Hello, I am Advocate Brownie Ebal
I am a legal Practitioner, Venture Capitalist and Philanthropist.
Welcome to my site.
I love life, travelling, food, beauty, the law, leadership and meeting people from diverse backgrounds. I hope to inspire each one of you with my various articles as I share from my experiences around our beautiful world.
I live in Kampala, Uganda.
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Article 17: Key highlights from the launch of NWSC Leaders Are Learners Club
Written by: Brownie Ebal
Edited by: Kasi Editorial Services
On the 5th of August 2022, enthusiastic staff of National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) gathered together at IREC Victoria Garden in great anticipation and celebration of the launch of “The Leaders are Learners Book Club”. The club seeks to enhance motivation and growth amongst the staff. Its core values of the Club are professionalism, teamwork, innovation, results orientation, integrity, reliability and excellence. To achieve NWSC’s goal, the management of NWSC believes in empowering everyone to be leaders of themselves and others. NWSC strongly believes that in order to grow as an organization, we must keep learning. The book club is an initiative to model new leadership for NWSC staff and encourage continuous learning and productivity. This background gave birth to Leaders are Learners Club which was created to enhance staff motivation and growth.
Over 50 people attended the launch with The Managing Director of NWSC, Dr. Eng. Silver Mugisha as the Chief Guest of this progressive reading movement. He was accompanied by the Director of Engineering Services Eng. Alex Gisagara and the General Manager Kampala Water, Eng. Mahmood Lutaaya.
A swearing-in of the Committee and Patron of the club kick-started the event. Distinguished members of the National Water shared wisdom and a wealth of experience with the rest of the team.
Activities for the day.
As President of The Leaders are Learners Club, I started off the event with a welcome address and an outline in which I introduced the Book Club. I shared that the club was an opportunity for people to challenge themselves to learn different things, for example, public speaking, a journey I have embarked on. My address was then followed by the inauguration of the LL Club Executive Committee.
Synopsis of the vision of the LL club.
The Patron, General Manager-Kampala Water Eng. Mahmood Lutaaya shared how the book club can boost productivity and engagement and encouraged staff to embrace this avenue of growth. Upon his invitation, the Senior Manager Legal Department shared a touching story about how the club’s inaugural book The 5AM Club by Robin Sharma helped her to engage her daughter in productive life and work models, such as waking up early, doing tasks on time, and planning.
She intimated that shortly after her daughter read the book, she picked up some of these habits and has reformed her personal and work life. Eng. Gisagara agreed, sharing stories of how waking up early has been part of what has kept him and many of NWSC’s Top management team alert and efficient in emergency works and other management duties required of them.
In depth analysis of 5AM Club and Panel discussion by NWSC employees.
During this event, five participants presented their perspectives of the popular The 5AM Club, sharing their lessons and also validations of habits they had already been practicing. Jackson Wasajja, an Electrical Technician and Winfred Maiga a legal officer shared an anecdote from the book, “Treat people with respect regardless of how they look. They might provide the solution to your problem.” Kakaija Doreen shared how waking up early has enabled her to accomplish more in her work day.
Perspective from Managing Director – Dr. Eng. Silver Mugisha.
He tasked the audience with questions like: Who is a leader? As a Leader what does one want to be in 10 years? He stated that a leader is not born one. He is simply one who knows where he wants to go. He further laid out the qualities of good leaders as: good communicators, planners, emotionally intelligent individuals, mobilizers who influence team members positively, encouragers of teamwork, and persons who choose the right people to work with. Tomorrow’s leaders, he believed, should be resilient, optimistic, with a strong value system, punctual, good concept analyzers with a clear conscience, speedy workers who are confident and risk-management oriented. He pledged his full support to the club.
The guest of honor shared insights about the requirements of today’s leaders to thrive in the workforce. “Leaders conceptualize,” he said, “ are technology-driven, embrace work-life balance, and are risk managers.”
In his words, today’s leaders need to be able to continue to learn in order to keep up with the technological advancements happening worldwide. It is also the way to recognize problems and risks within their work and contribute to solving them. He also shared the importance of having corporate objectives for the book club and individuals who are part of it. In this way, progress can be measured for both the individual and the book club.
The Leaders are Learners Book Club was crowned with two musical performances from staff, Isaac Ezama, a Software Engineer and Maurice Ayoo, a Civil Engineer.
