Who is Haruna Sentongo? Flash Uganda Media looks at his biography, age, wife, family, tribe, achievements, and relationship with Haji Haruna Segawa, Nakayija Jalia, Hamis Kiggundu, Nakayiza Market, N. M Apartments, Haruna Towers, and the early life and education of the founder and CEO of Haruna Enterprises.
Haruna Sentongo is a businessman, entrepreneur, real estate dealer, and philanthropist from Uganda.
He is the founder and CEO of Haruna Enterprises, a business situated in Uganda’s capital, Kampala.
Haruna Enterprises is involved in real estate, health and fitness services, entertainment, hospitality, general retail, and manufacturing.
Haruna owns Nakayiza market which has 12 blocks, Haruna Towers in Kisenyi, NM apartments, Old Africana agro market, Segawa market which has two blocks, four acres of undeveloped land in Kisenyi, Haruna shopping mall, and Haruna Towers Ntinda, all of which trade under his Haruna enterprises company.
Early Life and Education
Haruna Sentongo was born on November 30, 1987, in Kalungu town, then in Masaka District, now in the wider Masaka region of Central Uganda.
In a family of six children, he was born to Haji Haruna Segawa and Nakayija Jalia. He is the younger brother of Hamis Kiggundu, the famed proprietor of the Ham Group of Companies.
Haruna Sentongo grew up in a Muslim household, which instilled in him a strong faith in God.
His parents relocated to Masaka town, where his father worked as a textile dealer, making Haruna have his primary schooling in Masaka.
They eventually moved to Kampala City, where he completed his “O” level, “A” level, and university studies.
Haruna studied O-Levels at Kabojja International School in Kampala and A-Levels at East High School in Ntinda.
He then attended Makerere University and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. Haruna founded Haruna Enterprises (U) Ltd while attending university.
His father, Hajji Segawa Haruna, is a successful businessman who encouraged and supported his children from an early age.
Haruna’s father offered him Ugx 300,000 to establish a business to keep him busy during his “O”-level vacation when he was just 16 years old in 2003.
He began his entrepreneurial path by selling women’s purses imported from China in a small retail shop.
As his profits increased, he progressed from kiosks to wholesale business.
His fortune grew even further in 2005 when he formally began dealing in home and office furniture through a distribution outlet on Ben Kiwanuka Street in Kampala.
The two industries, furniture and women’s bags built a strong muscle in his company, and in 2007, he began importing clothing from China, Thailand, and Malaysia.
He would then distribute them throughout Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Congo, and Uganda, both wholesale and retail, from Mukwano Arcade.
When he was in his first year at Makerere University, he started building his first property, Haruna Towers in Wandegeya.
Career and Professional Work Experience
Sentongo began investing in real estate after many years of trading in bags and clothing and paying a lot of money in rent. He hoped to make more money while also supplying stores to other fellow dealers at a little cost.
However, he recognised along the road that real estate was a huge goldmine for him to gain more money.
In 2011, he built Haruna Towers in Wandegeya after incorporating his Haruna Enterprises Limited and obtaining financing from several Ugandan financial institutions such as Diamond Trust Bank.
He used the money he made from real estate to buy more land and develop properties such as shopping malls and arcades.
He purchased large tracts of land in Kisenyi and developed the Segawa Market complex, a block with over 320 stores of various sizes and styles.
He currently controls 17 city core building blocks and food markets.
Sentongo’s facilities currently host over 2,000 businesses and nearly 100,000 clients, and his company employs over 600 employees.
He also owns many plots of land in Nairobi that are valued at billions of shillings.
Aside from real estate, Haruna is a diverse entrepreneur who operates in a variety of industries, including food sales, fitness, luxury, automobile spare parts, and many more.
Businesses
Haruna Enterprises (U) Limited began as an import and general merchandise sales business.
Haruna Towers, Ssentongo’s first large commercial building was constructed on Plot 956 Bombo Road in 2012.
He finished Haruna Shopping Mall on Plot 1724 Old Kira Road two years later, in 2014.
