Two weeks ago Arimali Karmali passed on. I never knew the
man personally, but judging by the tributes to him, which continue to flow in, days after his death, he clearly was no mere mortal.
"Estimates of the wealth he controlled suggests he may have been a dollar billionaire. What was more striking was the testimonies of the people he had helped with scholarships or to set up their businesses or out of plain charity.
From my readings of the last few days this was what I was
able to glean as business and life lessons from the man fondly known as
Mukwano.
1.
Frugal with a purpose
I read somewhere that his wardrobe consisted of a handful of
shirts and trousers. For a man so rich this is an interesting story in itself
but it speaks to a deeper principle. There are only so many shirts you can wear
or shoes you can lace up. Beyond the function of keeping you covered and
presentable, clothes should really be logged in the consumption column of our
lives.
"There are only two ways to spend money, either you consume it or invest it. What determines your eventual level of wealth or poverty is which way the balance of your expenditure falls. Clearly the old man, after more than a half century in business, was hardwired to invest more than consume and hence his spartan wardrobe.
The rest of us get sabotaged by the devil on our shoulders
continually asking “What is the money for if not for eating?”
2.
Invest in networks
But what was more impressive about the man, were testimonies
by the people from far and wide narrating how the man touched their lives –
from businessmen to lawyers to former ministers, his tenants, his neighbours.
It was amazing.
Wealthy men have died before in these parts I stand to be
corrected, but I have never got the sense that they touched as many lives. Fair
enough, maybe the people they helped didn’t want to speak out, so it is
testament to Mukwano that his protégés and the beneficiaries of his largesse
stand up to be counted.
Beyond that he clearly cultivated networks of partners that were not restricted to Uganda or even the region. Networks developed on trust -- deliberately, systematically and consistently cultivated, were key to keeping his business alive and thriving.
Our businessmen don’t seem to log trust in their asset
columns and are ok with swindling their creditors, partners and clients at the drop
a hat. It maybe explains why our businessmen rarely live beyond five years.
3.
Go into uncontested ground
It is clear that all through his business career Mukwano was
a trailblazer. He led others followed. He was not corrupted with our copycat
syndrome, where we go into businesses where other people are.
During the days of chaos and persistent shortages he was an
importer, when things stabilized he shifted into manufacturing and then in his
final years he resuscitated the tea sector in the Toro area. In between all
that he manufactured plastic goods, bottled mineral water and built malls down
town, pioneering a craze that is fast turning down turn Kampala into a concrete
jungle from the dusty unpaved hovel that it was.
There are risks to this strategy. Being the first in a sector means you will have to pay for the lessons you would otherwise have learnt by following someone else. On the other hand if you can pull it off the rewards can be beyond your wildest dreams...
4.
Nothing is beneath you
Long before “Bottom of the pyramid” Mukwano was already
there, servicing this sector through his soap, cooking oil, plastics and even
mall developments. Maybe it was an easy decision to make, since in the 1980s
not only were the wealth and income disparities non-existent, but the economy
had ground to a halt to the point that most essential commodities were out of
the reach of everybody. So going into bar soap and cooking oil manufacture was
a no-brainer, and those be the gifts that keep giving.
"Unadulterated by elitist airs Mukwano saw where the need was and moved to fill it and everybody else be damned....
5.
Invest
It’s safe to say that Mukwano cut his teeth in the rough and
tumble of the Idi Amin era, when shortages meant huge margins were to be had on
the sale of products. He was not the only one enjoying these margins. But is
one of a few, of the very many to come out of the era and thrive in subsequent
years.
The difference between him and his failed contemporaries, is that he was not seduced by the urge to consume and live large. When everyone was eating their money as fast as they made it -- a symptom of the insecurity of the time, Mukwano saved and invested his surpluses – a lot in land, to the point that people say he could be the biggest land lord in Kampala today....
It’s interesting isn’t it, that our richest individuals
never accumulated land as a way to get rich. They got rich through trading and
stored their wealth in land. We tend to invert the process.
Mukwano walked this earth for at least 80 years. The above
do not even scratch the surface of the lessons to be learnt from the man. He
was real life proof that hard work and prudent use of money can lead to
financial success the kind of which we can’t even wrap our minds around.
In death his only crime was to leave us without an account
of his life, but it is hard to begrudge him his peace.
RIP Mukwano.
