO BECOME VODACOM TANZANIA'S MANAGING DIRECTOR Every Monday we celebrate one outstanding corporate leader on #RystarGents. This week on #RystarAchievers we feature Philip Besiimire who takes on the top position of Managing Director at Vodacom Tanzania with effect from 15th October 2022. Phillip Besiimire a Ugandan citizen has been appointed by Vodacom Tanzania as the telecom’s new Managing Director. Besiimire will be reporting to Diego Gutierrez, the Chief Officer - International Business. The Tanzanian telecom company, in a recent statement issued on Wednesday last week, said that Philip Besiimire will begin work on 15 th October 2022. “We are pleased to announce the appointment of Philip Besiimire as Managing Director for Vodacom Tanzania, effective October 15, 2022. With his leadership, we will continue to lead Tanzania into the digital age and change lives through technology,” the company stated in a recent commun

         FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS  The unique story of Fairway Hotel begins from a humble family home in Nakasero that belonged to the Jaffer family since 1927.  Little did they know that in 1969 a knock from Vatican would convert their home into a modest Hotel to host the Pope’s delegation for his first ever visit to Uganda. The now fancy Fairway Hotel is strategically located Plot 3, Kafu Road, in Nakasero Kampala. Transformed from a residential family home in 1969.  This week on #RystarTravel we walk you down memory lane and tour this beautiful hotel in Kampala. Below is photographic view of the home that once belonged to the Jaffer family that predates Uganda's independence days.   A   H o t e l   w a s   born -   Fairway Hotel was born in 1969 as one of Uganda’s first hotels and  was officially launched in February  1971 by his Highness the Aga Khan with 50 operational rooms.   This photo below depicts the initial building's appearance soon after it was converted into a hote