Age: 60 years Source of Wealth: Entertainment and gaming, telecommunications, logistics and transport, finance and technology. Estimated Wealth: USD50 million (UGX180 bn) Bob Kabonero, born in January 1965 in Ntungamo District, Uganda, stands as a towering figure in Uganda’s entrepreneurial landscape. With a career spanning over 30 years, he has played a pivotal role in shaping the country’s entertainment, telecommunications, and oil industries. As he celebrates his 60th birthday this month, Kabonero’s legacy is a testament to the transformative power of visionary leadership and strategic investment. Born into a prominent family, Kabonero is the youngest of three siblings. His family…
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In October 2022, CEO East Africa broke the story of how one of Africa’s wealthiest families, the Oppenheimers, had acquired a majority 75% stake in Uganda’s third largest soft drinks manufacturer, Harris International, through their investment vehicle Oppenheimer Partners. Harris International was founded in 2005 and is one of Uganda’s leading food and beverage companies. It is a proudly Ugandan company popularly known by its flagship brand, RIHAM. Since its inception in 2005, the company has evolved and expanded its portfolio to more than 50 healthy, refreshing and enjoyable products such as Carbonated Soft Drinks, Natural Mineral Water, Fruit Juices,…
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Forbes Africa released its annual list of Africa’s billionaires with its 2024 class of 20 billionaires now worth $82.4bn. Collectively, these billionaires would be the 18th richest person in the world sandwiched between Indian Gautam Adani ($84bn) and Walmart heir Jim Walton ($78.4bn). For yet another year, Forbes does not feature any Ugandan. But Uganda isn’t the only country that is not represented here. The 20 billionaires come from just 7 countries. Forbes recognises that Africa is one of the “toughest places to build and hold onto a billion-dollar fortune” due to various factors like scepticism from global investors, strained…
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Name: Amos Nzeyi Source of Wealth: Carbonated Soft Drinks and Water, Hospitality & Tourism, Confectionaries & Real Estate Age: 75 years Estimated Worth: US$ 57 million (UGX200 billion) Amos is a Ugandan businessman, entrepreneur, and industrialist who started business at quite an early age. He has been in business for more than 50 years. Amos was born in 1947 in Kabale in what was then known as the Kigezi region. His father used to work at the White Horse Inn, the oldest and still one of the best hotels in Kabale, which the businessman has since acquired. He started selling…
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If your favourite beer is Nile Special or Club Pilsner or even Bell Lager, that sleek label on the bottle that you often like to tinker with is made by Graphic Systems Uganda Limited. Even if you are teetotaler who does not indulge in alcohol but at least takes bottled water that sticker on that Rwenzori mineral water bottle that you often flaunt is designed and made by Graphic Systems Uganda. Therefore it would not be inaccurate to describe Graphic Systems as the behemoth of designing, branding and printing in Uganda and probably at the regional level. It employs over…
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Let’s start from where it all started. Tell us about your childhood, growing up and early working days. My father’s dad Mr. Penn Blick was a British settler in Gomba, Central Uganda in the present day Gomba District. He had a coffee farm there. My mother’s dad, Captain Arthur Johnson had settled in Masaka District, where he married a Muganda lady. Therefore both my father, Mr. George William Blick and mother, Molly Johnson Blick were half Ugandan and half British. I was born in Fort Portal where my father was a district engineer for the Ministry of Works. My mother…
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When he came to Uganda, back in 2000, Sanjay Awasthi chose the latter- and he does it with zero importation of physical steel, unlike most of his peers and competitors. That is why he proudly identifies his company as a 100% indigenous steel maker and 100% Buy Uganda, Build Uganda (BUBU). In this interview with CEO East Africa’s Muhereza Kyamutetera, he narrates the 23-year story of Tembo Steels and the making of what in his words, is “Africa’s most diversified and integrated steel company”. For starters, tell us about yourself and your background. Why did you choose Uganda of all…
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SOURCE OF WEALTH: Manufacturing (plastics & packaging) and real estate. ESTIMATED WEALTH: UGX120+ billion Except for being a member of Kwagalana Group, an association of self-made billionaires in Kampala, Hajj Badru Muwanga is largely a media-shy and quiet businessman. But behind the ‘firewall’ is a thriving businessman and entrepreneur- who among others, owns the sprawling Ntinda Shopping Complex and his flagship Luuka Plastics Limited. Luuka Plastics Limited is one of Uganda’s largest manufacturers of packaging materials and plastics both for domestic, agricultural, industrial and several other uses. Chances are that if you live anywhere in East Africa, you have used…
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The Republic of Namibia has appointed Ugandan billionaire businessman, Godfrey Kalule Kirumira as its Honorary Consul to Uganda. A Consul in foreign service and foreign relations is a person who is commissioned by a state to represent and or service the commercial interests of the appointing country in the country that the appointee resides. The Consul also offer consular services and any other such routine functions as issuing visas and or renewing passports. Mr. Kirumira, who travelled to the Southern Africa country, received his appointment credentials from Mrs Mario Munwela, the Chief Foreign Relations Officer at Namibia’s Ministry of International…
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Crown Beverages Limited, the franchisee bottler for PepsiCo International has no doubt, matured both as a large player in the Ugandan non-alcoholic drinks category as well as in the broader corporate Uganda category. If the numbers are anything to go by, the company has nearly if not completely claimed back much of the territory it, in the yesteryears, lost to Century Bottling Limited (recently rebranded into Coca-Cola Beverages Uganda Limited (CCBU)). According to figures exclusively available to CEO East Africa Magazine, CBL which bottles, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Mirinda, Sting, Evervess Tonic and Nivana water, in 2021, turned over UGX513.6 billion,…
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