The event closed with a sumptuous meal of meats, juice, tea, cake and a karaoke evening where staff bellowed their lungs out.
Some of the managers of NWSC at the Launch 
The President, Leaders Are learners Club swearing in 
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Article 16: Creating value through legal compliance- Perspectives of an in-house counsel
Written by Advocate Brownie Ebal
On 14th July, 2022 I attended a zoom panel discussion by The East African Law Society.
The zoom discussion highlighted the role of in- house counsel in ensuring that the organizations they represent are compliant with all relevant laws, regulations and government directions.
The various speakers emphasized that the legal arm of a company should focus on key important areas of corporate governance; Regulatory and legal compliance, policies management process, contracts management process and monitoring and reporting. The discussion emphasized that legal compliance is crucial as it allows organizations to continue doing business in a particular jurisdiction.
Key roles of in-house counsel in ensuring legal compliance
• Advise the board and management of an Organisation on legal compliance requirement, implications and time frame to compliance.
• Work closely with the compliance, internal audit and risk department of the organization to identify the compliance gaps and best ways to address them.
• Continuous engagement with the regulatory authorities for a broader understanding of the regulations for effective implementation.
• Engagement with peers in the industry on compliance common issues, challenges and other.
• Continuous training of the organizations’ employees on legal compliance requirements.
• Staying informed on the various regulations with which the company must comply and stay abreast of any changes.
Further discussions were held in regards to the practicality of legal compliance in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda with case studies being analyzed.
Conclusion
It was agreed that legal compliance is important and it is a key reason why businesses keep running. In addition, legal compliance it is not a one-man job, but rather a collection of team effort from various people in the organization.
Finally, for an in house counsel to add value and be considered the organization’s voice of reason, alignment and continuous engagement with internal and external stakeholders is paramount.
An in-house lawyer should always stay abreast with the latest laws and jurisprudence so as to adequately advise the corporation on corporate governance and legal compliance issues.
An informed lawyer is an asset.
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Article 15: NWSC Legal Aid Clinics: An innovative approach to dispute resolution
Written by Adv. Brownie Ebal
National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) is a Company that thrives on innovation and ideas that better the customer experience.
As in house counsel, one of the challenging aspects of the job is finding a balance between the Company going to court and the company settling. Many of the Legal challenges companies face, can easily be resolved through adequate communication with customers, suppliers and employees. The role of in house counsel is to assess the likely risks faced by companies and advise accordingly before matters get out of hand. Litigation can lead to cases taking years to settle and leads to case backlog. Creating a “win-win situation” can therefore be critical for a business to survive.
Therefore, in the spirit of promoting Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms through mediation and conciliation as opposed to full blown litigation, the NWSC Legal Department came up with this novelle idea to start “NWSC Legal Aid Clinics.”
These Clinics are to act as a bridge between NWSC and its customers so as to rectify any issues that have arisen through its operations that can be resolved amicably before running to the Courts of Law. These clinics enhance the relationship of the Company with its customers and reduce any further risks that may arise due to any misunderstandings.
The Legal Aid Clinics, also look to educate staff on the legal framework that governs their operations. An empowered staff can be able to serve the corporation better and reduce incidences that may cause legal embarrassment.
These legal Aid Clinics started in 2019 and have grown to resolve over 500 legal customer complaints. Not only did, the team look at connecting with customers, we also looked at ways in which services can be brought nearer to our customers. Thus, camping at the various NWSC branches to offer such services, makes the legal team accessible and act as a mediator between the Corporation and its customers.
On Friday,18th February, 2022, the Legal team was camped in Bwaise Branch and our customers were guided on the internal administrative bodies that have been setup in NWSC to resolve these claims.
To all the customers that have turned up, we appreciate the time taken to come and find amicable solutions to these existing problems.
To all our dear esteemed NWSC Customers, when the legal team is camping at your branch for the day, please do come to our legal Aid Clinics so we can resolve your issues amicably.
To the lawyers, let us try to think outside the box and come up with solutions for our clients that propel business and do not destroy it.
The Legal team together with NWSC staff from WALOPU unit after an internal Legal Aid Clinic 
Legal Officer, Apollo Magezi, attending to a NWSC customer
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Article 14: Fintech, a key disruption to the traditional banking sector
Written by Adv. Brownie Ebal
On 22nd July, 2022, I attended a zoom panel discussion by The East African Law Society.
