Hi, I’m Dr. Leonard—Registered Civil Engineer, Entrepreneur, and Farmer—born and raised in Uganda. I help ambitious professionals excel at work and build systems-led side businesses on the path to financial freedom.

I grew up in a working-class family where my parents farmed and traded. Together with my siblings, I went to a nearby day school—not because boarding was impossible, but because Dad wanted us close. He believed in raising children through real work: tending cows, digging on weekends, and learning responsibility in the rhythm of home.

By the time I was ten, Dad handed me my first “job”: keeping the milk ledger. Every morning and evening, neighbors—the Abagyemuza—came for a liter or two of milk. I carefully recorded each sale in a small notebook. The cash I collected paid for household essentials—soap, salt, sugar, kerosene—while the rest of the milk went to the dairy cooperative, which paid Dad every two weeks. That little milk ledger became my first classroom in financial discipline. I learned that money needs a record and a purpose. The temptation to “borrow” a hundred shillings for pancakes was always there, but I never did. That notebook trained not just my hand—but my heart.

My earliest side hustle came soon after. Occasionally, I’d buy sugarcanes from one of my grandmothers, balance them on my head, and walk 4 kilometers to school. There, I sold them to learners at break time and reinvested the profits in chicks, rabbits, and goats. It was simple, small, and gritty—but it planted in me a love for enterprise that still lives on today.

From the 1990s to the 2020s—32 straight years in school (true story)—I picked up along the way a PhD in Planning from the University of Toronto (Canada), an MSc in Transport Planning & Engineering from Newcastle University (UK), an MBA from Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University (UK), a PGD in Project Planning & Management from Uganda Management Institute (UMI), and a BEng in Civil & Building Engineering from Kyambogo University (Uganda) – all First Class/Distinction, by the grace of God.

Over the last 15+ years, I’ve grown a demanding professional career and started multiple side businesses in agriculture, education, finance, and construction. Some wins, some bruises—plenty of lessons. The big one: you don’t have to choose between being a great employee and being an entrepreneur. With clear goals, the right habits, discipline, and simple productivity systems, you can do both—and move steadily towards financial freedom.

I write for professionals who want a realistic path: use your job as a launchpad, build a side business with systems (not chaos), measure what matters, and let results compound. In fast-growing (and sometimes unstable) African markets, I’m not a fan of “quit your job tomorrow.” Start where you are. Build while you earn. When you hit your freedom number, choose how much time goes to career vs. business.

On my blog, I’m not a guru; I’m a fellow traveler sharing what I’m learning—documenting a journey that might resonate with yours. Expect practical stories and essays, behind-the-scenes experiments, frameworks, templates, and simple playbooks to help you grow your career, start and scale your side business, and convert income into assets—without burning out.

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Believe. Build. Be Bold.