How Ugandan investor milled his way to Forbes’ richest Africans list

Mohammed Hamid is one of Uganda’s most successful and prominent entrepreneurs. He is the chairman and founder of Aya Group, a conglomerate with interests in milling, food manufacturing, commodity trading, transportation and hospitality, with an annual revenue of $200m (approximately Shs700billion.
Hamid, 39, originally from Sudan, travelled to Uganda as a teenager in 1987 to briefly visit his elder brother who owned a successful trading business in the country.

The businessman, who was in February 2015 listed by Forbes magazine as one of the richest African - second richest African under 40, after Tanzanian multi-millionaire, Mohammed Dewji - fell in love with Uganda and decided to stay on. He has since become a citizen. In the last 28 years, he has built one of Uganda’s largest privately-held conglomerates. He is currently finalising construction on a five-star hotel in Kampala, which will be managed by Hilton.

His story
“I was born in Sudan, but I have been in Uganda for many years, so I consider myself Ugandan,” he says. “I came to Uganda for the first time in 1987 to visit my elder brother, Mohammed El Hamid, who runs Pan Afric Impex, a commodity trading house. I had just completed high school and I was preparing to go to the United States to pursue my studies, but I decided to first come here to visit my brother.”
According to Hamid, he fell in love with Uganda because of the opportunities here.
“So I asked myself, ‘Why am I going to the United States to study, when there are many good universities here in Uganda?’ he asks.

Eventually, he decided to enrol at Makerere University.
“My elder brother was already a successful businessman in Uganda. I saw that this country was a virgin land with many opportunities,” he says.

And since he had always had a knack for business and an eye for opportunity, the youngster decided this country was the perfect place to start and build a business.

How he started in Uganda
After working with Pan Afric Impex for some time, Hamid decided to start his first company, Pan Afric Commodities, in the early 1990s.

“We dealt in general merchandise; both import and export. I imported all sorts of items like vehicle tyres, juices and wheat flour. I influenced the popularity of chapatti as a meal of choice among Ugandans,” he adds with a smile.
After realising there was a big demand for wheat locally, he bought a milling machine from Premiere Mills, a firm owned by businessman Sudhir Ruparelia in industrial area, Kampala.

“We then moved the machinery to Kawempe, where I had acquired a 15-acre piece of land in 1997,” he says, adding that he spent about $1.5m (about Shs3.5b now) to set up the industry. The machinery alone cost $1.3m.
As the milling business grew, Hamid realised his company would make a lot of money if they added value to the wheat flour.

“There was a lot of market for baked products and confectioneries,” he says. In 2000, with the help of a loan from the Export Import Bank and his savings, he bought more mills and expanded into the bakery and biscuits-making sections.

“We set up one mill at a time until they became three,” he says.
Today, he employs about 5,000 people across all the companies in the group.
“I make it a point to hire highly professional managers for my businesses- people who are committed to their job. I motivate them and provide the support that is necessary.

On top of making his employees feel like they are part and parcel of the company, Hamid advises younger enteprenuers to get involved in the day-to-day running of their businesses in order to build a successful business. This, he argues will give employees a sense of the direction you want your company to head.

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