By Silvia Nyambura
NSSF Board Chairman Ivan Wambuzi Kyayonka has passed on. While the details surrounding his death are still unclear, he was allegedly undergoing treatment in Nairobi. Kyayonka made his mark in Uganda’s corporate world over the years as a focused and respected business leader and role model.
Since he left university in the Netherlands in 1982, he dedicated his life to the Shell Brand serving in different capacities for 31 years. He was part of the company’s transition to Vivo Energy. He is one of those people who started at the bottom of the ranks and rose to become Country Manager.
Kyayonka retired at the end of 2013 after briefly heading Vivo Energy, the new name taken on by Shell Uganda. His career growth at Shell has been remarkable having grown through the ranks. It gave him vast influence in the fuel business as he was widely respected by industry stakeholders.
During his farewell dinner held at the Kampala Serena Hotel in December of the same year, Kyayonka revealed he had enjoyed working with the company and retirement came just in time for a well-deserved rest.
In his 3-year term as NSSF Board Chairman that was due to expire at the end of this month, , Kyayonka saw the Fund’s Total Assets grow by 61 percent from Ushs 1.6 trillion in June of 2012 to Ushs 4.5 trillion in June 2014. In the same period, contributions grew by 34 percent from Ushs 162.8 billion to Ushs 635.7 billion while interest rates grew from 10% to 11.5% . Benefits paid out to members also grew by 64% from Ushs 64.5 million to Ushs 165.9 billion.
As a hobby Kyayonka played cricket for many years as well as professionally for Uganda’s national team. He later became the Chairman of Uganda Cricket Association and until the time of his death was a trustee and advisor of the association.
In an Interview with The Daily Monitor in 2012, Kyayonka revealed his strength lay in selecting the right people for particular tasks, then training, empowering and motivating them.
“I then show them the vision and the direction to take and then let them do it. So, all this is about building a shared vision for a group of people. And if you sum it all, you could say my strength is being able to work through people,
