Moses N. Kiggundu
In writing this memoir, I want to share my story and inspire others to
reflect on different aspects of their lives and the lives of others. It is a story of
an ordinary boy born and raised in a poor village in British-ruled colonial
tropical Africa who grew up to leave village and country of his birth to escape
oppression, found himself stateless, sought refuge in foreign lands, and
immigrated abroad, went back to school, worked hard, and became a
trailblazing professor and international consultant before raising family,
retiring and aging as a senior citizen. The story goes back more than three
million years to finding his and your roots, discovering Lucy, our common
ancestor. The best starting point in discovering your roots is to go as far back
as you can. The more you learn about your roots, the more you get to know
about yourself. That can be empowering. The story helps explain the choices I
made in my life, and it should help you better understand the decisions and
choices you make at different stages of your life journey. As you reflect on
your own life experiences, you understand yourself better, shape your future,
and live a more informed and richer life. It gives you agency.

MOSES N. KIGGUNDU, member of the Nkima Clan is Distinguished
Research Professor and Professor Emeritus, Management and International
Business, Sprott School of Business, cross appointed to the Institute of African
Studies (IAS), Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He was born on a
roadside and grew up in a nondescript impoverished village in the then British-
ruled Buganda Kingdom part of present-day Uganda. He left the village and run
away from his native country to escape oppression, received graduate education in
Canada and became a full university professor. He earned his PhD degree in
Management and Administrative Sciences from the University of Toronto,
Ontario. The village and the academia informed, shaped and enriched his personal
and family life, as well as his long service, professional and academic work in
Africa, the diaspora and globally. Leaving the village and country set him free to
pursue graduate professional and academic work, enabled him to trailblaze and
contribute to human progress in different parts of the world.