The zoom discussion highlighted the growing importance of fintech technology and dominance in the financial sector. In this regard, the rapid mobile penetration in the East African economy, has led to fintech taking a high gear in the emerging economies. Fintech refers to firms leveraging technology to deliver financial products capabilities to customers or other financial services firms, it has also curved out a distinct offering to create a fully fledged sector group, complete with its own service providers, accelerator and market. Once a conduit of the traditional financial service sector, today, fintech holds its own as a mainstay service sector.
Fintech as a nontraditional player has increased non-financial companies offering financial services. These refer to new market entrants outside the traditional banking institutions and carter specific financial services to it’s customer segment and they include; technology companies, mobile network operators, Cash Network, E- Retailer. Many Fin Tech’s due to their robust business models have been able to taste success and have enabled traditional financial institutions to explore areas of co-operation and partnerships to improve reach and efficiency. Due to this new phenomenon, traditional banks have been challenged to become more innovative, promote economic growth and partner with various key players to remain relevant.
Currently, the fintech space is not regulated and further discussions are underway to regulate the space.
The discussion concluded that consumer protection is needed to protect clients of fintech. The panelists urged for better collaboration across all sectors. Currently, various companies use mobile money payments for bills to be paid. E.g. MTN Mobile money, Airtel money.
Further discussions were held in regards to the practicality of fintech to the banking sectors in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.
I urge young lawyers to always attend such informative discussions so as to remain relevant in this ever changing space.
An informed lawyer is an asset.
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Article 13: Public speaking: A novice toast master’s journey
Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs.
It has objectives such as;
Improve members public speaking skills.
Build leadership skills.
Maximize one’s potential.
Enjoy unlimited personal growth.
Work on networking in a small and supportive environment.
On 30th June, 2022, Toast Masters Muyenga Club had its regular meeting and new members were given a change to practice their speeches. This first speech for every toast master is known as an Ice Breaker speech. It is a speech where members can talk about their lives freely and are given 6 minutes to deliver a memorized speech.
Since, I was a new member, this was my first memorized speech in toastmasters. Since, the speech had to be personal, I decided that I would talk about something very dear to me. This was “leadership.” The title of my speech was “She leads.” As I began my speech, I was excited and nervous. I had presented various intellectual speeches but not personal ones. The thought made me nervous as this was the first time for me to deliver a speech that was personal.
I prepared and headed for the stage. I started quite well with introducing myself, the title to my speech and began telling my childhood leadership journey. Midway, the story, I became nervous and my mind went blank, I could not remember, how my childhood contributed to my leadership journey. As I watched my audience, I panicked and laughed nervously. I was startled by myself but the audience was very supportive and I gained the courage to start afresh.
I asked for a few seconds to calm down, get my thoughts together and then head back to the stage. I returned more determined than ever to convey my truth, not from what I had memorized earlier on but from my heart. This sense of self assurance, that, this is my story and I have the right to tell it as I deem fit, awakened the confidence in me. I was able to tell my leadership journey through my eyes. I specifically shared instances where I failed at elected positions and how I had to get back up despite the failure. For example; in Primary 3, I stood for class representative and was shocked to learn that I lost because my opponent had bought sweets for the entire class. As a young child, this devastated me but it taught me the need to influence people to like me and speak to their hearts and show that I cared so that I could win votes. Despite this loss, I did not give up, I stood again for an elected position in my O’ level and won overwhelmingly with 90 % of the votes. The lessons I learnt from my first campaign journey, helped me secure the votes, this time round. From these elected positions, I have learnt not to quit and to keep serving even without a title. As I grew older, I have started organizations, not because I am the smartest in the room but because, I am not a quitter and I have learnt to start trends. I then my shared journey, from where I was able to start Kitabu- Buk Project a local NGO that has served over a million Ugandans country wide.
As I concluded my speech, I asked the young people, not to give up, keep doing good, keep serving and God will lift you higher than you have ever imagined.
As I concluded my speech, I looked back at how I began, the nerves, forgetting my story and simply freezing on stage.
This article is a call to everyone, not to be afraid to speak as “Public speaking is a journey that you can only move forward through walking in it.
In-case you are interested in joining toast masters, kindly follow the link
About Me
I love reading, writing, attending events, learning, leadership and meeting new people.
I hold a Masters Degree in International Law and I am passionate about life.
If you are interested in learning more about self discovery and becoming the best version of yourself.
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