Have you been seeing that blue building towering in the skies of Nsambya Hill?And have you been seeing the name MARRIOTT HOTEL trending online these days?
A 58-year-old native of Rukungiri, Ponsiano Ngabirano, is the man behind all of that!He came to Kampala in 1997 and it is said he first worked in banking before starting a small retail shop on Dastur Street together with his wife. They persevered, and when business grew, they expanded their minds and established CAPITAL SHOPPERS SUPERMARKET!
They opened their first supermarket in 2008, and Cardinal Wamala was the chief guest.
By 2014, they had already opened four branches around the city:
– Nakasero Hill, Dastur Street
– Port Bell Road, Nakawa Branch
– Capital Shoppers Mall, Ntinda Branch
– Garden City Mall, Garden City Branch!
They faced stiff competition from other supermarkets like Nakumatt, Shoprite, Game, and Uchumi. But later Nakumatt collapsed, Uchumi closed, and Game and Shoprite left the country, and he took over the market.
They used their profits to expand their shops and added rental business premises, like you see in Ntinda, and the money continued to grow!
Even though in 2012 their Ntinda supermarket caught fire, they did not lose hope.
He also owns a major construction company, SMS Construction Company, which he started in 2011. It is the company that built the 18-storey government IGG headquarters, and it also built the 9-storey headquarters of the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL) for 164 billion shillings!
This same company is the one that built the towering Marriott Hotel in Nsambya.
The Marriott Hotel in Nsambya, recently opened by Mr. Tibbz, has 277 rooms! It has everything luxurious and necessary. It was built by Mr. Ngabirano, his wife Eva, the family interests of Capital Shoppers Supermarket Ltd, together with NSSF which contributed 30%, because the total amount spent and the shareholding details were not disclosed!
His name also resonates strongly in the Uganda Red Cross, the Uganda Cancer Institute, as well as in the Banyarujumbura and Ruhinda Development Association.
He is very humble and rarely seen in public, but he is one of the richest people in Uganda.
He owns land, buildings, and many other properties, and his net worth is estimated at $100m.
President Museveni while officially opening it thanked Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala for providing the land on which the Marriott Hotel was built, but the details of how the land was acquired were not disclosed.
