Sembule Proprietor Passes on

Christopher Sembuya, 89, one of the owners of the defunct Sembule Steel Mills, has died.

Sembuya, together with his brother Henry Buwule (RIP) started Sembule, the first indigenously owned industry in Uganda, in 1972.

Located in Nalukolongo, on the outskirts of Kampala, Sembule manufactured electronics including radios, TVs, bulbs, calculators, among other products

In 2013, Sembuya appealed to the Government of Uganda to save the then debt-ridden Sembule that was worth UGX50 billion at the time, with extensions into Banking with Sembule Investment Bank, established in 1984.

Sembule Group tried its hands on Insurance and agricultural production, with Sembuya revealing that they had ventured in Cocoa growing, with a farm at Nkokonjeru, Mukono district.

At the time of making the appeal, Sembuya said the company needed UG10 billion to pay off debtors.

Worse still, the following year, 2014, a South African company that had supplied them materials worth UGX5 billion, took over the struggling industry.

At the time, the industry was employing more than 200 hundred workers.

In 2019, Sembuya again appealed to government to help him recover the factory he lost a few years ago