Corporate

The IoDT

GovernNews
The Official
IoDT Members
Magazine

ISSUE NO : 0002

JULY - SEPTEMBER 2015

How prepared are

we for personal
responsibility for
our Boardroom
mistakes?
Frank Mugeta
Nyabundege
7 Top health risks
for men over 40
The Essence of
Organisations Ethics
and Strategy
Corporate Governance
and Corruption in
Tanzania
The IoDT
Official Media
Partner

How prepared are we for

personal responsibility for
Boardroom Mistakes?

FRANK
NYABUNDEGE
MIoDT127

BRIEFLY WHAT COMES IN YOUR MIND WHEN YOU HEAR CORPORATE

GOVERNANCE?
Corporate Governance is simply the process through which organization
are directed and controlled. In another words, it is a process through
which a group of people with interest in the organization (mostly
called stakeholders / shareholders) make decisions whose end results
successfully navigates the organization through its short and long term
growth. One can also say corporate governance is the process by which
a board of directors guides an organization through its management in
order to fulfil its corporate mission while protecting the assets over time.
THROUGH YOUR EXPERIENCE TO WHAT EXTENT IS CORPORATE
GOVERNANCE PRACTICED IN THE COUNTRY?
Tanzania is among the developing countries that have been trying to adopt
good corporate governance from developed countries for more than 30
years now. If you compare the way corporate governance is practiced in
Tanzania with developed countries you will definitely say we still have a
long way to go. As a developing country, Tanzania is faced with economic
and political system that doesnt support effectively the implementation
of corporate governance that can be seen in developed countries. For
state owned entities we see a lot of government intervention not only in
Tanzania but in most of the developing countries. Where from the World
Bank, IFM and IFC perspective, poor economic performance and high
level of national and international debts are all caused by lack of good
corporate governance within the developing countries.
YOU HAVE BEEN A DIRECTOR IN SEVERAL ORGANISATIONS, WHAT
ARE COMMON PROBLEMS TANZANIAS DIRECTORS SUFFER?
The common problems that directors suffer is the interference by the
shareholders, another problem is, the directors to try and play the role of
management, instead of controlling and directing they want manage the
organizations.
AS AN ACTIVE MEMBER OF The IoDT WHO ATTENDED CiDir TRAINING,
DO YOU THINK THE IoDT CAN BE THE SALVATION OF CORPORATE
GOVERNANCE IN THE COUNTRY?
I dont want to say the IoDT can be the salvation of Corporate Governance
in Tanzania, but it will increase to a great extent the level of Corporate
Governance practice in Tanzania. The word salvation seems to be too
strong as even in the well developed countries where you could say
Corporate Governance is of higher standards, yet companies still fail due
to poor corporate governance. An American energy company namely
Enron is a good example. You can read more on Enron scandal The best
way that The IoDT can do to increase the level of corporate governance
practice in Tanzania is to convince the government to pass a circular which
will allow only certified Directors to seat as board members in state owned
corporation. They can give a grace period of say 5 years after which No
one should be appointed as board member if he/she is not certified. It is
Corporate GovernNews | July - Sept 2015
9

not a strange phenomenon! Its done for accounting and auditing posts.
One cannot be Chief Account or Chief Internal Auditor if he/she doesnt
have CPA, ACCA and similar certification.
YOU HAVE ATTENDED SEVERAL CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
COURSES, IF YOU WERE TO COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE CIDIR
TO OTHER COURSES/PROGRAMS, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR PRINCIPAL
OBSERVATIONS?
This is one of the most difficult questions to answer as you said I have
attended a lot of Corporate Governance courses and saying this wasnt as
good as the one conducted by The IoDT may not be construed positively
by the other party especially if they did their best. The only thing that I
can say is that The IoDT has been doing great especially on Corporate
Governance programs.
HOW WOULD YOU SAY HAS TRAINING FROM IODT IMPACTED IN THE
DISCHARGE OF YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES ESPECIALLY YOUR RECENT
POST?
My trainings from IoDT have to great extent impacted me in my
responsibilities. It is through IoDT training that I came to realise the most
important aspect in Governance that when I accept any appointment as
board member, I must be ready to take personal responsibility whenever
the board or company fails as a result of boardroom mistakes. With that
key aspect, I can say on my recent post the same has been lingering in
my mind that I am personally accountable for the success or the failure of
my organization. At this age I dont want to be associated with failing as I
have just started my carrier since people say life begins at 40 and just got
appointed at this post when I turned 40.
Family man Frank with his happy family,
wife at right together with his three blessed
children from left Yusta, Elizabeth and Gabriel.

