Express, sports firm enter agreement for new home

In charge. Express FC chairman Kiryowa Kiwanuka. PHOTO BY JOHN BATANUDDE

What you need to know:

  • Tropical Sports Ltd is a new company and this is their first gig. Kiwanuka is one of the shareholders and directors of the company.

KAMPALA. Express will have a new furnished home at Kasanje, just on the outskirts of Kampala, by the end of 2022, if the latest development from the six-time Ugandan champions is to be taken to the word.
The club board of directors and advisory council met at Express patron Prince Kassim Nakibinge’s home in Kibuli last week, where the audited books of accounts were presented and a Shs2.2b budget for the upcoming season passed.

At the same meeting, it was announced that Express had entered into a partnership with a new sports company called Tropical Sports Ltd to build a new home for the club, with works on the 12 acre land provided by the aforementioned partners commencing before the start of the 2019/20 season.
The projected 17,000 capacity stadium will have a training ground, indoor facility for basketball and the rest, swimming pool and hostel, and will be constructed in three phases.
“The first phase will start around June/July this year,” club chairman Kiryowa Kiwanuka told Daily Monitor.

“It will include the playing ground and one stand, which will also have a VIP section.” The grandson of club founder Jolly Joe Kiwanuka, added: “The second stand will be up in the second phase, with the third phase taking care of indoor facilities.”
In their audited accounts Express spent Shs555m in the just ended season, with miscellaneous bringing it close to Shs700m. The club anticipates at least Shs800m in income in the coming year.
Their annual report is carried in a book of over 200 pages, which includes a brand manual of what Express will look like going forward.

Inside the partnership
Express currently use Mutesa II Stadium, Wankulukuku but there is nothing more meaningful apart from the pitch. Their main source of revenue there is gate collections.
“Express needs a fully-fledged home but currently does not have the resources to build one, hence the arrangement with Tropical Sports Ltd,” Kiwanuka added.

“Tropical Sports Ltd bought the land and owns it. The stadium will belong to Tropical Sports but Express interests are well taken care of and protected in the MoU between the two.
“So Express is entering into an MoU with stadium developers Tropical Sports Limited, it Express will have exclusive usage rights to the stadium as its home ground. All the other events and activities there must be subject to Express activities and approval.”
Revenues from stadium usage of other facilities will be shared between the two, although both were not willing to reveal the percentages.
Who is Tropical Sports Ltd
Tropical Sports Ltd is a new company and this is their first gig. Kiwanuka is one of the shareholders and directors of the company.
The company, Daily Monitor understands, is composed of a good number of members on the club Board’s advisory council.