His clientele are mostly Ugandans in diaspora who entrust him with real estate projects. Also an investment adviser and motivational speaker, he rode on the attributes of honesty and dedication to reset his career as a real estate mogul after spending 19 years in the United Kingdom as a security guard. Geofrey Serugo caught up with him.
When I finally met Bakaluba at his office in Ntinda at around 8 am, he was preparing to go to the field. Dressing casually with safety gear and his notebook, we set off to Mukono where he has erected a three-storied commercial building. All throughout the journey, his phone kept buzzing, mostly calls from abroad asking about the progress of their work.
“I have become used to this [relentless phone calls],” he told me. “Some days I sleep for just three hours because I have to attend to calls from across the world due to the different time zones of my clients.”
At the site in Mukono, Bakaluba made a video call and discussed in detail with the client, taking turns to move around every corner of the building. After about an hour, we had to leave and head to Kigo, where he is also supervising another commercial building.
By 1 pm, we had visited four sites yet he was set for a video conference call with a group of people in Australia, who want his advice on how to invest in Uganda. It was at that point that we had to part ways but not before he told me his amazing rags-to-riches story.
Bakaluba was born and raised in Bukoto-Ntinda to Sheikh Muhammad Sekimwanyi and Hajat Mariam Nakku. However, his parents divorced when he was three years old. He prefers to call himself a business strategist.
EDUCATION BACKGROUND
He attended a local kindergarten, which was located in a garage on Kampala’s northern bypass. He later attended Bugembe Islamic Institute in Jinja. After two years, he transferred to Bilal Islamic in Bwaise.
“I used to walk from Bukoto to Bwaise to go to school. I remember waking up at 5 am in the morning. I left home without breakfast, and for lunch we went to Kalerwe to eat sugarcane left over from the delivery trucks. I hated school because of such challenges,” he said.
“Later, I went to Bukoto Muslim elementary school for one school year without my father’s permission. He was immediately furious when he found out. I was taken to Froebel Primary School, where I completed my primary education. I attended Kibuli Secondary School,” he recounted.
UNITED KINGDOM SOJURN
Bakaluba said his father chased him away from home when he was 17, and that marked the end of his school career. He moved in with his mother, who owned a store in Kyaliwajjala on the outskirts of Kampala. He stayed with her for about three years while he tried to go to London.
In 2001, Bakaluba went to London, where he was initially hired as a parking attendant. His plane ticket was financed by his older brother, who was already in the United Kingdom.
In the United Kingdom, Bakaluba hated walking on the cold city streets. After three weeks, he applied for a job as a security guard, which he did for the entire 19 years he spent in London. He lived in public housing, which was reliably cheap for low-income earners.
Because his father was a landlord, Bakaluba knew the benefits of investing in real estate and saw the financial freedom his father enjoyed throughout his life. He collected money from the houses to support his other businesses.
FIRST INVESTMENT
After humble beginnings, Bakaluba said he decided to invest in his home country because of the high cost of living and taxes in the United Kingdom. To minimize his expenses, he saved Shs6 million in the first two years and bought his first property in Kulambiro in 2003.
In 2004, he built rental units that brought in Shs 100,000 each month. The rental units were completed within 18 months. Each tenant deposited money into his bank account.
In a short time, Bakaluba generated Shs 7.2 million from the rental units in Kulambiro and topped up to Shs 12 million and bought in Kisaasi. In Kisaasi, he built eight units that earned him Shs 800,000 each month. By the time he left the UK, Bakaluba owned that many properties, including 35 apartments.
“In first world countries, the system is such that you get all your desires fulfilled in the form of easy credit. Many foreigners have fallen into this trap. You get paid and then start paying back unnecessary debts for the car, the phone and many other things you can do without. I didn’t fall for it because I had a precise plan with a time frame. This discipline helped me save money,” he explained.
He said the government should strengthen oversight of its institutions, such as the land registry, to combat fraud and simplify the process of acquiring land titles, and that local councils were taking too long to approve construction plans, which was affecting our business.
When he returned in 2021, Bakaluba began constructing commercial buildings. He built the Bakaluba Mall and 10 more apartments. He has since started a company called Bakaluba Property Services, with offices in Ntinda, to build and manage properties.
Since then, he has rescued Ugandans in the diaspora from fraudulent construction and property management companies. He has built them over 100 houses and 35 apartments.
MOTIVATIONAL WORK
Bakaluba said his decision to invest in the real estate sector has brought him fame among Ugandans living in the diaspora. Last month, he was in the United States.
“People are interested in real estate, especially Ugandans working in the diaspora, and they are coming back to invest. They have organized conferences for me to speak to them. This year, I have already been to the U.S. twice. In August, I will be traveling to Canada. In September, I’ll be in South Africa, and in October, I’ll be in the Netherlands. All these conferences are organized by Internet students and customers to show them how to invest in their home country,” he explained.
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