Hamis Kiggundu is a man on a mission, the self-made businessman is building what he has touted as one of the biggest and most modern stadiums in the East African region.
Whether the claims are true or not, time will tell. But the 40-year-old’s grass-to-dollar-millionaire story has captured many, especially young East Africans who are trying to hustle their way up.
As he works to modernize the historical and iconic Nakivubo Stadium, his story could serve as a lesson on patriotism to many young people.
Ham, as he is popularly known, was born and raised in Uganda. He holds a law degree from Makerere University. As he wakes up on the shores of Lake Victoria on a five-acre home complete with lush green vegetations and palm trees, he says he is working to change the African narrative.
In his opinion, Africans don’t have to see beautiful houses in Hollywood movies. They should see them close to their homes so that they are reminded of how possible it is.
Hamis says that he wanted to have a Dubai of his own and a Los Angeles feel in his motherland. He wanted to wake up every day and see Lake Victoria.
You ask yourself, how did he make it? What did he do differently?
Though a trained lawyer, he did not practice law. His family was in business. When your father is trading clothes and garments, you find yourself spending a lot of time at the trading stores.
He kept learning the tricks and picking the small details from his father. He expanded the business and started importing from countries like Thailand.
Maybe, that is why Uganda is known for beautiful African prints and textile in the East African region.
He then started exporting them to Kenya, Rwanda, and The Democratic Republic of Congo.
And wealth is gradual. His venture in textiles grew and gave birth to the real estate business which has seen him break the glass ceiling and become an influential person at a young age.
According to Hamisi, reasoning is the one thing that separates him from other rich individuals.
“One’s ability to reason is an element of success. Thinking is basic but reasoning is deep. When you think, you act fast and short-term. When you reason, you articulate deeply and act long term,” Hamis believes.
That’s why, if you give a hundred people a million dollars right now and ask them what they are probably going to do with the money, then you might probably get a hundred different answers.
Anyone can get money but not everyone can get wealthy. How do you reason to get to the point of privately funding a whole public stadium?
Reasoning to him is a broad classification of every little thing that we do. Every aspect of life is in the reasoning and so are our choices. The elements of his reasoning skills include as little as being open-minded to being fully goal-oriented.
Real estate is one of his most thriving business because it has opened so many doors. As Africa scales the ladder of development, the demand for housing has seen the sector grow, minting a new generation of millionaires. Hamisi is one such.
When your cash flow streams are healthy, financing becomes increasingly accessible for you to expand your business. And with this, you can take up any project.
Reasoning to him is a broad classification of every little thing that we do. Every aspect of life is in the reasoning and so are our choices. The elements of his reasoning skills include as little as being open-minded to being fully goal-oriented.
Also, sometimes we don’t have to wait for the huge capital to start that billion-dollar dream that we have.
We should start with the little capital we have and gradually watch it mature to help in financing the billion-dollar dream and making it a reality.
His major challenge to having wealth is negativity.
“Prosperity in a poor society sometimes is an asset and not a liability,” Hamis says.
In his view, when you become successful, some people starting hating you. Others even start questioning your wealth and wondering how and why you decided to build your house where you built it.
But this has not deterred him from giving back to the community.
The Nakivubo Stadium is one such humble initiative. The project is a joint venture with the Ugandan government in central Kampala.
The millionaire has ensured that the project to build a 40,000-capacity stadium employs Ugandans, challenging the notion that foreigners such as Chinese and Japanese are the only ones who can deliver such projects.
What’s the next move? He is venturing into Agribusiness. He believes that the African continent is rich in natural resources and it is sad that the continent exports the resources as raw materials only to import them back at higher prices as finished products.
How about we just process these resources of ours and export them as finished products?
His vision is to see that the utilization of these resources is to the benefit and growth of Africa and its people. Aside from Africa being the next big thing then maybe Hamis Kiggundu is the new big thing.
