Susan Nsibirwa

thumb|Susan NsibirwaSusan Nsibirwa, is a Ugandan marketer and corporate executive who serves the Managing Director of Nation Media Group, since January 2024. She replaced Tonny Glencross, who had served in that role since 2019. Quotes ‎Susan Nsibirwa on the Value of Defining Your “Why” Before Taking Action I think I’ve evolved over the years, but right now, I’d call myself a passionate learner of life. My entire career has been around advertising, communications and marketing, but I just have a passion and a zest for life, for brands and for people. Those three pillars; life, brands and people, that’s who I am. I am a graduate, of journalism. I graduated from Makerere University. I having my career then evolving into advertising; working with advertising agencies and then going into marketing and communications as my broad field of specialization. That’s who I am. From what people see from the professional side, I’m a lover of sports. I also like to see myself as a believer in people. I do quite a bit in terms of mentoring and lifting people up. Any opportunity I get to lift others is a gift. I take that with a big spoon. I am a Jesus lover and that really underpins my values as a person. What else can I say about me? I’m into public speaking, I take any opportunity, like every week, I am speaking to some people. I’m frequently doing public speaking engagements. I and the microphone can’t be put apart. I’d describe my childhood as ‘very protected and yet very instrumental in who I am today’. Why do I say protected? I say protected because my parents did their level best to afford us the best of what they could offer. I come from a huge extended family, and so there were always big cousins around, and protected in terms of when I look back now, in terms of privilege, because there’s so much that we could do that the average family could not do at the time. That’s why I’ll say protected. When I say very pivotal in who I am today, it also made me very independent because I was put in boarding school when I was seven years old. Once you’re put in boarding school at a very young age, you’ve got to figure out life on your own quite early. That, then, made me be in a protected environment and yet helped me develop into a very independent person. When I look back at my childhood, I’ve got fond memories of big family gatherings. I’ve got fond memories of being in a private British school in Kenya. I’ve got fond memories of childhood friends that I can no longer trace, because we were in this private British school. Once you come into secondary school, then you start forming lifelong relationships, especially from my secondary school and those are the lifelong relationships that I have now. I have fond memories of growing up in Kenya, Nairobi. Even when I go there now, I smell the air and it brings back childhood memories. That’s my childhood. My career journey is one I’m really grateful for, because obviously, I have worked for the big corporations that come to mind. When I joined MTN Uganda as advertising manager, prior to that I’d been with advertising agencies so I have many years of advertising experience. I joined MTN as an Advertising Manager and then Brand Manager. And then from there, I went to Commercial Microfinance Bank as the Head of Marketing and Retail. I went to DFCU Bank as Head of Marketing and Communications. I then took a break for a year. After the sabbatical and I joined Vision Group, a media conglomerate. I never need more than three years because after three years, I feel like, ‘Okay. I think I’ve done what I came to do here. I move on to the next challenge, because I love challenges. I don’t like to sit in a place where I feel like I’m being paid, but I’m not really doing much. I am not adding any more value. Sometimes that calls for crazy decision making, but I love challenges. I love to feel that when I wake up in the morning, and I go to work, I’m going to make a difference. I’m going to add value to the company. That’s why my previous work stints were all three years, until I got to Vision Group where I surprised myself by lasting eight years. I guess why I survived eight years, so to speak, is because I kept re-inventing my role such that by the time I left, my role had grown by leaps and bounds as I kept re-inventing it and adding responsibilities and finding new ways to keep myself challenged. My career path has really been one where when I look back, intentional, and yet not intentional by my standards. I honestly see the hand of God leading and guiding me and placing me in different institutions and I doing my bit and and always giving my best. I’ve always pushed myself no matter what task I’m given, to give my best and I think that remains one of my principles. That work ethic hasn’t changed and right now I’m trying to teach it to my team at Urge Uganda. That work ethic where nothing is impossible and you can do all things. I learned that work ethic while I worked at Scanad. My first gig at an advertising agency, two years fresh out of university. I was like, ‘Whoa what is this?’ Because we were working hard and burning the midnight oil. I guess this was the same at even my university because we would be up at midnight, you know, typing work and everything. People would hand in written work but Mass Communications’ students even before the age of computers. We were typing and that really taught us to stay up late, work hard, you know, burn the midnight oil. So, just those two first years of my career after university really taught me the work ethic that enabled me now to excel in these different places that I went to. I had hit the ceiling. Even when I chose not to renew my contract, it was really because I had done everything that I had been tasked to do. I had reached the areas where I felt the company should be going to, and I had kind of like stalled. I realised that the company could do with new energy that would then take them to the next level. I needed to find other ways to pour out, to use my knowledge. I also felt that it could best be expressed in starting a company of my own. So that’s really why I left. ‎Susan Nsibirwa: Journey from Intern to Managing Director at Monitor Publications Ltd What I loved about Makerere was the sports. It facilitated my interactions with a number of people. I was the Hockey Captain for Mary Stuart Hall. I was swimming, playing basketball and squash. In the mornings, the guys would come round, pick us and we would jog around the university while singing mchaka mchaka songs. In the market place now, a lot of people will relate to you simply because you went to Makerere. My feel is that there are presently few graduates who are able to think critically and hold valuable conversations. We understand the need to employ young people, but their skill, knowledge, eye for detail, and commitment to excellence isn’t there. It’s dragging us back! I could make the byline as an intern. The guys in the newsroom are struggling because they spend hours rewriting and editing stories. I would be lying if I said I planned my career. To change and adapt to the Mass Communication field and go with what it offered me was divine guidance. God has opened doors for me to have experiences that now serve me in this role. I have questioned moves like leaving MTN for Commercial Microfinance because moving from corporate to downtown opposite Owino was a mind-boggling experience. 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