If your favourite beer is Nile Special or Club Pilsner or even Bell Lager, that sleek label on the bottle that you often like to tinker with is made by Graphic Systems Uganda Limited.
Even if you are teetotaler who does not indulge in alcohol but at least takes bottled water that sticker on that Rwenzori mineral water bottle that you often flaunt is designed and made by Graphic Systems Uganda.
Therefore it would not be inaccurate to describe Graphic Systems as the behemoth of designing, branding and printing in Uganda and probably at the regional level.
It employs over 200 permanent employees and 150 part-time employees and has operations Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Angola.
Graphic Systems Uganda was founded in 1997 by a visionary businessman Safir Hajee who passed away in 2016. Safir Hajee’s journey into the printing business started in DR Congo in 1985 where he set up the first modern industrial printing press. Later he shifted the main base of operations to Uganda.
The 27 year old firm is now managed by one of his sons, the reclusive Khalil Hajee, a graduate of Queen’s University in Canada. He is assisted by his brother Irfan Hajee, who is a director.
Graphic Systems Limited is the 16th largest taxpayer in Uganda, according to statistics from Uganda Revenue Authority and has annual turnover of tens of billions of shillings.
It has grown from a single office location on Nkurumah Road in the 1990s to an expansive mega office on Buvuma Road, Luzira.
Inside Uganda’s Property Market: Broll Uganda’s Moses Lutalo on Sector Realities and the Signals Investors Can’t IgnoreWhen former minister of Trade, Amelia Kyambadde visited the firm’s premises in Luzira in 2020, she could not believe the scale of investment.
“I commend the leadership of Graphic solutions on the huge investment in Uganda in the packaging subsector; and for ensuring green manufacturing and environmental-friendly practices, as exemplified by the usage of your waste as raw materials by other industries to produce egg-trays and cardboards,” she said.
Graphic Systems utilizes state of the art offset & gravure technology and latest printing technology to stay ahead of the competition. They do a wide range of printing and branding services such as: Indoor Advertising, Glass Décor, Floor graphics, Office Branding, Pull ups, Mouse pads, Slim Light box, Outdoor Signage, Billboards, Banners, Reflective Banners and Signage.
In many ways, its rapid growth has been fueled by its ability to anticipate the problems of the future and design solutions for them.
Graphic Systems’ retinue of clients reads like the list of ‘who is who’ of the biggest firms in Uganda.
Some of the firms major clients are: Nile Breweries Ltd, Uganda Breweries Ltd, Nice House of Plastics, Leaf Tobacco. Rwenzori Bottling Company, Abacus Parental Drugs Ltd, Britania Allied Industries, Movit Products Ltd, Uganda Telecom, MTN Uganda, Kampala Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Bidco, Airtel Uganda, Image Crusade, Moringa Ogilvy, SCD Uganda, Unilever Uganda, Century Bottling Company, Rene Industries, Sadolin paints, Bank of Baroda, Jubilee Insurance Company, DFCU Bank, Crown Beverages, government agencies and UN agencies.
Their vision is to become the leading provider of printing services in East and Central Africa. One can say their half way there.