The next year, he opened Nakayiza Market and Apartments in Mengo Kisenyi. In Kisenyi, he has nearly a thousand agricultural outlets.
In 2015, the same year he constructed the Nakayiza market and Apartments, he imported and established 7D, 5D, and 3D cinemas and successfully opened the business to the community in Ntinda under the trade name Han Cinemas.
Later, he ventured into the health and fitness industry, opening a network of Fitness Centres with saunas and steam suites in several Kampala suburbs under the brand Han Fitness Centres.
That same year, Haruna opened Queen’s supermarket, which includes a fast food restaurant and bakery and spans three levels on Ham Shopping Grounds.
The supermarket sells everything from cutlery to home and office equipment, quick food, and stationery. The retail centre serves around 2,500 individuals every day.
Haruna entered the industry business in 2016. At Nakatema Nsangi, he established a water bottling plant that presently produces 210,000 bottles of mineral water each day.
Segawa Market was constructed on Mwanga II Road in Mengo Kisenyi in the same year. Segawa Market which is located close to Nakayiza Market, sells replacement parts for bicycles, motorbikes, automobiles, and other small machinery. It has 500 spacious shops.
Located close to Housing Finance Bank in Nakasero, Haruna operates a stocked bond of cars, dealing in both new and used Japanese and European vehicles.
Tycoon Drake Lubega sold him his first corporate plot in Nakasero in 2019.
Philanthropy works
Apart from his enormous riches, Haruna is also interested in philanthropy.
He exempted roughly 500 of his tenants from paying rent at his Segawa market in Mengo in July 2020, claiming the negative consequences of the Covid-19-inspired lockdown.
In October of the same year, he also made his tenants at Haruna Mall in Ntinda happy by exempting them from paying six months’ rent owing to similar circumstances, which helped to stabilise their businesses.
He has personally pioneered the business community in Kisenyi and fostered the development of countless Ugandans by providing free business space to several start-ups in exchange for a promise to grow alongside his clients.
Achievements and Awards
Haruna Sentongo is another newcomer to the top ten richest people list. He became a billionaire in Uganda before the age of 40. His projected net worth as of April 2021 is US$420 million (roughly Ugandan Shs1.7 trillion).
Haruna has been widely regarded as the driving force behind the quick development of Kisenyi, Kampala’s largest slum. Previously known as a haven for criminals, the former ghetto has evolved into a bustling business district in the city centre.
Haruna’s ever-expanding infrastructure in the area has enabled phenomenal company growth. Haruna Enterprises has constructed a number of important institutions in Mengo-Kisenyi, including Nakayiza Market, N. M Apartments, and Haruna Towers.
Haruna Enterprises has received multiple Kampala Capital City Authority accolades for its contributions to city activities.
Ssentongo Haruna has kept his company’s ownership at 99% since it was registered on June 17, 2011, with another 1% owned by Laura Nalukwago.
According to records, Haruna Enterprises has an annual revenue of USD 4 million and employs at least 600 individuals, ranging from casual labourers to C-suite positions.
Controversies
Haruna Sentongo was ordered by the High Court in Kampala to pay Orient Bank more than 10 billion Shillings in interest on debts issued to him.
In a decision made by Commercial Division judge Richard Wejuli Wabwire, the court determined that Sentongo had contracted the loans he was attempting to avoid paying through litigation.
Sentongo went to court in 2018 to obtain an injunction to prevent Orient Bank from demanding around ten billion Shillings from him. He accused Orient Bank, now I&M Bank, of coercing him into signing loan agreements with unjust terms and conditions.
Orient Bank sued Sentongo in a second litigation the following year, attempting to recover nearly 10 billion Shillings from the loan it gave to him.
The Bank also requested that the court award it general damages in the sum of 2 billion Shillings for the reputational harm created by Sentongo’s complaint.
Sentongo was ordered to pay the bank the money he owes in the amount of 10.384 billion Shillings, as well as general damages in the amount of 150 million Shillings.
Haruna is also the owner of a terrible building in Kisenyi that collapsed while under construction, killing six people and injuring six more.
