Betty is a Transformational Leadership and Career Coach, and a speaker with the Maxwell Leadership Certified Team. She is also an author of a book Against All Odds where she shares her journey of overcoming odds when she was abandoned at the tender age of fourteen years and thrived until she got her desire to attain a University Education at one of Africa’s Premier Institution Makerere University in Kampala Uganda. She has since become a multi-award-winning human resource practitioner with over 18 years of experience and has worked in international corporations such as Oil and Gas as well as Management Advisory.
Her life slogan is there is greatness in everyone. She uses her skills, talents, and experiences to inspire hope and challenge people to discover their life’s purpose and maximize their potential.
Currently, she is serving as a Master Facilitator with EQUIP’s Beyond Success program which is a non-profit organisation of the Maxwell Enterprises. She also serves in the Maxwell Leadership Certified team members President’s Advisory Committee where she inducts new members and helps them as they navigate the maze of becoming a Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the MLCT.
As a Transformational Leadership and Career Coach, Betty uses her personal story of overcoming the odds of brain injury, paralysis, speech loss and impairment after she suffered a horrific motor accident in 2006. By the grace and mercy of God and her resilience, she was able to revive her career, and follow her Calling in life.
Having experienced the desire to have a quality education and see the benefit of destiny helpers and sponsors, Betty started the Betty Ogiel Foundation. Proceeds from the work of the Foundation go to helping the girl child to attain an education and thrive. To date, the Foundation has been able to help six orphans and was able to see the first girl child graduate in May 2022 becoming the first graduate in her village.
In order to fulfil her life slogan and bring out the greatness in people, Betty started the life-transforming Against All Odds Talks which are held every month. To date she has held over 40 editions, where she invites highly experienced speakers to speak on different topics that inspire hope and builds resilience among the participants.
In spite of suffering COVID-19 twice, Betty again overcame the odds against her and successfully competed and for the first time brought to the African Continent the Maxwell Leadership Certified Team Members DNA Culture Award for 2021and the Nurture Transformation award.
Betty also continues to excel in her profession as a Human Resource Expert. In 2016 and 2017, she won the Human Resource Excellence Award in employee engagement from the Human Resource Managers Association of Uganda. In September 2017, she received the Global Prosperity and Peace Initiative’s Peacemaker Award in Kampala. Betty was also named as one of Uganda’s Top 40 under 40 Most Inspirational Women by the New Vision, one of the leading newspapers in Uganda.
She is married to Julius Rubanga’s and together they have three (3) biological sons.
Hello and welcome to Axschat. I'm delighted that we are joined today by Betty Ogiel, who is a majestic speaker. I met Betty as part of the work we were doing with the international labour organisations global business disability network. Betty is an inspirational speaker. Her mission is to inspire hope and transform lives through coaching and she is an author of a book called, Against All Odds, and she has spent a long time working as an HR professional. So, she is a certified coach and speaker and trainer with the John Maxwell team. So, welcome Betty, it's great to have you with us and can you tell us a bit more about yourself?
BETTY:
Thank you, Neil. Hello everyone. Thank you for tuning in. My name, as introduced, is Betty Ogiel Rubanga, I am a majestic speaker, not by choice, but by circumstances beyond my control, where over 15 years ago, this year, in October, it would be 16 years, I got in a motor car accident which left me with a brain injury, a broken neck, paralysis from head to toe. I lost my ability to speak completely. I was declared one hundred percent disabled and I was wheelchair bound. So, yes, I am glad to be here. I am from Uganda. I was born in Uganda and I live in Uganda, gladly so. Thank you.
NEIL:
Great. And it's part of our mission on Axschat to shine a light on people working in the space of disability inclusion around the globe because all too often we see the focus on the English speaking parts of the world and on the UK and the US, in particular and from my experience through working both with the ILO and with other organisations, there is so much good work being done in Africa, in India, in Latin America, that doesn't get highlighted. So, we are delighted to have you here today. You said that you lost the ability to speak. How did you what was the path to recovery and how did that turn into you then moving into public speaking?
