UGANDA, Kampala | Real Muloodi News | How does one become a real muloodi and get rich? According to some of Uganda’s most prominent billionaires, regardless of your current economic condition, where you live, or what you do, anyone can get rich with the right mindset and work ethic.
Real estate Muloodi Hamis Kiggundu, popularly known as Ham, is one of the wealthiest people in Uganda with an estimated net worth of US$870 Million as of 2021, according to Forbes Africa Magazine.
Ham’s advice to youth with ambitions of getting rich is to stop looking to people who have gotten fast money through deals as role models and instead focus on hard work, because there is a big difference between money and wealth.
“Not everyone who holds money is rich or wealthy – just like the difference between a deal and a business; one is short term the other is long term… One is instant, the other is a process.” He explains.
“Most Ugandans disregard the little money they have, they are looking for Shs100 million, Shs200 million, that’s why they are on streets as idlers, but I would advise Ugandans, please start respecting that little amount of money you have and look at it as capital. Any money can be used as capital provided you have proper reasoning and the right mindset.”
Ham’s brother, Haruna Sentongo, has also established himself as one of Uganda’s prominent billionaire property developers. He agrees with his brother’s advice.
The property magnate also says anyone can start from anywhere. “Don’t wait to get a lot of money to start something. Start with what you have,” says Haruna.
Haruna famously claims to have started his business journey from a bags’ stall worth USh300,000, an amount he got from his father.
The youthful tycoon says he grew his business empire from selling ladies bags, to importing clothes, then expanded into wholesale, working day and night. In the space of two years, Haruna continued thinking out of the box and ventured into another field of selling homes and office furniture at Ben Kiwanuka Street in Kampala.
After several years of trading in bags and garments and paying a lot of money in rent, Haruna who was by then an upcoming city entrepreneur, realised that having his own stores to keep his stock of goods was better than renting.
Therefore he started to invest in the real estate business, with the aim of making more money and also providing stores to other fellow traders at a small fee. Along the way, he realised that real estate was the jackpot for him to accumulate more wealth and become rich, and today it’s one of his largest earning businesses. Currently, Haruna’s properties house over 2,000 businesses, and approximately 100,000 customers while his enterprise employs over 600 people.
Billionaire Sudhir Ruparelia is perhaps Uganda’s biggest success story, and is a living example of the brothers’ advice.
The property mogul says that over 30 years ago, he started off with a string of lowly jobs, leading to job in a supermarket where he worked hard and bought a car. He used it as a cab at the weekends for extra cash. At the same time, he enrolled at a college for A-level studies, majoring in economics and accounts. He completed his studies and worked for a number of companies.
From there he ventured into real estate. He bought properties, renovated them and sold for a profit.
Today, the Ruparelia Group’s business interests extend to hospitality, education, real estate, finance, insurance, labour export, and agriculture, among others. The Group has operations in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Asia, Europe, and other parts of the world.
Even Amos Nzeyi, whose estimated wealth is US$ 57 million (UGX200 billion) started selling eggs at the age of eight in primary three to contribute to his school fees. When the business did not do well, he ventured into buns and mandaazi which did better. After his primary seven, his brother could not raise his school fees, so Amos turned to selling medicine. His cousin had found a black-market supplier of penicillin tablets which were used to treat gonorrhoea, from which he made a handsome profit.
He then moved to Mbarara Town to work on the Mbarara-Katunguru road construction project as a “spanner boy”. He worked there for three years before he ventured to start his own real estate business. Today, his sprawling business empire spans carbonated soft drinks and water, hospitality & tourism, confectionaries, and of course, real estate.
Renowned entrepreneur Patrick Bitature shares a similar story. “I started by selling sugar, then shirts, then ladies‘ dresses, then shoes, then a nightclub, foreign exchange, then mobile phones and airtime.”
“Looking back, I have succeeded where many have failed mainly because of hard work, persistence, focus on my set of goals, discipline, honesty, taking responsibility for my life and believing that I could change my future,” he says.
Prominent entrepreneur, Dr. Anatoli Kamugisha also advises aspiring entrepreneurs to develop business ideas first before raising money to start businesses.
“Before you start worrying about getting the capital to start a business, there are other more important and urgent things that you need to think through. The first is your mental preparedness to be an entrepreneur,” Kamugisha says.
When these real muloodi’s share their stories and advice, a wind of hope and belief reaches whoever hears or reads them, because they are true examples that everything is possible as long one has the right mindset, is disciplined and has tenacity and persistence.
The key take away? Don’t wait. Start with whatever you have, no matter how megre it is, start with what you have and make 2023 your year to begin walking your path to riches.
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