PAKASA: The man behind Industrialist Emmanuel Katongole

• Born from very poor background
  

• Father vanished in 1966 during political turmoil 
  

• Sisters succumbed to HIV
  
• Sold local brew at 8 years of age

By Robert Mwesigye

Industrialist Emmanuel Katongole who is keynote speaker at the ongoing Pakaka Forum has lifted a lid on his story, delving in detail a rich history of a man who started humble and captivated the globe with his entrepreneurial skills.

The man at the head of the first ever pharmaceutical conglomerate of its kind in Africa, with an annual turnover of over US$50m, Quality Chemicals, unknown to many, was inspired by the loss of two of his sisters to the deadly HIV virus.

Before delving into the details of his humble background, Katongole noted that one does not have to be born with a silver spoon in the mouth to have a solid backgroud from which to launch a business career.

His history

Katongole was born from a humble background in 1962. He described his parents as uneducated and illiterate and could not even write their own names. He is the last born and only male of four siblings.

His parents met in 1954 in Bulera Sub County where they had both migrated from far, at different intervals, in search of a livelihood.

Bulera is a tea producing area in Mityana district.

Vision Group CEO Robert Kabushenga is the moderator at the ongoing Pakasa Forum at Kampala Parents School. PHOTO/Twitter/ Urban TV

While his father migrated from present day Kalungu district, his mother walked all the way, together with eight siblings, from Ibanda, to Mubende and then Mityana, settling at a tea plantation.

His mother got a job at 15 years of age as a cook; she was proud to work there, according to Katongole. With the demands of education and giving their children a better life the father relocated to Kampala.

The father got a job at a construction site in 1965. Katongole says he rarely saw him because he was always at work.

Participants taking notes at the Pakasa Forum taking place at Kampala Parents School. PHOTO/Abu Mwesigwa

However a dark moment came in the family when his father vanished in 1966 during political turmoil. The mother then was faced with challenge of raising him and his siblings on her own.

At just 8 years of age Katongole started brewing local beer to help his mother etch a living. He later joined school in 1969.

Faced with limited options his mother took the unfortunate decision to get his sisters out of school so her only son could study.

Though it was a drastic decision Katongole, in his own words, would later in life come to be thankful to his mother.

His elder sister got pregnant at 15 but died during labour while his other two sisters got married. The second sister produced 12 children in a record eight years.

Youth attending the Pakasa Forum at Kampala Parents School. PHOTO/Abu Mwesigwa

The family contiuned to face hardhips and Katongole lost his two remaining siblings to HIV/AIDS. With him as the only hope left his mother’s determination to school him proved fruitful.

Katongole excelled at school and emerged the best primary pupil in Mubende district, winning himself a partial scholarship to Namilyango College. The fete was the first of its kind, making him the pioneer secondary school student from his village.

Katongole, speaking eloquently in an emphatic voice, said his experience at Namilyango College changed his life: “It was my first time to use a bathroom inside a building,” he said.

A participant listens attentively at the Pakasa Forum at Kampala Parents School. PHOTO/Abu Mwesigwa

Katongole’s success throughout school saw him join Makerere University from where he graduated and got a job.

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Business focus

Katongole started small scale business while working. With as little as US$50 he would travel to Nairobi with other colleagues, pick up merchandise and be back in Kampala in time for work. His employers had never known he was doing business.

His turning point however came in 1997 when he shocked his bosses with a resignation to venture into private business. He teamed up with six friends to start Quality Chemicals whose first address was in the slums of Katwe.

Each of the shareholders contributed sh10m to the venture.
 
Speaking to a packed auditorium at Kampala Parents School where the Forum is taking place, Katongole revealed that he has believed over time that business should be geared towards problem solving.

Hence the rapid and rather timely transformation of Quality Chemicals was the effect HIV and malaria was having on the population.

“It was an opportunity to be part of a solution,” he said, recouping the sad loss of his sisters to the deadly HIV virus.

Overtime Quality Chemicals, which produces antiretroviral drugs, has grown in leaps and bounds.

President Museveni officially commissioned the company in 2007 as a pharmaceutical conglomerate where Indian pharmaceutical company Cipla holds a stake.

Their biggest achievement came in 2013 when the company was inducted in the Global Entrepreneur of the year Hall of Fame in Monaco.

Katongole tipped that with determination, dedication, discipline, a dream cannot go wrong. With a departing piece of advice, the enterpreneur said:

"When you start making money share it with those who need it most, however little. Never wait to accumulate millions..."