KIU News

  • Home /
  • KIU News /
  • KIU Alumni Voices: “I am Where I am Because of KIU,” – Silive Baluku

KIU Alumni Voices: “I am Where I am Because of KIU,” – Silive Baluku

kiu-alumni-voices-“i-am-where-i-am-because-of-kiu”-–-silive-baluku

KIU, Western Campus – Silive Baluku, an alumnus of Kampala International University, says he will forever be grateful to the university because he is where he is because of it.

The 33-year old, who is currently the Manager of Cash and Installment International, a house ware selling business in Basajja Town, Ishaka Municipality in Bushenyi district, says it is because of the exposure and knowledge he got from KIU that he has managed to succeed at his workplace.

“The nature of our business is complicated. We sell items to clients both on cash and installment basis. It requires a lot of expertise and customer care to deal with those who take things on installment basis,” Baluku reveals.

“You also need to have very good marketing skills to convince customers to buy from the shop because items taken on installment basis are quite more expensive than items taken on cash basis. All these skills I got from my Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA) course,” he adds.

Baluku joined KIU in 2009 and graduated with a BBA in 2012 and he says he doesn’t regret this decision because he met many people from all spheres of life, who are of great importance to him up to this day.

“I got friends from Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia and other international students who are of great importance to me. I connect with them in terms of business and this has turned out to be a very valuable asset to me,” he says.

He however confides that tuition was a very big challenge for him because money was hard to come by on time, something that initially led him to pay surcharge fees.

He is however quick to add that in the middle of his course, the university bailed him out by introducing a system where students could open bank accounts in Orient Bank, after which they were given study loans by the bank. This helped him overcome this problem.

He encourages students who are joining university to come to KIU because it has good programmes and offers more opportunities for networking, since it is an international university.

“There is a difference between an ordinary university and an international university. Being an international university, KIU offers a platform for you to build connections spanning many countries, something that can be of importance to you in the future,” Baluku advises.

He encourages students who are still at campus to look at the bigger picture and put their studies first other than being distracted by the small things in life.