BETTY:
Okay, yes, thank you Neil. The path to recovery is still going on as you can hear, sometimes my words take long to speak. But one thing I purposed is that I will not be defined by my disability, by my speech impairment. I will define what my speech impairment will do to me. So, I call myself not disabled, but differently able. So, I went through speech therapy. The therapy and I had to start to learn how to do everything afresh. I learned how to talk. I learned how to eat. I learned how to write. Right now, my right hand is still paralysed but I learned to use my left hand for doing everything. My left hand is my hero. It has had me at words both at work previously when I was still employed, nationally and internationally. I had to work on my mental ability. The fact that I had a physical disability did not, I did not have to get double disability and have both mental and physical. At least I worked on my mindset and by the way, Neil, before the accident I was an athlete. I ran for my country. I ran at school all through my education. I used to be a track runner. I represented the Uganda Universities, yes, out of the country, while I was studying, at the university, I represented my schools, I represented my district. I can say my education was facilitated by my athletics, now, later on, after graduating, like four years later is when I got the motor car accident which took me to ground zero and I remember the day I got up from the wheelchair. My friend was wheeling me through the corridors of the hospital. Then I remembered my medals as an athlete. I remembered my trophies of running one hundred meters. 100m. I could complete it in a total of 0.8 seconds. 100m, and so, I stopped, I grabbed her because I could not talk. I grabbed her hand and stopped her and got up, that was my first time to leaving the wheelchair. Now, I define myself, having moved from wheelchair to high heels. Unfortunately, you cannot see my high heel. But it is a mental ability.
NEIL:
Yes, Debra.
DEBRA:
Wow, Betty, that's a powerful story. Thank you, Neil. So, now you're an entrepreneur with a disability. And you're a couch and you're an author, and you're a speaker and you're a global leader, telling people about your amazing experience but very intense, really, really hard experience, as well and it's you know and I like that you were and you said before we you went on air, that you were in the corporations, corporations and the gas and oil industry. So, you have been in the professional corporate world. But there seems to be a lot of confusion about our community and how we can really add value, Betty. So, we just listen. I'll speak more myself, stunned, as you talked your experience and when you talked that last part where you as that athlete said, I'm sorry going to get out of this wheelchair right now. No, you can't Betty. No, you can't but you did. And so, that kind of, that kind of inner power and determination and it's something that's very powerful for society and there are so many questions I want to ask you and I know Antonio has a question too. But, I just wonder, how can we start to change people's minds about what we really bring to the table as entrepreneurs, especially with a journey like yours Betty. So, I think about somebody wanting to coach me. And so many people can say, oh, I can coach you right, okay. But I'm very curious, what do you bring to the table with your life experience where you can help me navigate my life maybe a little bit more intentionally and better. But your story is so powerful that immediately I understand but you know, one thing I think we've got to do a much better job about is convincing the world, Betty that we do truly add value to these very important conversations and I was just wondering what your thoughts were on that and then I'll turn it to over to Antonio.
BETTY:
You know, thank you. Our society, many people have been affected by many things. Many people if not all people, all everybody, got through things and I have my triple extreme framework of how to come through any challenge I am faced with. I call it the Triple X framework. Number one is awareness, you need to be aware of your situation, yes? Awareness, of who you are and what you want and how you contribute to the society and what you bring to the table. It does not matter whether I am disabled or living with a disability or having a speech impairment, what matters is my mental ability to bring something to the table. So, people have to be aware of who they are and what they want out of life and what they bring to the table. Even if you are disabled physically or yes, at least let your focus not be disabled. Number 2, the second is an adjustment. Once you became aware of yourself, of your situation and this is the framework I use, even to overcome obstacles, yes? Awareness, acceptance. I accept, yes, once I became aware, I accept what I cannot change and I change what I can change, what is within my control I change. But, I go to focus on what I can't change, not focusing on what I cannot change. And what I can change that takes me to the second A. Adjustment. An adjustment is necessary. Flexibility. When I lost my speech I had to learn how to write using my left hand that was me telling my mind it is now time to adjust, life has to go on, against all odds. And, once I had adjusted, I took action. I started using my right hand and, long story short here I am today. I can I drive using my left hand. Because my right hand is disabled. But I didn't let it define me. The problem is we focus on the problem which becomes the real problem. Let's remove our focus from the problem. Not that we are diminishing the fact that the problem is there but accepting that the problem is there and we need to move forward. Thank you.
DEBRA:
Excellent points. Antonio has a question.
ANTONIO:
Betty, I would like to you a kind of perspective about life and social context of people with disabilities in Uganda. Now, in terms of employment opportunities, how employers see people and what opportunities are there and at the same time also, what type of support people can support from government or what type of support they might have from other agencies?
BETTY:
Antonio, that question I cannot speak for government. I can only speak from what I have experienced as a person living with a disability. I know, our government and my country, has beautiful policies on that subject but I can only speak from what I know and what I have experienced. Yes. I was given a chance even after my disability, yes? When I became disabled, actually in my second book, I write about how my managing director then came to hospital and said to me Betty, we will wait for you. Nobody knew what disability I would end up with. But I worked for close to 16 years with that company. So, yes. I was given a chance personally but the truth is life was not the same after the accident, after I got my disability. It affected my career growth because I had to go through the process of healing and I lost my speech and I had to regain my speech. So, yes. My dreams, my career dreams were affected. But like I said, I focused not on things I cannot control but focus on things I can control and I could control my mindset and my mindset is what has brought me even to this platform.
