By Patrick Kagenda
Most Finance people are known to be reclusive and introverts but not for David Njoroge the former General Manager at Hima Cement, who has since joined IPS Kenya Ltd as General Manager, Project.
Before joining Hima a part of Lafarge the giant French construction materials group Njoroge worked as an auditor at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Chief Finance Officer at Bamburi Cement (also part of Lafarge) his immediate last posting before joining Hima in 2006. When he was not minding cement a job he did so well, David Njoroge’s other passion was or at least seemed to be Rugby a sport his company supported so well.
Infact you can’t talk about the growth of rugby in Uganda in isolation of Hima Cement and Nile Special the other avid supporter of the game. David Njoroge joined Hima Cement early 2006 and took over from Mbuvi Ngunze a young man, whose job was to manage a smooth integration of Hima Cement into the Lafarge Group, a job he did so well. Njoroge picked up from where Mbuvi had left and by the look of things, he too has done a great job.
Whereas Hima Cement’s financials are not publicly available, the last financial results that we managed to lay our hands on the 2011 full year results, the cement company was undoubtedly the largest and most profitable in the country having netted Ushs 56.6 billion on gross sales of Ushs 507.3 bn. On the other hand, Tororo Cement, Hima’s closest challenger netted Ushs 54.3 on gross sales of Ushs 453.1 billion in the same period.
During his time, he was also a passionate defender of the local cement industry and took every opportunity to remind government and whoever cared to listen, about the need to protect the local industry. Addressing one of the many joint press conferences organized by the East African regional cement manufacturers, Njoroge, took time to remind the Ugandan government of the inherent challenges that investors in Uganda face.
“Electricity prices in Uganda are four times that in China, putting local producers at an immediate disadvantage. On top of this, reports have surfaced that the government is licensing two more cement companies to set up in Uganda, which would put additional pressure on existing producers,
