Q&A: 37-year-old Mike Mukula Jr on breaking out of the Mukula pod and being a businessman in his own right  Mike George Mukula is a thirty-seven-year-old businessman. Yes, he is also a son to the famous Captain Mike Mukula— a pilot, politician, government official and businessman. His mother, Gladys Mukula, the yin to the Captain’s yang, is a firm, confident, matriarch of the Mukula household and a businesswoman in her own right. Mike Mukula Jr is in more ways than one, a son of his father – a snappy dresser, suave, a people person, and about as cosmopolitan as you can get. It is therefore not surprising that he has decided to into business on his own. CEO East Africa’s Dennis Asiimwe, sat down with the ambitious entrepreneur to hear his story.

 

Before we talk about you and what your entrepreneurial journey is about, I have to ask: have you been employed before?

Yes, I have. I started young. My first job was at Spear Motors, where I worked during my S2 holiday as a mechanic. My next job was as a Sales Associate at MTN, where I learnt a lot – team work, client service, organizational structure, things of that nature. I also worked with B-Plus, and while I was studying in the U.S, I worked as a cashier and an administrator with a firm called Dollar Tree. That was my last job. After that I took up a sort of apprenticeship with my father, where I learnt a lot about things like how to set up a company, how to handle employees, whom to hire etc. All that time, even with those jobs, I wanted to be able to manage my own time, do my own thing. And my parents kept urging me to join the private sector too. If you invest time in your company, it can sustain you through life and old age. It is something you can pass on to our children – you cannot pass on a job, of course.

We do understand that you do run three companies; tell us about these businesses and how you got off the ground to where you are right now and what inspired you.

I was inspired by my parents, of course. Watching how they set up and run their businesses, of course…and my university education.

Studying at Pierce College in California, the first thing I noticed about the U.S is that is a nation built around selling – everyone is always selling something, or positioning something so that you can be interested and then buy what they are selling. It’s like they all picked up the business acumen of Philip Morris, the British founder of Marlboro, whose business, which sold tobacco and rolled cigarettes and evolved into a global empire, was built around the basic idea of location and need.

Regarding the businesses I am into, I am into credit finance, through a firm called MURICH Finance. I started that on 4^th December, 2015. Our loan portfolio has grown from UGX 20,000,000 to UGX 500,000,000. I also have an insurance brokerage company – that one is called MURICH Insurance. We are licensed in the areas of General Insurance and Life Insurance. When we started out, our initial focus was infrastructure projects but we have expanded our portfolio to include NGOS, government parastatals, individuals, corporate firms and companies in the education, security and agriculture sectors. Our license allows us to liaise with multiple insurance firms, and our brokerage services include handling claims for our clients as well as client services. We do this at no cost to the client themselves but are paid a commission by the insurance firms at a rate set by the insurance regulator. And finally, I also dabble in procurement for non-governmental organizations, through a firm called Koncept Management. In this, Koncept Management’s portfolio includes IT equipment, training, transportation, and branding, with an annual turnover of about UGX 500,000,000. Some of our more prominent clientele include The AIDS Support Organization and Population Services International.

I am also a director on a number of boards…FAW Construction, a Civil Engineering Firm, and Arrow Security, which deals in Domestic and Urban Security.

How many people do you employ? In total?

The number is lower than you might expect for three companies…about 15. But we also outsource a lot of the work since it involves a lot of specialized consultancies.

How are do you handle workplace balance, because looks like you have quite a lot of stuff on your hands? 

It can get…interesting. I got married early this year. My wife is Christa Inez Irakoza, an International Business graduate, and I have a son, and another child on the way. My family is a welcome diversion from work, of course – keeps me sane and grounded.

I also play basketball to keep fit – it’s a great cardio workout. I played basketball in high school with Kaboja Secondary School – we won the National Championship and represented Uganda at the Junior East African Games in 2002 in Nairobi. I played at university when I was at Pierce College and I played as a semiprofessional with City Oilers, rising through Division III to Division I – they went on to dominate the league of course. So with that background, it is easy to turn to basketball as a way to stay fit.

I am also an active rally driver. I participate in Motor Rally Championship – I drive along with MRT (Mukula Rally Team). I the first event of 2022 in Iganga, we won the Cadet Category, while at the next event in Kaliziso, we were third overall.

Do you tap into your dad’s networks for business? Has it been helpful to be a Mukula?

My dad is both a well-known and a pretty versatile businessman. Some of his businesses include, Mahathi Infra a fuel transportation company that focuses on marine transportation and is seeking to offer an alternative transportation channel for fuel, to help reduce its cost; Uganda Aviation School that offers training in aviation, hospitality, and engineering; Mahathi Distribution and Sales, whose primary focus is the production of syringes – it is the first syringe producing factory in Uganda, with clients like the Ministry of Health, National Medical Stores and National Drug Authority.

Apart from being inspired by his diversification and multi-tasking, I also tap into all his networks that I have access to. Besides, my own network of friends and peers are starting to get into the right places and decision-making positions, so with the right tools and solutions to their problems, I am able to tap into these as well. 

What is your management style?  

I try hard to work with professionals – people better than me. And I exploit my networks. I have something of a mantra that goes– “it’s not about the resources you have; it’s about how resourceful you are.”

Finally, and I just had to ask, have you ever thought about going into politics? Do you see yourself going down that route in the future?

No. It’s just not my thing. The funniest thing is my friends and family say I would make a good politician. But nada, I just don’t feel like that is a direction I will be taking.