Gordon Wavamunno (born 16 December 1943), is a
Uganda
Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It 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 ...
n
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones.
An entreprene ...
, businessman, and
philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...
. He is the owner of Spear Motors Uganda—the sole distributor of
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...
vehicles in Uganda. He also owns other companies like GM Tumpeco which makes Ugandan Vehicle number plates, Wavah Water Limited and Wavah Books Limited. He was the director for
WBS Television and is reported to be one of the wealthiest people in Uganda. He also served as the
honorary consul
A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries.
A consu ...
of
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much 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 south, Croatia and ...
to Uganda.
Background
He was born on 16 December 1943 in Rugaaga, (modern-day
Isingiro District
Isingiro District is a Districts of Uganda, district in the Western Region, Uganda, Western Region of Uganda. The town of Isingiro is the district's main municipal, administrative, and commercial center.
Location
Isingiro District is bordered b ...
)
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, Uganda, 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, ...
, the largest town in the sub-region, when he was a teenager. He later relocated to
Kampala
Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...
, 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 later 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. Wavamunno took over Spear Tours and Travel when its owner Ashok Patel was murdered by dictator
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 30 May 192816 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until Uganda–Tanzania War, his overthrow in 1979. He ruled as a Military dictatorship, ...
's soldiers.
In 1973, one year after the expulsion of
Ugandan Asians by Amin, Wavamunno leveraged his assets and started Spear Motors Limited, the sole
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...
dealership in Uganda. The dealership is also the sole authorised dealer in
Jeep
Jeep is an American automobile brand, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with other assets, from its previous owner, American Motors Co ...
,
Dodge
Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence, Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...
, and
Chrysler
FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...
automobiles and parts. In addition, Spear Motors is the sole distributor o
Deutz Fahrtractors and farm machinery in Uganda. Deutz Fahr is a farm equipment manufacturer based in
Treviglio
Treviglio (; ) is a town and (i.e. municipality) in the province of Bergamo, in Lombardy, Northern Italy. It lies south of the province capital, in the lower territory called .
It is also part of the geographic area named , included among the r ...
, northern
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
.
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 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
Kira Town, a municipality in the Wakiso District of the Central Region, Uganda, Central Region of Uganda, is the country's second most populous city. It is administered by the Kira Town Council, an urban local government.
Location
Kira town coun ...
,
Wakiso District
Wakiso District is a Districts of Uganda, district in the Central Region, Uganda, Central Region of Uganda that partly encircles Kampala, Uganda's capital city. The town of Wakiso is the site of the district headquarters. Kira Town, Kira, the count ...
.
Other responsibilities
Wavamunno has an honorary doctorate degree from
Makerere University
Makerere University (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922, and the oldest currently active university in East Africa. It became an independent national university in ...
, Uganda's oldest institution of higher learning, and from
Nkumba University
Nkumba University (NKU) is a chartered private university in Uganda. It was established in 1994 as part of a group of schools and colleges that originally grew from a kindergarten established in 1951. The university is not affiliated with any pa ...
. 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.
See also
*
List of wealthiest people in Uganda
The per capita income in Uganda in 1999 was approximately US$650 annually. In 2013, an estimated 19.5 percent of the 35 million Ugandans lived on less than US$1.00 per day.
Compiled here is a list of individuals in Uganda whose accumulated asse ...
*
Harvard Business School Interview - Creating Emerging Markets
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher learni ...
References
External links
Interview for Creating Emerging Markets Project at Harvard Business School
* https://paulndiho.com/2012/06/08/ugandas-success-story-the-remarkable-journey-of-gordon-wavamunno/
Paul Ndiho
Uganda's Legendary Millionaires Revealed
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wavamunno, Gordon
1943 births
Living people
People from Isingiro District
Ugandan businesspeople
Academic staff of Nkumba University