By Ian Ortega
It was all cheers when marketing and sales guru, Aggie Konde was appointed as the Managing Director of NTV Uganda. Konde had been the head of sales and Marketing at Crown Beverages Ltd where among other things, she grew the Pepsi brand to greater heights. Thus, to many, it was no surprise that NTV Uganda had chosen her to replace Joe Munene, a guy who had revolutionized the TV Industry in Uganda and raised the broadcasting standards.
But that was back then. Despite her very many astounding success in various positions such as territory representative with British American Tobacco (BAT) between 1997 and 2003 and Circulation and Marketing manager of Monitor publications ltd, Konde’s tenure at NTV Uganda has not been the best for a woman with such past successes.
With NTV Uganda employees threatening to lay down their tools last week, Konde hurriedly rushed and called a boardroom meeting. Now, the meeting was not about rectifying the pending sit-down strike or solve the grievances of the employees, it was to silence the dissident views of the opposing employees.
Like Margaret Thatcher, Aggie Konde took to the floor in a move that proved more than talk, that she’s going to run NTV Uganda like North Korea, and that she will not accept anything to the contrary of what she thinks out.
“Anyone who doesn’t agree with my policies and is not ready to work with me, should stand up and say so,” Konde commanded the already shivering NTV employees. She further went ahead to ask anyone who was thinking of rebelling to immediately file their resignation letters.
But one Mugisu woman aka Agnes Nanduttu was not one to cowardice. She’s the only employee that stood up on her two feet and spoke out the views that many other employees at NTV harbor. “There are bad apples in our company, our company has gone to the dogs, we are losing this, if we don’t get back to the values that made NTV, NTV,” Nanduttu said.
A clearly angered Konde then posed a question to Nanduttu asking her to identify the bad apples. Bad apples indeed, they are to be identified. When NTV scrapped HOTSTEPS promising to bring to viewers a better show, many were on tenterhooks waiting for the surprises from Konde. That surprise was none other than Talent XP, one of those TV concepts that flopped to the dot in the history of Uganda. Agnes Konde had not consulted anyone when she came up with this concept. It was a brain child of her close friend and her. However, when it came to time of taking the blame, it was shifted to the employees.
The same story holds for BE MY DATE, another flop that NTV is yet to come to heart and accept.
With NBS and Bukedde TV currently winning NTV when it comes to viewership, Aggie Konde may have to rethink her management style. It’s this style that all employees have found a bone to pick with. Aloof, out of touch with the people she leads is what could describe Aggie Konde, the woman who takes home a salary of 45 million every month.
Whereas in other companies it’s an open door policy, Konde does not have time to hear of such nonsense. Any staff member who wishes to meet her is required to send in a request for an appointment through her personal assistant.
One can bet that Aggie Konde even knows the names of the people she heads. Guvnor is her second home after NTV, it’s here that she takes out time to party every Saturday without fail. She has all the time to party, but not time to interact with the people she leads. It should be noted, that she’s only held two meetings during her tenure.
As it looks, employees have lost their fire and passion, and are simply working for a salary as they await for any quick opportunities that may arise so that they let go of the sinking ship. Sinking ship it is. One of the adverts that runs on NTV is actually one where money goes direct to Konde’s pockets plus other negotiations for favours. NTV runs an advert of an International School which was a deal she brokered in exchange for her children to study at this school for free.
But why could she be doing this? Perhaps her history is haunting her. At Pepsi where she worked, she left behind millions of debts, when time came for her to get a job as the MD at NTV, her former employers signed a memorandum of understanding with her that required her to pay up all the debts over time, in exchange of a good recommendation. It’s these debts that she’s paying with all the money that passes hands at NTV.
In an internal memo sent to all staff last week, Aggie Konde noted that all upcoming musicians would be required to pay a certain fee if they were to appear on all shows on NTV. And their appearance would only be approved by the MD herself.
The Nation Media Group is thus running up and down, confused on and about how to save the situation. How come the guy behind Bukedde TV who earns a paltry 4 million per month is giving Konde a run for her money? What is it about Konde that’s bringing NTV to its lowest when it comes to viewership?
NTV Uganda is fast turning into a company of friends and family, it’s no longer about who can do what best, it’s about who knows Konde well. The innovation and invention spirit at the station has long died off. It’s now a copy and paste as NTV looks at what competitors are doing and tries to replicate the same.
Whether NTV survives this storm or not, is a question too big to answer. But one thing is certain, if nothing is done about the situation, we shall continue to see more exits at NTV as Agnes Nanduttu continues to clash with Konde in such decisive meetings.
The death of NTV could as well have begun, the eulogy could be this article.