Who is Ponsiano Ngabirano? Flash Uganda Media looks at his biography, age, wife, family, tribe, achievements, and relationship with Eva Ngabirano, Abanya Ruhinda Ba-Rujumbura Development Association, founder and chairman of the Ponsiano Group, the early life and education of the managing director, and chairperson of Capital Shoppers, a chain of supermarket stores based in Kampala, Uganda.
Ponsiano Ngabirano is a wealthy entrepreneur and businessman from Uganda.
He is the founder, managing director, and chairperson of Capital Shoppers, a chain of supermarket stores based in Kampala, Uganda.
Ponsiano Ngabirano is also the founder and chairman of the Ponsiano Group, which includes businesses in agriculture, construction, real estate, and hospitality.
Early Life and Education
Ponsiano Ngabirano was born in 1955 in Rukungiri District, Western Region, Uganda.
Ngabirano is married to Eva Ngabirano, the finance director of Capital Shoppers Supermarkets and the couple has four children.
He graduated from Makerere University with a degree in business administration.
Career and Professional Work Experience
After graduating, he worked in banking until establishing the Ponsiano Group in 1988.
Ponsiano Ngabirano opened his first supermarket in Kampala’s Dastur Street in 1997.
Since then, he has established three additional businesses in City Mall, Ntinda, and Nakawa. Ngabirano also deals in real estate, renting out spare space on his buildings that the stores don’t use.
He made a fortune in supermarkets and commercial real estate before entering the hospitality business by building a 400-room, five-star hotel next to the Mestil Hotel and Residences Kampala in Nsambya, Kampala.
Ponsiano and Marriot International partnered to operate the hotel under one of the Marriot brands.
Ngabirano is also a philanthropist who has participated in a number of charity endeavours. He is a member of the Uganda Red Cross Society’s board of trustees and a patron of the Uganda Cancer Institute.
He is also a member of the Uganda Investment Authority’s board of directors and the Chairman of SMS Construction Ltd’s board of directors.
Capital Shoppers supermarket Branches
Capital Shoppers Supermarkets is the country’s largest locally-owned supermarket chain.
As of 2014, the family-owned chain’s customer loyalty program offered a 4 per cent refund on purchases, the most in Uganda’s business.
Capital Shoppers Supermarket chain has branches in the following locations as of August 2014:
- Central Kampala: Dastur Street, Nakasero Hill, Kampala.
- Nakawa Branch: Nakawa, Kampala, Port Bell Road
- Ntinda Branch: Capital Shoppers Mall, Ntinda Road, Kampala
- Garden City Branch: Garden City Mall, Kampala.
Achievements and Awards
Ngabirano and members of his family own large tracts of land both inside and outside of Kampala, in addition to their stake in Capital Shoppers Supermarkets.
He is the chairperson of Abanya Ruhinda Ba-Rujumbura Development Association (ARBARDA) a SACCO group.
He is also the founder and chairman of the Ponsiano Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to bettering the lives of Ugandans.
In 2012, the New Vision newspaper named him one of Uganda’s wealthiest people. In 2012, Ponsiano Ngabirano’s net worth was reported to be $20 million. He is, nonetheless, considered to have a net worth of more than $100 million.
Controversies
In 2020, Ponsiano Ngabirano expressed regret to the Uganda Muslim Community (UMC), Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC), and Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) regarding packed pork sausages bearing the label “Halal” that was discovered in their stalls.
He promised to make sure the issue doesn’t happen again. He further stated that as soon as the matter came to his knowledge, all the sausages were removed from distribution, and all store sales were halted.
He continued that a mistake in the packing had been made but had been overlooked owing to a breakdown in the quality controls and has since been addressed.
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