Amos Nzeyi
Amos Nzeyi is a successful Ugandan businessmen, entrepreneur and industrialist.
Early life
Amos Nzeyi hails from Kabale District in the South Western region of Uganda. His Career in Business began at a very early age as he was from a humble background. With not enough money in the family to support his education, Amos realised he would need to help himself and began selling eggs to primary schools and teachers. As this small business grew, he used the money he had raised from selling poultry to start producing and selling Mandazi (Scones) which was far more profitable. This enabled him to finance his Primary education. The Cost of Secondary education was considerably higher though and without any means of financing his studies, Amos knew that entering employment would be his best option.
Early career
His first Job was in an Israeli Company called WRD which had won a tender to build a tarmac road from Kabale town to Ntungamo, he was employed there as a Spanner boy. Being the hard worker that he is, it didn’t take long before he was promoted to higher positions within the company working on many different road construction projects between Central and Western Uganda. A few years later, Amos had saved enough money to go into business for himself. He quit his job, purchased a pick-up and went into Business supplying various goods to schools. It was while he was engaged in this business that he discovered a large Timber Mill in the Western Region that had stocks of Timber but no Market. Amos seized this opportunity and using the additional vehicles he had purchased as his business grew, he started supplying Timber to Kampala to be used in the construction industry. Before he knew it, he was the biggest supplier of Timber to the National Housing and Construction Corporation (NHCC). This business grew and led to him acquiring agencieswith Chillington Tool Company and the Madvani Group where he bought commodities that he supplied to shops in the south west region of Uganda.
Sporting achievements
With the profits he was making from his business, Amos was able to engage himself in sports activities; one of them being Motor Rally where he became famous after winning the OAU Rally that covered Uganda, Sudan, Congo, Rwanda and Kenya with exception of Tanzania due to the relationship at the time. He was very happy to have won that rally as the Trophy was a brand new car which had been donated to Uganda Motor Club by the then President Idi Amin. Shortly after that though,hewas picked and taken to the infamous State Research Bureau (SRB) for Interrogation, where to his surprise he was asked to explain how he had won the car. Lucky enough, he found his former classmate Jackson Kyarikunda who took a statement from him and aided his release. After that experience, Amos moved his Family and trucks to Nairobi Kenya, he then returned to Uganda and continued with his business using hired trucks. The situation in Uganda though became more and more unstable and Nzeyi had no choice but to move to Kenya on a permanent basis.
Time in exile
While in Kenya, he used his trucks to venture into the transport business ferrying goods from the Kenyan Port of Mombasa through to Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire (now DRC). A long term contract he acquired with Transintra, a Belgian firm expanded his business and together with his two business partners he started a company called Intercontinental Transporters. For the next 10 years they grew their fleet to 60 trailers and were transporting goods all across eastern, central and southern Africa. In 1983 he sold his stake in Intercontinental Transport and moved his Family to the United Kingdom to take care of his son Arthur who’d developed an illness that required specialised medical treatment. To support his Family, Amos began to invest in real-estate. He would buy dilapidated flats, renovate them and sell them off at a minimum profit. He did this for some years until 1986 when the National Resistance Movement came to power after a five year guerrilla war.
Return to uganda
In 1986 he returned to Uganda; upon his return he identified an opportunity to enter the baking industry as at the time all Bread was imported from Kenya. This led him to establish Hot Loaf Bakery Ltd which today is one of Uganda’s biggest bakeries. Around the same time,he discovered that there was an alarming shortage of beer and soft drinks on the market due to the lack of bottle tops which came from South Africa and the UK. This led him to establish Crown Corks Uganda Ltd on 10 February 1989 where he began supplying bottle tops to all beverage industries in Uganda which contributed to the availability of their products on the market. In 1993, the Government decided to privatise parastatals which included Lake Victoria Bottling Company who were the bottlers of Pepsi products in Uganda.Amos travelled to the US to secure a letter of intent from PepsiCo International which would enable him to secure the Franchise to bottle Pepsi products in Uganda. He then returned to Uganda to tender for the sale of assets of Lake Victoria Bottling Company. Nzeyi was successful in winning the tender and together with his business partners began bottling Pepsi products in Uganda under a newly established company called Crown Beverages Ltd. Crown Beverages Ltd is currently the Market leader in Uganda’s soft drinks Industry.
Notable ventures and appointments
Over the last 50 years Amos Nzeyi has engaged himself in several successful business ventures as well as served on many boards in an advisory capacity. In 1991 Amos Nzeyi joined hands with a number of other individuals to establish National Bank of Commerce (then Kigezi Bank of Commerce). The banks mission was to provide banking services and inexpensive loans to the Kigezi Community (in South Western Uganda). Over the Years as the bank grew, new branches were opened in the Country’s capital Kampala and its mission expanded to cover a much wider Market. Amos Nzeyihas also served on the board of directors of Uganda Development Bank. In this capacity he helped fulfil the Banks vision to drive sustainable socio-economic development in Uganda. Mr Nzeyi’s widely known passion for the game of Golf led him to develop and establish Palm Valley Golf & Country Club in 2008. This golf club is situated in the outskirts of Kampala and also serves as a training academy for young golfers aspiring to compete at a national, regional and international level. Promoting the game of golf in Uganda is a passion that Nzeyi holds close to his heart. This same passion led him to stand for and be elected to the President of Uganda Golf Union in 2011. During his two year term, Nzeyi was credited with reviving a number of rundown courses across the Country as well as championing the development of youth golf in the Country. Furthermore he was able use his relationships in the business community to bring on corporate sponsors who helped ensure the National teams participation in a number of regional and international tournaments and training camps. In 2013, Amos Nzeyi was elected to the position of Board Chairman of Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA). Uganda Manufacturers Association is one of the largest organisations representing the broad industrial and commercial sectors of Uganda’s economy and an important forum for the private sector in the Country. The association's members are over 700 corporate, large, medium and small firms from the private and public sectors. As chairman, Amos Nzeyi together with his board is responsible for fulfilling UMA’s objectives which include but are not limited to; Promoting, protecting and co-ordinating the interests of industrialists in Uganda, to act as a watch dog and an effective mouth piece for the members of the association and to advice government on key polices affecting the industrial sector.