On Wednesday 6^th September, the Fontes Youth Centre welcomed Larry Holm, CEO of People Performance Group Uganda, one of the leading HR consulting companies in Uganda, to talk to the Core Course students about personal branding.

Larry got the conversation started by asking the students how much they buy “Irish” (potatoes) for. This animated the discussion and helped everyone to consider pricing, and what distinguishes one seller from another. The students discussed using lower prices to try and attract more customers, as most sellers compete on a price basis.

Larry worked with the students throughout the session to open their minds to new ideas, suggesting adding value to a product instead of lowering the price – explaining that by adding value to and branding a product you can charge a lot more money for it. Larry spoke a lot about developing one’s personal brand and being unique in order to attract customers. He described Personal Branding as something that differentiates you from others.

Core Course students listening to Larry Holm’s talk.

Many of the students at the Fontes Youth Centre aspire to start up their own businesses after completing the course, so Larry asked the students what sort of businesses they are planning on starting; their ideas varied from restaurants and eateries, producing boiled food, opening a beauty salon, creating an electronics company, and many more.

Larry spoke about the danger of worry and how it can drain you. He explained that you need energy to push yourself, so it is important to get rid of your worries. The students described their worries, including financial, sickness and employment issues. Larry suggested prioritising key worries, and then deciding when you would like to have dealt with this particular worry by. He spoke enthusiastically, helping the students realise that the more worries that they manage to eradicate, the more energy they will have for pushing and motivating themselves to be successful.

Thank you, Larry, for such an interesting discussion!

PYC Core Course students with Larry Holm after the talk.