By Eriah Lule
As a young girl, Fiona Atukunda made numerous trips to the work places of her two elder sisters in Mbarara, a town in western Uganda. At the time, Kyomurungi Kate worked in Barclays Bank while Ahumuza Dativa was employed in a Savings and Cooperative Company.
Unknown to Kyomurungi and Ahumuza, their younger sister was not only just visiting them. She was also paying attention to the way they executed their roles, their good financial and customer service skills.
It is those skills, Atukunda says, which made her begin to develop a liking for employment in the banking sector. Today, she is the Accountant Relationship Officer in the Credit Section of Finca- Uganda.
Finca describes itself as an unconventional community-based bank that sustainably and responsibly provides innovative and impactful financial services to enable low-income individuals and communities to invest in their future. And this was precisely the dream Atukunda has always harbored – to handle credit so as to empower clients who prefer to grow their dreams into Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and companies.
“I believe I can be the reason as to why many small businesses grew into companies,” she said. “I figured that through my rapport with clients, basing from the credit section, I would help many build a firm foundation to prosperity.”
Atukunda on her graduation day in 2024
And this desire resonates with Atukunda’s research field for her undergraduate studies at Uganda Christian University. The abstract for the study that was titled University Entrepreneurship-Oriented Training in the Transformation of Entrepreneurial Intentions of University Students in Uganda: A Case Study of Uganda Christian University indicated that the research explored the mediating roles of self-efficacy and learning orientation in the relationship between entrepreneurship-oriented training and the entrepreneurial intentions of students at Uganda Christian University (UCU). The study further sought to determine and compare the multifaceted factors influencing students’ intentions to initiate their own businesses within the university.
At the university, she majored in financial management, credit analysis and strategic thinking, areas that have helped her improve her assessment during loan application and manage client relations at her current job.
Upon receiving a Bachelor of Business Administration from UCU last year, Atukunda first joined the sales team at Centenary Bank. However, she did not last long here. Soon, she joined Platinum Credit financial institution as a loan officer.
A loan officer evaluates applications for loans, assesses creditworthiness of applicants, and facilitates the loan process for individuals or businesses, ensuring compliance with the existing regulations.
It is from Platinum Credit that she joined Finca-Uganda early this year. To Atukunda, field visits to assess loan applicants and evaluate their ability to pay back the loans is something she holds dearly.
“I witness many people trying to become financially independent as I assess them with my team; this was my dream and I am living it,” she noted.
She says she is able to execute her duties diligently because of the Christian values, such as servanthood and integrity, that were instilled in her while at UCU.
“The university emphasises graduating an all-round person whose values are unquestionable; it’s from these alumni that we get ambassadors for the university,” she noted.
The 26-year-old has now enrolled for a Master’s in Business Administration at UCU.
“My master’s course challenges one to think strategically and create leaders of impact that are needed for the higher echelons of power,” she said.
Born to Yohanna Rushuma and Mutetiri Loyce of Ntugamo District in the western Uganda, Atukunda is the couple’s 11th of 18 children.
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