Ugandan personal care company Movit is a very different business from the one Simon Jordan Mugisha FCCA joined five years ago. Between then and now, by driving finance transformation he has played a pivotal role in professionalising the expanding business.
As the company’s CFO, he works closely with its founder and executive chairman Simpson Birungi, who has backed his drive to professionalise the business. Mugisha admires the entrepreneur’s leadership style, which encourages professional growth: his office door is always open, but at the same time he holds his management team to account for delivering results. ‘He pushes me every day,’ Mugisha says.
‘The more you deal with big auditors, the more you improve as a business’
Over nearly three decades Movit has evolved from a makeshift workshop to become a leading Ugandan business that provides jobs for more than 2,000 people – both employees and contractors. With an ambition to be in every African household by 2030, it already has operations in 10 African markets – including Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia, as well as Uganda – and its products find their way into many more. Popular lines include personal care brand Movit, haircare brand Tropical Essence and babycare brand Baby Junior.
Change agenda
One of Mugisha’s first responsibilities after his appointment was to help stabilise a new SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. ‘I managed the business process re-engineering of the system and closed all the system issues,’ he explains. ‘The system helps us to reduce our business risks since all transactions are in that ERP.’
Movit in numbers
US$80m
Turnover (2024)
30+
African markets selling Movit brands
500
Direct employees
7
Primary brands
1997
Year founded
Another crucial move was to secure a top 10 audit firm for Movit, in the belief that this association would underpin future success. ‘The more you deal with big auditors, the more you improve as a business,’ he says. ‘You’re challenged on technical standards, you’re challenged on governance processes, and I believe that’s the only way you can grow.’
People power
Mugisha’s other key achievement has been to invest in the professional development of the finance team. When he joined, Movit had just three qualified accountants in its finance team. Today, the team numbers 22 people, including seven qualified accountants and nine studying for professional certification, including the ACCA qualification.
‘I wanted to challenge myself, to be held accountable for the decisions I made’
It was thanks to these accomplishments, Mugisha believes, that he won the SME category at the ACCA and Deloitte Uganda CFO Awards in 2024. He takes his work very seriously and for him, winning the award was ‘testimony that I have added value to the accounting profession and to Movit’.
As part of his role, he is also treasurer of the company’s savings and credit cooperative, overseeing a steadily growing fund with a current total asset base of more than US$3m. ‘The dream is for this to become a bank in the future,’ Mugisha says. ‘It will be exciting to have been part of this journey.’
He is proud to support the company’s charitable agenda through the Movit Foundation, which tackles social inequality through strategic investments. In 2024, for example, it constructed a building for a primary school where previously the students had learned under an outdoor canopy. ‘It’s good to feel we are touching people’s lives,’ Mugisha says.
Route to the top
Given his early choices, it was not clear that Mugisha would end up heading the finance team of an entrepreneurial business. A natural with numbers, he studied statistics at Makerere University and initially aspired to join the banking sector. That aspiration changed when he came across the PwC graduate trainee scheme, however. Attracted by the Big Four firm’s strong brand, he applied and was selected to join the scheme – the only one out of 69 students in his university class.
At PwC, Mugisha worked as an auditor while studying for the ACCA qualification, which he found ‘extremely hard’. He admits that at times he thought of giving up on his studies, but is glad he persevered, qualifying in 2009. ‘I don’t think I would be the person I am today without the ACCA qualification. It equipped me with the technical skills that have helped me to navigate the accounting world, but it also helped me to establish a network of people who connect me with opportunities,’ he says. In 2016, he added an MBA from Heriot-Watt University’s Edinburgh Business School to his educational achievements.
‘You need to pave the way for the next generation to take over’
On leaving PwC in 2008 he joined Coca-Cola Beverages Africa as regional internal auditor for Tanzania and Mozambique. Then, after a couple of years, he moved into more mainstream finance roles with Coca-Cola subsidiaries – first as finance manager with Uganda-based Century Bottling Company and then as senior financial analysis manager with Nigerian Bottling Company. But he wanted more.
‘When you carry out internal audits, it becomes routine,’ Mugisha explains of his decision to change course. ‘I would always be the one probing others, “Why have you done this?” I wanted to challenge myself by moving out of a role where I just asked questions to one where I would be held accountable for the decisions I made.’
CV
2024
CFO, Movit, Kampala, Uganda
2020
Head of finance, Movit
2016
Senior financial analysis manager, Nigerian Bottling Company, Nigeria
2010
Finance manager, Century Bottling Company, Uganda
2008
Regional internal auditor, Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, Tanzania and Mozambique
2003
Assurance auditor, PwC, Uganda
His experience of different markets is invaluable in his role at Movit, which he landed after returning to Uganda from Nigeria. ‘You get acclimatised to a totally different culture,’ Mugisha says of his time abroad. ‘You also learn how to interact with different kinds of people.’
Sustainable leadership
Mugisha believes that an important part of his job is to champion the next generation of finance talent. ‘You’re not going to be CFO forever,’ he says. ‘You need to pave the way for the next generation to take over.’ It’s a responsibility he takes seriously, making time to mentor his direct reports and prepare them for the future.
So, what does that future look like? According to Mugisha, the Ugandan CFO of today and tomorrow must ‘focus on digital transformation and embrace artificial intelligence in their operations’. They should also invest in talent development, making sure teams have both the technical and interpersonal skills to carry out their work.
CFOs need the ability to look ahead, too, Mugisha says, and predict how changes in different markets will impact their home country. Finally, they need to focus on being a strategic business partner to their colleagues, recognising that financial performance is the responsibility of the entire business.
Ultimately, Mugisha hopes to become a CEO one day, responsible for setting the overall vision and driving the growth of a business. For now, though, he’s focused on his current role – which means enhancing his strategic approach and adding value to Movit wherever he can. ‘Every day is a learning experience,’ he says. ‘I can’t say I know it all.’
