Chief Executive Officer Mukwano Group Amirali Karmali has died, sources close to the family said last evening.
Amirali Karmali widely known as Mukwano passed on at his home in Kololo, Kampala, where he was reported to have been on oxygen support for several days.
Karmali, born in the 1930s is the father to Alykhan Karmali, who is currently running the family business empire that spans real estate, banking, transport, and manufacturing.
The history of the Mukwano Group dates back to 1904, when Ali Mohamed Karmari, the father of Amirali, landed on the East African coast.
He made his way to Uganda and settled in Fort Portal in Western Uganda. It was his rapport with the local population that earned Alimohamed the nickname Mukwano, literally meaning friend.
He started a small business which, in the 1960s, gave birth to the transport business run by his son, Amirali Karmali.
Amirali later shifted his base to Kampala. He was one of the few Asians who stayed in Uganda during Idi Amin Dada’s military regime. Nonetheless, the uncertainty during the time could not allow many businesses, including Mukwano, to achieve their potential.
Mukwano leaves behind much more than a name because his business empire currently covers almost the whole of East Africa, Congo and South Sudan.