Allan Kanyike;  a man of many hats 

There are two sides to Allan Gerald Kanyike. There is the socialite and then there is the  businessman. Catching him during daylight hours reveals a straight faced leader of a straight laced team. Two young women at Weltmax Engineering Services call him by his title, director. He might be the director but he treats his team in a paternal style. 
 
Actively retired
His accent is precisely English and so is his formal dress code. Separated by a wall but facing the main entrance to one of his properties in Ntinda, is IH Grand Logistics Limited, a customs clearing firm in which he is a director too. 

As a director at two companies Kanyike is a busy man. He has built his business much from experience he gained over the years as a real estate manager of some 40 properties for Queen Bridge Management in London for the 30 years he lived in United Kingdom (UK). 
He also worked at the Covent Garden Exhibition Centre. His former employer, Arnold Perl, describes Kanyike as honest, sober and reliable. 

First job
Kanyike had worked with the centre from May 1988 to April 1996. Prior to leaving Uganda, he worked with Statewide Insurance Company with the late Patrick Kiwanuka, John Ssebaana Kizito and Joseph Kiwanuka.
In 1986, he served as a Local Council one chairman for Village Nine in Ntinda, where he lived with his mother Robinah Abwooli, now deceased. He eulogises her as one of the most important people in his life for properly bringing him up and also becoming a friend from whom he always sought advice and counsel.
 
Kanyike does not keep the conventional 8am to 5pm work schedule because he is now a retired man. “I am in retirement because I am contented with what I have achieved. I am a director of two companies too, and happy to be working with people I get along with very well,” the 57-year-old says. He has two families in East London and has managed to educate all his children from his two wives; Justine Asiimwe and Florence Kanyike.

Preparing for retirement
“I was wise to invest properly before returning to Uganda. I had worked from 1988 and in 2012, I started thinking of returning home because my parents were aging. I had built a home and set up apartments in Kalinabiri, a Kampala suburb  I had just sold a property to Mogas on Jinja Road which enabled me to become a wealthier man, I decided to retire,” he explains. 

He encourages wise investment in anticipation of retirement. “You do not have to be a billionaire to invest wisely. You just have to be determined about it by firstly saving,” he advises. “
At my age, I am enjoying the life God has given me. My children are well educated and successful, why should I suffer in this world, yet I live in the Pearl of Africa?” he asks. 

Family
Kanyike is quick to let it be known that he marries from a historical stock, making him even more connected to the nation.  “I am privileged to have a father-in-law called George Kakoma, who composed the National Anthem” he says. He is a father to six children, grandfather to 11 children and he is a great grandfather too. “What do I lose to retire? I have got all I need. My wives are British citizens. I set them up. I got them jobs. They gave birth to wonderful children. Let me enjoy my retirement in the Pearl of Africa. I love my country so much. I am one of the top socialites in Uganda. Wherever I go, people get excited. I am a happy person,” he happily reveals.
Kanyike started school at HH Aga Khan in Nyari, Mombasa. 

From there, he joined St Henry’s College Kitovu, where he is proud to have schooled with the current premier (Katikkiro) of Buganda, Charles Peter Mayiga. “The Saba Saba war led us to exile again, in Nairobi where we (with family) lived for six years, from the early 1980s. I attended Griffins College in Nairobi, where I did Association of Business Executive (ABE). When things settled down, we came back home and settled in Ntinda where my family has lived ever since.