Haruna Sentongo has made his name as one of the young generation Kampala city real estate developers. The proprietor of Haruna Towers has his name on a number of buildings in Uganda’s capital centre.
Recently, Haruna has been instrumental in offloading rent arrears from his tenants after they returned from the Covid 19 lockdown, which won him kudos from across corners.
Haruna however set his sights on acquiring more land in the city to build work spaces that ordinary traders can afford and work from.
It has emerged that Sentongo has bought from property mogul Drake Lubega. Lubega is one of the biggest property owners in Kampala Central District.
Haruna says that he was flattered that Drake accepted to sell to him a plot in Nakasero and he is very proud of the move.
“Drake does not sell his property. I think he decided to give it to me.” Haruna Sentongo joked.
This will be Haruna Ssentongo’s first plot in the upscale Kampala city for him to develop.
Haruna has built in areas few people considered for development and it has given him an edge, in terms of acquiring land on the lower side. After he builds, other developers find him there.
Haruna Sentongo, 33, has established himself as one of Uganda’s new crop of billionaire property developers. However, the developer has not always been into real estate.
The tycoon started with selling ladies bags as a small scale trader in Down Town Kampala. “I was selling bags at Skylight Arcade,” he recalls. He bought bags from DT bags on Gazaland arcade at sh12,000 and resold them at sh15,000 at this stall. He aimed at earning a little profit from selling bags, but focused on volumes. It was however a lot of work.
He went into importing blouses from Hong Kong, Thailand and China with his brother, Hamis Kiggundu of Ham Towers, which was also hard work. Although he managed to make good money from this business, when he embarked on developing commercial buildings in Kampala city, he found peace.
Haruna started with acquiring a plot around Makerere, on the cheap and build Haruna Towers. The building caught the imagination of Kampalans, starting to respect the young tycoon as one of the new arrivals on the wealthy list of Kampala. He has since added Haruna Towers Ntinda, Segawa Market, Nakayizza Market and Haruna Towers on Kafumbe Mukasa road.
The property magnate who started with sh300,000, an amount he got from his father, says real estate gives him a sense of planning, and yet it keeps money with value.
Haruna says although he started by acquiring land on the outskirts of Kampala, the value they gained have enabled him earn respect of bankers who extend to him loans to build other properties.
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