How Anisha Muhoozi grew KCCA FC into a UGX 6 Billion Outfit

On a regular matchday, floodlights blaze across MTN Omondi Stadium as the roar of the crowd pierces through the Lugogo-based stadium. 

It is a scene Anisha Shahir Muhoozi has been accustomed to ever since took over the KCCA Football Club.

At the helm of KCCA, she is not just running a team; she is transforming a club once mired in financial uncertainty into a thriving, multi-billion-shilling machine.

Muhoozi’s journey into Ugandan football was a long shot, a detour from the world of banking. 

For a decade, she had built a career in the world of finance, as a banker with Orient Bank (now I&M Bank).

But the rigid routine began to scour. “I get easily bored,” she confesses with a hint of mischief in her voice. 

“I love to explore. I like to challenge the status quo and think ‘isn’t there another way it can be done and why is it this?” she says. 

Thus, bait of the unknown proved irresistible when the opportunity to join KCCA FC arose. 

“I didn’t know much about the game,” she admits, “and never thought to myself that I could go there. I was driven by the fact that you are entering an industry you aren’t aware of, you’ve been in banking and now you are entering sports which is largely dominated by males.”

Stepping into the role of manager administration initially, she brought with her the precision and discipline of banking that emphasizes “controls and what happens in controlled environments”. 

However, fate, it seemed, had other plans. Within eight months into the job, she was appointed CEO, a daring leap into the deep end. 

“I was very intimidated,” she recalls, “sports is very media-oriented, so many media people wanted to get interviews from me but I refused because I felt I needed to first understand what exactly I was doing.”

For a year, she engrossed herself in the complexities of the football industry, refusing to be moved by the pressure to perform for the cameras. 

“I knew I had been a manager before, leading people but this was an industry I was just learning about,” she says.

The transition was a stark contrast to the structured world she had left behind that was highly controlled and where certain things were basics. 

“I was coming to an industry that is exactly the opposite. I remember questioning myself if I had made the right choice, but I love challenges. I didn’t see myself quitting, I just knew I had to make it work by navigating through the challenges which were very many,” she says

However, with a blend of pragmatism and vision, she has seen work being done and, through the years, she has learnt a lot of things and built a team that she is not afraid to push, sometimes to the extremes.

“I am also very demanding, very task-oriented. I want things to be done immediately. I am a perfectionist too because I want to see things in a certain manner and many times you get misunderstood,” she says. 

This, together with other change had initially brewed resistance, especially in regard to the changes that “required people to get out of their comfort zone that people were not happy about”.

“I also think I did not manage the change well and that’s probably one of the things I have learnt over the years. I brought in a lot of change at a go, I didn’t build it. So, I realised that I should have brought in the change bit by bit,” she says.

The results, however, speak for themselves and the club has now built a framework through which things are documented in terms of processes and systems. 

“When I joined the business wasn’t quite profitable or had broken even. The club used to put in a lot to organise games and didn’t gain out. So, I knew something had to change, the bare minimum we should do was breakeven,” she says. 

From generating just UGX 2 billion, the club now generates about UGX 6 billion, which has been a major transformation.

Beyond the balance sheet, Muhoozi has built the KCCA FC brand and structured night football, which has been a game-changer. 

“The thing that I am proud of is night football. It has been a game changer in the industry and it’s something that gave me sleepless nights. Seeing that fans weren’t able to come to the pitch at 4pm, we needed to create something to bridge that gap.” she says. 

Now that the club is attracting a large matchday turnout, Muhoozi has made the development of the club’s home stadium a priority, with the construction of the entire stadium expected to cost at least UGX 55 billion. 

We don’t have that money at a go. We shall do it in phases. Our aim is a 10,000-capacity set up, which could allow us to host CAF-approved matches. 

For Muhoozi, the journey is as much about passion as it is about business. 

“I have been able to survive in this industry because I am passionate, I love it and I have sought knowledge. I have done a lot of self-studies, to try to understand and because of that drive I have been able to look forward every day to carving another stone into the industry,” she says.