On September 13th, just after her final exams, Mariam Kawala started her first job as an Area Manager/ Retail assistant manager of Petro City Uganda.
This was just the beginning of an exciting future with great prospects. Her work involves monitoring price changes, sales, reconciliation at the over 60 stations of Petro City.

A month later, Mariam is graduating with a 4.75 GPA this October. This however does not come as a surprise to a young woman who devoted most of her time at university to learning.
“I take my academic work seriously and always long to get the best out of it, she said.
She knew from the day she left high school that she was going to pursue a degree in Business Administration. She has always loved numbers and therefore majoring in Accounts was the best thing she could do.
Mariam first came to UCU as a Diploma student. “ I did not do well at a ‘level and someone advised me to start with a Diploma, “ she says.
She however emerged as one of the best with GPA 4.58. This gave her the motivation to do even better with her degree.
One of the challenges she faced while working toward her goal to be the best was the poor attitude of classmates that never took it well whenever she excelled.
“I needed them to join me   
rather than compete but that
never happened,” she said.
She however overcame the
challenge and read hard and also study ahead of the lecturers.
In the next five years, Mariam hopes to be the best accountant, pursue ACCA and CIMA in line with developing her career.
To the students, she advises, ‘know your best time to concentrate, don’t read because someone else is reading and get enough rest’
She attributes her success to her mother, who she says has motivated her to work hard, and to all her friends and lecturers.