Leonard K. Mutesasira, who founded the company, had a financial emergency and needed a loan very quickly. This was in 2001. Armed with a brochure that advertised the cash secured loan and confident that he had a Fixed Deposit/Certificate of Deposit he confidently matched into the bank. After all it was one of the big banks in Kampala Uganda with a global footprint. What followed was a most shocking revelation.
The good news was that the fixed deposit, which was five times the size of the loan he sought, was good collateral, he was told. The bad news was “It would take at least two weeks to process this cash secured loan”, the relationship manager broke the bad news and he was shocked beyond belief!
Why couldn't he get an instant loan secured with a cash fixed deposit? Where was the risk? Why two weeks when he was practically borrowing his own money? How many people faced this dilemma? It was time to take action.
These are the things he had learnt in graduate business that propelled people into entrepreneurship. Fortunately, he had extensive work and consulting experience in financial service product development in Africa, Asia and the USA.
It was increasingly clear thousands of people with small and medium enterprises were facing even more serious obstacles and missing important opportunities. Many were happy to pay a premium for fast and flexible services delivered door to door with integrity and simplicity of processes.
To focus on the new venture he “stepped out of the corporate zoo into the entrepreneurial jungle” as he often says. With the blessing of his employer, he grudgingly left the safety of his job at MicroSave where he was head of research and training. MicroSave is now a global brand known for its cutting edge work in driving market responsive financial services including Fintech.
He put together a diverse team of part time professionals from IT, banking, accounting, and trade to create a specialized company offering services with integrity that are fast, flexible, convenient, confidential, reliable and simple.
Some months down the road he rented a tiny guard room by the gate for an office. He secured it from some of the finest people running an engineering consulting firm. He got a carpenter to re-size the small desk enough to accommodate a laptop and a few files for it could not fit into the new office which stood at only 1.5x1.5 meters in area.
The current Managing Director/CEO, Grace N. Sasira, was one of the first three full time staff. Starting as an office messenger, her integrity, hard work, speed and unquenchable thirst for learning has seen her serve in various departments and capacities over the years. Yunia N. Ssengooba - Chief Technical Advisor and Sarah Ndagire Mwera - Chief Operating Officer have been with us from the early years.
Currently Rapid Advisory has a multidisciplinary service team covering a wide range of professions and experiences including accounting, commercial law, banking, microfinance, procurement, software engineering, quantity surveying, contract management, product development, economics, communications and civil engineering.
Rapid Advisory has a board and an advisory team of independent experienced professionals that include corporate banking, financial analysis, and strategic marketing with global brands in all but one continent.
Every organization has its philosophy and values that sustain it through good and bad times. The following are Rapids core values and philosophy.
Servant LeadershipThe leader serves the lead. It is the bottom up approach to leadership. “If you want to be great you must be a servant.” The managers are supposed to serve their subordinates.
Customer is kingThe customer is the reason we exist. They do us a favor whenever they come seeking for financial services. They give us job security and hence we have to treat them with care.
IntegrityWe value truthfulness and honesty in our transactions with our customers and fellow staff and fellow citizens.
InnovativenessThis means being as creative as possible while profitably delivering our promise to customers beyond their wildest expectations and remain competitive in the ever changing financial landscape.
ProfessionalismThis covers the areas of how we speak, dress and generally conduct ourselves.
ProductivityBeing hard working and working towards achieving our highest God given potential as expressed in our individual level of productivity.
Going the extra mileGoing above and beyond the call of duty.
HumilityTreating all people regardless of appearances and status as valuable and important and capable of adding value to our mission.
Rapid delivers services with the aim of maximizing customer satisfaction. The aim is to translate this into high levels of repeat business and referrals. To achieve this we consistently focus on the following in each of our products.
SpeedWe aim at being the fastest company in serving customers whether it’s the credit, project finance management or asset management product.
FlexibilityWe understand that clients have peculiar circumstances hence the need for flexibility. We therefore tailor services based on an in-depth understanding of the client’s needs.
ConvenienceWe deliver door-to-door services because we want to save our customers time and money. As is often said, “Time is money – we save them both”.
ConfidentialityWe offer private personalized services. We keep our client’s financial dealings private and confidential.
ReliabilityWe make every effort to work with our third party service providers including financiers to offer seamless services. Guaranteeing reliability results in customer loyalty.
SimplicityWe believe in simplicity while dealing with our customers. This is expressed through simple products, simple paper work, simple processes and simple agreements that can be easily understood.
