Gordon Babala Kasibante Wavamunno, but often referred to simply as Gordon Wavamunno (born 16 December 1943), is a

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

, businessman, and philanthropist. He is the owner of Spear Motors Uganda and the sole distributor of Mercedes Benz in Uganda. He was the director for WBS Television and he is reported to be one of the wealthiest people in Uganda. He also serves as the

honorary consul A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

to Uganda.

Background

He was born on 16 December 1943 in Rugaaga, modern-day

Isingiro District Isingiro District is a district in the Western Region of Uganda. The town of Isingiro is the district's main municipal, administrative, and commercial center. Location Isingiro District is bordered by Kiruhura District to the north, Rakai Distr ...

, Western Region of Uganda. Following early public education in his home area, he moved to

Mbarara Mbarara City is a city in the Western Region of Uganda and the second largest city in Uganda after Kampala. The city is divided into 6 boroughs of Kakoba Division, Kamukuzi Division, Nyamitanga Division, Biharwe Division, Kakiika Division, ...

, the largest town in the sub-region, when he was a teenager. He later relocated to

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, Uganda's capital and largest city.

Work experience

His parents owned a retail shop and he helped in running it as a young boy. When he moved to Mbarara as a teenager, he worked as a shop assistant in a produce store owned by an Asian family. Later, he began to purchase farm produce from the nearby villages. He would then sell the produce to the Asian shops and families in Mbarara. When he acquired his first automobile, he began a special hire taxi service in the town. He expanded this business to include a driving school. In his mid 20s, he relocated to Kampala and worked as a driver/tour guide for a tour operator called Equatorial Agencies ltd. from 1967 to 1972. Took over Spear Tours and Travel when its owner Ashok Patel was murdered by Idi Amin's soldiers. In 1973, one year after the expulsion of

Ugandan Asians In early August 1972, the President of Uganda, Idi Amin, ordered the expulsion of his country's Indian minority, giving them 90 days to leave the country. At the time of the expulsion, there were about 80,000 individuals of Indian descent in Ugand ...

by dictator

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...

, Wavamunno leveraged his assets and started Spear Motors Limited, the sole

Mercedes Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

dealership in Uganda. The dealership is also the sole authorised dealer in Jeep, Dodge, and Chrysler automobiles and parts. In addition, Spear Motors is the sole distributor o
Deutz Fahr
tractors and farm machinery in Uganda. Deutz Fahr is a farm equipment manufacturer based in

Treviglio Treviglio (, Bergamasque: ) is a town and ''comune'' (i.e. municipality) in the province of Bergamo, in Lombardy, Northern Italy. It lies south of the province capital, in the lower territory called "Bassa Bergamasca". It's also part of the geo ...

, northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Investments

, the following were some of the enterprises owned wholly or in part by Wavamunno. The businesses listed here are sometimes referred to as the Spear Group of Companies or simply the Spear Group. * Spear Motors Limited - Franchise distributor and dealer in Mercedes Benz, Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler, Fiat and Deutz Fahr brands in Uganda. * Wavah FM - A private radio station. * Star Times Digital Satellite Television Service - A digital satellite distributor of television signals in Uganda. * Spear House - An office building on

Jinja Road Jinja may refer to: * Jinja, Uganda, a city in eastern Uganda close to the source of the Nile River ** Jinja District, Uganda, named after the above city * Shinto shrine, also called a "jinja", a structure that houses one or more Shinto kami (spi ...

in Kampala's central business district. * Wavah Water Limited - A manufacturer and distributor of drinking mineral water in Uganda. * GM Tumpeco Limited - A manufacturer and fabricator of steel products, including number plates, traffic road signs, and billboards. Also, furniture, spring mattresses, uniports, wheelbarrows, and truck and bus bodies. * Fancy Furniture Limited - Importer and distributor of high-end office and household furniture. * Wavah Books Limited - A publisher of school text books and other writings. * Nakweero Mixed Farm - A diary, beef, and crop farm in Nakweero, Kira Municipality,

Wakiso District Wakiso District is a district in the Central Region of Uganda that partly encircles Kampala, Uganda's capital city. The town of Wakiso is the site of the district headquarters. Kira, the country's second largest city and suburb of Kampala, is i ...

Other responsibilities

Wavamunno has an honorary doctorate degree from

Makerere University Makerere University, Kampala (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of n ...

, Uganda's oldest institution of higher learning, and from Nkumba University. He is a professor in business and entrepreneurship at Makerere University and is the chancellor at Nkumba University. In January 2013, Wavamunno was appointed Knight of the Order of Saint John. Recipients of knighthoods in this order are not normally entitled to the honorific of "Sir". The award was in recognition of his philanthropic work with St. John Association of Uganda, where he has been a member since 1983. He currently serves as the chairman of the association. Among other charitable acts, he has donated two ambulances to the association, renovated their offices in Kampala, and offered bursaries to orphans.

Personal details

Wavamunno is married and is the father of both male and female children.

References

External links

Interview for Creating Emerging Markets Project at Harvard Business School

Uganda's Legendary Millionaires Revealed
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wavamunno, Gordon 1943 births Living people People from Isingiro District Isingiro District Ugandan businesspeople Nkumba University academics