Who is Karim Hirji? Flash Uganda Media looks at his biography, age, wife, family, tribe, achievements, and relationship with Linda Birungi, Ronnie Birungi, Anita Birungi, Ms Anisha, Nabila, and Karima the early life and education of a Ugandan philanthropist, hotelier, and businessman
Karim Hirji is a Ugandan philanthropist, hotelier, and businessman.
He is said to be one of Uganda’s wealthiest people, with an estimated net worth of about $870 million.
Karim Hirji is the owner of the Dembe Group of Companies, a conglomerate with real estate, hospitality, manufacturing, and financial interests.
Early Life and Education
Karim Hirji was born in Uganda on November 11, 1950, however, he is of Asian descent.
Before marrying Hirji in 1985, the late Ziba Nanyonga Hirji also known as Charm had three children: Linda Birungi, the eldest daughter, Ronnie Birungi, and Anita Birungi, Hirji’s step-children.
Hirji and Charm additionally had three children: Ms Anisha, Nabila, and Karima.
Hirji’s wife Charm died on February 8, 2004, at Cromwell Hospital in London after a long fight with cancer and was laid to rest in Kololo Cemetery.
Career and Professional Work Experience
Karim Hirji began selling textiles and alcoholic beverages from a shop in central Kampala in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Dembe Enterprises, his first shop by then, was located on Luwum Street, immediately before Mukwano Arcade.
His business grew swiftly from a one-man operation to encompass a car dealership under the Dembe Group of companies.
He also owns the renamed Cham Towers, which used to be the previous Uganda Commercial Bank Towers.
The building was previously known as UCB House and was owned by Uganda Commercial Bank (UCB). UCB was acquired by Standard Bank of South Africa in the mid-2000s and renamed Stanbic Bank Uganda. Karim Hirji, a real estate entrepreneur, bought UCB House and renamed it Cham Towers.
While his income is thought to be dwindling, Hirji who began as a garment salesman in downtown Kampala in the 1970s is still one of the country’s top hoteliers.
Through his Dembe Group, he also owns Imperial Hotels, Imperial Insurance, and Imperial Forex, in addition to other businesses and properties.
Achievements and Awards
Karim Hirji was a rally driver who won multiple motor racing titles in the 1960s and 1970s.
Hirji owns several hotels, including the Hotel Equatoria, the Grand Imperial Hotel, the Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel, and the Imperial Resort Beach Entebbe. His estimated net worth is over US$800 million, making him one of the richest people in Uganda.
Karim Hirji is also affiliated with Imperial Finance and Insurance, Didi’s Amusement Park, and Dembe Car Sales.
Controversies
Following a commercial court finding that he breached the contract and took advantage of the government’s nobility to cheat the taxpayers, Karim Hirji was ordered to refund sh10 billion CHOGM money in February 2016.
According to court documents, Hirji was ordered by Justice Henry Peter Adonyo to pay the government USD 1.464 million (Sh5.12 billion) in special damages with a 12% annual interest rate from 2009 till payment in full.
The judge also ordered him to pay the government sh800 million in general damages, plus 23% interest from the date of the judgement until full payment was made.
The dispute came from the USD 2.66 million (approximately sh8.8 billion) that the government gave to him in 2007 to prepare hotel space for the Common Wealth Summit activities, which he failed to deliver.
When he failed to honour his end of the bargain, the government took him to court in 2009, requesting that he restore the sh5 billion he was paid to make the facilities available.
In his complaint, the Attorney General also asked the court to find Hirji in breach of contract and order him to pay general damages, interest, and suit expenses.
In 2021, Karim Hirji’s stepchildren petitioned the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, alleging that Hirji conspired with Attorney General William Byaruhanga and lawyer Masembe Kanyerezi of MMAKS Advocates to fraudulently take properties that belonged to their late mother, denying them an inheritance.
Charm, Ziba Nanyonga Hirji, died on February 8, 2004, at Cromwell Hospital in London. She left various properties in Uganda and the United Kingdom – UK worth billions of shillings.
Karim Hirji received the letters of administration after presenting a Will dated January 6, 2004. The Will is claimed to have been drafted by Evans Dodd Solicitors, a UK law company under investigation by SRA.
The estate under issue included three residences in London, a life insurance policy worth three million pounds, two houses in Bugolobi, two properties in Kololo, two shopping arcades in Kampala, two properties on Mawanda Road, and additional properties in Nansana and Gayaza.
They further accused Hirji of withdrawing all monies totalling $10 million from Charm’s current and fixed deposit bank accounts at Barclays Bank, now Absa Bank, ICBC Bank in the United Kingdom, and the defunct Imperial Investment Bank, which belonged to Hirji and Allied Bank.
Byaruhanga is accused of travelling to London during Charm’s hospitalisation and obtaining her signature, which they used to sell off her London properties and steal deposits from her London bank accounts.
The children asked Parliament to assist them in investigating their mother’s property, which was transferred five days before her death. They said their mother was in a coma and had no idea what was going on. Four months before her death, she had begun taking powerful medication that impacted her judgement.
The children had filed a case at the High Court’s Family Division, but they claim it was ineffective.
Charm’s children had also petitioned the Aga Khan national council in Uganda for assistance in 2016. The organisation governs the Ismaili community, of which Hirji is a part. Charm’s remains were also requested to be unearthed in order to determine the reason for her ‘suspicious’ death.
The trio accused Hirji and their family friend Joseph Ssempebwa of transferring their mother’s property into their own names as absolute owners, misappropriating funds from both her accounts and proceeds from her life insurance policy, in a complaint filed on December 31, 2015.
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