NEIL:
Fantastic and I guess you built new dreams now. So, the career coaching, the authoring, wouldn't have happened if your life circumstances had not changed drastically because of the car accident. So, you know, often we fall into a different path in life, never the one that we planned. I was talking just the other day about falling into accessibility. You know, it wasn't a career path that was even existing, at the point that I was learning and at school. So, I couldn't have planned to have worked in the field. Now, I've been in field for 20 plus years now. But it came about completely by accident. So, I think that that often is the case but it's delivered so many new great experiences and so many dreams that I now pursue that I'm grateful for that change in life because, it turned out to be a blessing. At the time, I didn't think so but it turned out to be you know that fork in the road that made me who I am today. So, as a career coach, as someone that teaches other people to apply your framework, if you like. What are some of the things that you know you teach to them. Aside from sort of the attitudinal stuff. What are some of the things that you advise people or maybe what are the things that people come to you for. What are the problems that they ask to you help them solve?
BETTY:
Okay. Thank you Neil. People come to me when they are stuck and experiencing career stagnation. Most people. And, they want to grow but because of circumstances they seem not to be moving forward. So, I have my career, career accelerator programme. Eight weeks. Where I take you. I equip you with the tools to get unstuck, yes? And, it begins with you. I turn the mirror to them to see the things they don't see in their lives or themselves. I take them through the journey of self-discovery. I use Maxwell disc personality assessment to show them their strength, their not strength areas. Their leadership style. Their communication style and the environment they can thrive in because we all cannot thrive in similar environments depending on our personality type. There are some environments which can kill our self-esteem. There are some environments which can elevate our self-esteem and bring out the best in us. And, I learned from my mentor, John Maxwell that everybody has a ten, a ten on them, on their head. I put a ten on everybody's? Why? Because everybody has the ability to achieve a ten out of ten and that is their potential. So, I take them through the self-discovery. They start discovering some things, they did not pay attention. Then I give them some tools to use, yes? Like, if you are stuck in a role do something new. Do something new. Grow yourself. Invest in yourself. Become a master of something and if it is time to move, move. Come up with a plan. So, those are some of the ways I help my clients to unlock their potential.
NEIL:
Thank you. I think that often when people acquire disabilities, like you did, in dramatic circumstances, they don't know what their potential is. They think that they have lost all of their potential. So, I think that you're able to be that role model to show that you can find new potential, identify new strengths, really map out a pathway to being successful. So, you also do it in your book Against All Odds. Where can people find it and buy copy?
BETTY:
The book, Against All Odds by Betty Ogiel, is in Amazon.
NEIL:
Okay. Yes, and so, you can find it on Amazon, and if you do buy it folks, make sure you leave a review, because the reviews are important for people getting sight of Betty's book. So, go on to Amazon and checkout Betty's book, Against All Odds because it's important that we spread the message and make sure that people get to hear about her work. So, also, Betty, you were invited to the ILO's conference. How did you come into contact with the international labour organisation. What is the story behind that?
BETTY:
Neil, I came into contact with the ILO because I am a leadership course as well. I do leadership trainings for companies and individuals. And I, in January 2023, I did a complimentary leadership training for Federation of Uganda Employers, top leadership. And, so I think that is where my name got to, ILO because I think there was a conversation where they were looking for speakers and someone, whom, up to now, I don't know mentioned my name in that room. So, yes, Neil, my desire is to add value to as many people as possible and I go adding value to many people both inside the organisations and outside the organisations actually, as a matter of fact before this session, before this interview for three hours, I had training for a school where my kids, my children go. I offered them a training on leadership, how to become a teacher of influence. How to become a teacher of influence and that was complimentary. I have knowledge. I will share it. Why should I hide this knowledge? So, that is how I got discovered.
NEIL:
So, we are glad I met you through this and I am glad that we are now able to share you further with our audience too. I think we all remember at least one inspirational teacher. They change how we view the world. So, thank you for being an inspirational teacher. I also need to thank our friends and supporters, Amazon and MyClearText for keeping us on air and keeping us captioned and I really look forward to you joining us for the question-and-answer session and the discussions with our community on Twitter coming up soon. So, thank you very much Betty. It's been a real pleasure.
BETTY:
Thank you. And Neil, I have a foundation and proceeds from the book go into my foundation which supports girls from vulnerable backgrounds to attain education. So, thank you everyone who will buy the book in advance. Thank you.