Origin Story of a Company Brand Committed to Continuous Growth, And Global Reach
Houston Executive Consulting was incorporated in Uganda in 2019 under registration number 80020001769838 at the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB).
Just like any other business, Houston Executive Consulting is a product of business idea which was hatched out concept to offer exceptional professional services for financial gain.
It was initially centered on a training and development service that can be offered for money. This was the first milestone in the process of building this firm with several professional specializations.
Houston Executive Consulting is a provider of professional Business Services Like Training & Capacity Building, HR Services, Finance & Tax Advisory, Strategic Planning, Research, Impact Assessment, Monitoring & Evaluation.
The company also manages an Interactive Online Learning Platform for Workplace Skills Training. The company serves both small and established businesses, governmental and non-governmental organizations, profit & non-profit organizations.
Just like any other newcomer into the market, the firm had zero customers as we began the journey to provide affordable business development services and HR consulting. We had to write a few proposals that were either rejected or not given attention at all.
This was mainly because we were a young firm without significant experience. We had a lot to do with our brand like performing a SWOT analysis, understanding our target market and ideal client, Setting SMART objectives, and creating a business plan along with a very strong digital footprint.
We Started Without A Physical Location but With an Idea Whose Time Had Come. We Were Equally Motivated by Brands Whose Success Stories Originate from Garages, Sheds, and Halls of Residence in Universities. When A Good Mentor Said Yes to Lead the Firm for Us, It Was A Dream Coming to Reality.
Through the issuance of powers of attorney, the company directors appointed a managing partner and lead consultant Dr. Alfred Wamurubu in May 2019. He was appointed both as a mentor to the young professionals and to lead the firm until it is self-sustainable. He was identified because of his professionalism, consistency, and desire for good performance. He took the fatherly figure of a skilled teacher, manager, strategist, or consultant.
Dr. Alfred Wamurubu (Ph.D.) is a Ugandan Management Consultant and Research Expert, Highly Skilled in Research, Data Collection, Analysis Training, and Management Practice. The choice of Dr. Wamurubu was influenced by his record of seeking the best value goals and striving to attain challenging targets in a competitive environment. Alfred takes a strengths-based strategic approach to career and organization development, which he has also written widely on.
Together with colleagues, he has published many management and industry reports, over 60 research chapters, and some refereed blog articles on leadership, employment practices, work processes, and conditions that enhance employee health, safety, wellbeing, social inclusion, and performance.
Alfred has a continuous and unrivaled record of highly successful consultancies and research partnerships with private, and public sector organizations. Preceding this, he held multiple senior management positions recognized as a leader in high-performing workplaces and corporate culture for more than 22 years at the Bank of Uganda.
In only 4 months, the company was already listed on the National Supplier Database (NSD) for the Oil and Gas Sector in Uganda. This was made as an enouncement on their website stating; “It’s exciting for us to announce to our clients and potential clients that we have been successfully Qualified for the National Supplier Database (NSD) at The Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU) the supply of goods, works and services in the oil and gas industry in Uganda.
Our official NSD Number is NS-12709/19/1689. The official communication was received from the Executive Director of PAU on 15th August 2019. We are now eligible to provide our professional management consulting services to the oil and gas sector in Uganda” the statement reads.
The fast-paced appearance on this database comes with a tedious process of fulfilling numerous requirements of registering with several government bodies including Posta Uganda, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB), Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA)
Dr. Wamurubu focused his first months of this assignment to ensure compliance, business networking, and a careful selection of management and HR consultants mainly from the post-graduate teaching staff at the Uganda Management Institute (UMI)
The first score was on May 19, with a successful bidding process for the Project where the company was named the best-evaluated bidder having fulfilled the procurement requirements for the provision of consultancy services to provide team building services to Uganda National Bureau of Standards for November 2019, and January 2020.
The company has built a reputation as the leading training firm in Uganda. The company organizes and facilitates at least one training program every month. Their training programs are attended by Uganda’s biggest names including the NSSF, New Vision, NIRA, Centenary Bank, and others.
The success in training is attributed to Mr. Robert Mwesige, a Learning & Development Specialist and Chief Talent Officer at Houston Executive Consulting. Robert Mwesige is a Google Certified Digital Marketing Professional. He is the Content Designer (Web Editor), and SEO Consultant at Geotech ICT Consulting – Uganda. He is a Training Consultant in Uganda and A Certified Trainer of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Robert is also one of the Instructional Designers for the Online Learning Platform at the Company.
Houston Executive Consulting is building an online education platform that will provide both free (or at least partially free) and commercial online courses. These are popularly known as MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses. Later, the company will create relationships with top universities and/or tech companies to launch MOOCs both in East Africa and around the world.
The company has contracted ShujaBITS Infotech Solutions Private Limited an Indian-based company to design the online learning management system. This will be something similar to FutureLearn (UK), Coursera (US), EdX (US), XuetangX (China), SWAYAM (India), FUN (France), Miríada X (Spain), ThaiMOOC (Thailand). The company is targeting this new era time when retraining and upskilling are the norms, and MOOCs can allow students and professionals to continue their education outside a formal university setting.
The company is also positioning itself strategically to profit from Information Technology Trends. For that matter, we created a subsidiary business, Geotech ICT Consulting – Uganda. This is a business we are grooming to be the leader in cloud computing, mobile apps, big data analytics, automation, artificial intelligence, smart technology, web design, and search engine optimization.
During the pandemic, the clients were buying less professional consulting services and as such the company decided to perform the following tasks;
Content Design
The company deployed a few staff to create user-centered content that’s easy for everyone to understand and access on the web. This was a strategy to achieve the best google rankings for the next 3 to 5 years.
By applying skills of user-centered design methods to enhance our digital content accessibility, backed by user research and written in plain English. They spent time exploring journey mapping and prototyping and how to use data to improve and iterate this content. All this is geared to target customers who search for a provider of professional services from online sources.
The company now has more than 8 featured snippets on Google because of the content being considered to be the most relevant using the principle of Expertise, Authority & Trustworthiness associated with their website.
This was also done to align their marketing strategy to the post COVID marketing practices where many potential customers will be looking for suppliers using digital technology.
The results of this have been proved by winning contracts from NSSF and International Justice Mission all of which contracted the company based on the accuracy of their online content and the fact that their ranking was good on the digital media platforms like Bing, Yahoo, Google, and Facebook.
Customer Reviews
The company currently has the highest number of positive reviews of all the management consulting firms in Uganda.
These reviews are open to the public on their Google My Business Profile mostly appreciating the level of service both in Training, HR Services, and Professional Support.
Future Plans
Dr. Alfred Wamurubu always tells the team that he sees the company managing bank accounts with billions of monies someday.
That is his desire for the firm and whatever he does and the decisions he makes are intended to drive the company towards that direction.
The staff, managers, and directors work with the desire to stay and to see the said billions being a product of their own hands. Until then Dr. Wamurubu continues to hold the leadership position as the firm grows both in size, human capital base, and finances.