WHAT CAN YOU ADVICE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PARASTATALS

DIRECTORS WHO HAVE NOT YET ATTENDED THE CIDIR TRAINING
FROM IoDT?
My advice especially to Directors in Public companies is that they
should attend The IoDT courses and most importantly get certified by
doing the exams to qualify for certification. For instance, if you want
to work as an account/auditor you must get certification from NBAA,
Engineers from ERB etc
IN YOUR OPINION WHAT ASPECT OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE,
IF ANY, MAY ALSO BE APPLICABLE AT HOUSEHOLD LEVEL?
Corporate Governance is applicable at household levels. A certain
Public speaker in family life said, if you want to run your house well
make sure you have a family board He said even at home you must
convene as board, whereby Husband can be a Chairman and a wife
be a secretary and children be members. In so doing most decisions
that are significant must be discussed and agreed at the family board.
YOUR OFFICE IS VERY BUSY, HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO DIVIDE TIME
BETWEEN WORK AND FAMILY?
It is true that most of senior positions are very busy and many people
fail to divide their time between office and family. Mostly they use
portable gadgets such as laptops to do their jobs from a virtual office
with extensive flexibility in the time and location. But I always ask some
of them if they have finished all their work. Surprisingly they say no!
I remember there was a time I used to finish my work, and that was
a time I was working as a Teller. For a Teller balancing for a day it
means you are left with nothing to do, every day you start with a new
assignment and it must be finished the same day. Otherwise it is just
planning well your duties and ensure the most important and urgent
are done and if possible on first come basis. I am a family man and I
love to be with my family and possibly early for evening prayers before
my young girls sleep as they have to sleep early for school on the next
day.
PLEASE TELL US A BIT ABOUT WHO YOU ARE, YOUR FAMILY,
HOBBIES, PASSTIMES AND FUTURE AMBITIONS?
I am a seasoned banker with strong track record in business
performance especially turning around non performing businesses.
Currently I am the Managing Director of TIB Corporate Finance Limited
which is a commercial Banking wing of the TIB Group. I hold an MBA in
corporate management from Mzumbe University. I am married to my
lovely wife Joyce and blessed with two girls Elizabeth and Yusta and a
boy namely Gabriel. My ambition is to be one of the gurus in Corporate
Governance in this country and I love gospel music and listening to
powerful preachers.

INFORMATION AND
ADVISORY SERVICES
IoDT is involved in many other aspects of board and director
training and development on corporate governance, such as;
In-house training workshops
Board development workshops and board induction
Consultancy on strategic planning
Board evaluation and development of corporate
governance instruments such as board charter, board code
of ethics and board code of conduct
Development of guidelines and tools on any corporate
governance related issues
Advising on establishing and implementing ethics
management
For more information contact:
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Institute of Directors in Tanzania (IoDT)
Mhasibu House, Room S5
Bibi Titi Mohamed Street
P.O. Box 1320
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Phone:
+255 22 2153 412,

+255 768 263 226

+255 717 701 111,

+255 767 413 921
Fax:
+255 22 2151 746
Email: info@iodt.co.tz

sylvester_omary@iodt.co.tz
abduel.kela@iodt.co.tz
vicky_pallangyo@iodt.co.tz

Website:
www.iodt.co.tz

With his lovely wife Joyce, at their home in

Dar es Salaam
10

Corporate GovernNews | July - Sept 2015