Frederick Kakooza, finance chief at Quality Chemical Industries Limited (Qcil), has been named Uganda's CFO of the Year for 2026, according to SoftPower News. He collected the overall prize at the 10th edition of the CFO Awards, held at the Kampala Serena Hotel on 16 October 2026.
The ceremony was organised by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Uganda together with Deloitte. Kakooza also took the Leadership Award on the night, SoftPower News reports.
Josephine Njoroge of Uganda Breweries Limited finished as first runner-up in the overall category and separately won the Strategy Execution Award.
Why it matters
The awards recognise finance leaders for their contribution to business strategy, governance and organisational performance, not simply for bookkeeping. This year's edition marked a decade of the programme, and organisers said it drew a notably larger share of first-time entrants than before.
Charlotte Kukunda, ACCA Uganda's Country Managing Partner, said 21 of the 37 CFOs considered for the 2026 awards were taking part for the first time. She linked that figure to the scheme's growth over ten years and to ongoing efforts to shape the future of the finance profession, according to SoftPower News.
The full list of winners
Nine categories covered finance professionals from the private sector, public institutions and non-profit organisations.
Drollah Ssebagala of the Joint Clinical Research Centre won the Not-for-Profit Award, and Phiona Aisu of Oryx Energies Uganda took the SME Award. Ronald Makata of Stanbic Bank Uganda received the Sustainability Award, while Susan Taffumba Isubikalu of Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited won the Public Sector Award.
Eunice Muheirwe of Nile Breweries Limited was named winner of the Compliance and Governance Award, and Caroline Akello of Aclaim Africa took the Young CFO Award. The Finance Transformation Award was shared between Simon Mugisha of Movit Products and Karen Atamba of Biyinzika Poultry International.
A changing job description
Speakers at the gala repeatedly pushed back on the idea that a finance chief's main function is to block spending.
Josephine Okuyi Ossiya, chief executive officer of the Capital Markets Authority, said the role had outgrown that traditional image. SoftPower News quotes her describing the CFO as a leader who helps an organisation make strategic decisions and then stands behind them, rather than the person who simply refuses requests. She cast finance leaders as guardians of organisational integrity whose choices help set a company's direction, and urged senior professionals to create openings for younger talent to help shape the profession.
Yusta Kasenge, a partner at Deloitte East Africa and CFO Programme Leader for Tanzania, asked attendees to look back at where they stood a decade ago and to weigh the chances they had taken, the hard calls they had made and the uncertain periods that formed their careers. She said the job is shifting away from explaining past results towards helping organisations prepare for what is coming, and that the awards weigh leadership and direction-setting as well as financial outcomes.
Chief guest Sanjay Tanna, Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, congratulated ACCA Uganda and Deloitte on reaching the ten-year mark. He said finance leaders must reconcile growth with sustainability in an economy that has changed substantially, and asked them to consider both Uganda's progress of the past three to four decades and where the country's businesses should stand ten years from now. According to SoftPower News, he warned that gains can be lost if the coming decade is handled poorly, and argued that finance professionals carry a duty to protect what has been achieved while backing further growth. He pointed to technology, tourism and finance as areas of progress and said integrity would remain central to business.
Advice from the outgoing holder
Peter Ssenyange, chief financial officer of Pearl Bank Uganda Limited and the 2025 winner, offered lessons from his own tenure. He stressed execution and teamwork, telling the audience that professionalism in the field comes down to the ability to get things done, SoftPower News reports.
He described the prize as recognition of a team's work rather than one person's, saying it confirmed to his colleagues that the path they had chosen was the right one. He also acknowledged the isolation that comes with the position, calling it a lonely job, and recalled that some of the most valuable guidance he received came from talking with fellow candidates in the lobby before facing the judges.
The next edition of the awards will show whether the jump in first-time participants holds, and whether the emphasis speakers placed on succession and mentoring translates into a younger field of nominees.
