Hamis Kiggundu

Hamis Kiggundu (born February 10, 1984), commonly known as Ham, is a Ugandan businessman, investor, real estate and property developer, philanthropist, author and lawyer.

Kiggundu is the CEO of the Ham Group of Companies, and the author of Success and Failure Based on Reason and Reality and Reason as the World Masterpiece.

He is one of the wealthiest people in Uganda with an alleged estimated net worth of US$870 Million (March 2021 Forbes).

Kiggundu was born in 1984 in the Kalungu Masaka District in the Central Region of Uganda.

Kiggundu is among the children of Haruna Segawa and Nakayiza Jalia, who is part of a family with extensive property investments in Kampala.

Kiggundu was born and raised in a Muslim family.

He talks about Islam as "the highest achievement of a lifetime" and that he would not choose another religion.

He attended his elementary education in Masaka, later joined Kabojja International School in Kampala for his high school education, and later graduated from Makerere University with a Bachelors of Laws.

He joined the Law Development Centre where he graduated with a diploma in legal practice.

The Ham Group was established in 2005 as a trading enterprise trading in garments.

Hamis used to support his father Hajji.

Segawa in his textile shop from where he learnt basic business principles.

And during middle school holidays his father gave him capital to start his own venture.

As business burgeoned, he started buying and selling land and properties and In 2009 he incorporated Ham Enterprises (U) Ltd and advanced to constructing and owning commercial properties.

In 2010, Kiggundu started erection of Ham towers, his first commercial tower at the Makerere suburb of Kampala city.

According to billionaires.Africa, having mastered the commercial real estate trifles with reference to lessons learnt from his first project, Kiggundu was able to move a bit faster and within 18 months, he had built his second property — Ham Shopping Mall.

With combined rental income coming from both properties, he was able to easily secure more financing with the banks, for other projects given his reasonable collateral.

The Group diversified into large scale industrialization in 2021, mainly focusing on Agro-processing and value addition.

According to the Forbes report on Uganda By Penresa, Hamis embarked on a US$156 million project in the central region where a pilot advanced Integrated Agro-Processing Industrial Plant (IAIP) was setup at Akright City to add value on Uganda's Agro produce.

In 2015, President Museveni asked Kiggundu to redevelop and upgrade Nakivubo Stadium into a modern sports facility.

In early 2017, the reconstruction of Nakivubo Stadium commenced with demolishment of existing structures by Roko Construction Company with estimated capacity of 30,000 to 35,0000 people.

The reconstruction of Nakivubo stadium is estimated to cost Ugx 176.4billions and to have various facilities like screens, chairs, floodlights, parking space.

In 2023, the reconstruction process was partially completed

In 2018 Kiggundu was given an award as an acknowledgement for his book, Success and Failure Based on Reason and Reality.

It was nominated the best book of the year in the category of "Business Motivation" at an event held by the Book Forum of Uganda in Kampala.

In August 2023, Hamis scooped The Pan African Pyramid Global award 2023 in the category African Renaissance and Iconic Development Entrepreneur Award.

From inspiration of the White house architecture, Kiggundu constructed a replica of White house located in Entebbe which houses Ham Agro Processing industries headquarters

In April 2020 Kiggundu donated food relief to Uganda's COVID-19 task force.

He also donated food supplies to over 100 Ugandan journalists through the Uganda Journalists Association, but was also criticized for providing cash handouts to journalists.

In July 2021, Kiggundu donated to the Uganda Government a total of USh 530 million to help in the purchase COVID-19 vaccine doses for Ugandans and additionally called upon other able Ugandans and corporate entities to join him in saving lives as a way of giving back to the Ugandan Community.

In February 2020, Kiggundu sued Africa's Diamond Trust Bank for allegedly defrauding him for over US$30 million (USh 34.29 billion and US$23.4 million) under what he called "unclear debits" from his bank accounts over a spread period of ten years.

In October 2020, Kiggundu won the case and the Ugandan High Court ordered Diamond Trust Bank to refund all the unlawfully withdrawn monies totalling to USh 34.29 billion and US$23.4 million, with an additional 8% interest for legal costs.

The court additionally ordered the bank to unconditionally release/discharge all mortgages allegedly created over all Kiggundu's properties and all corporate and personal guarantees issued by Kiggundu.

The court also issued a permanent injunction to prevent DTB from enforcing the mortgages over Kiggundu's properties.

DTB Bank later appealed the decision in the High Court and were issued an injunction halting payment of the monies.

In November 2022, Kiggundu sued the Kabaka of Buganda and the Commissioner Land registration in the Ministry of Lands over cancellation of land titles of Kigo Land that sits on 140 acres.