Flamboyance meets fortune: Michael Ezra’s sh1b USPA pledge that shook Kampala

It was the morning of April 2004 when flamboyant tycoon Michael Ezra made a thunderous return to Uganda’s sporting spotlight, this time with a jaw-dropping Sh1 billion pledge to the Uganda Sports Press Association (USPA).

The offer, made at an extraordinary USPA assembly in Kmapala, instantly became the biggest sponsorship in Ugandan sports history.

Ezra was originally meant to make the announcement a week earlier at Sheraton Hotel’s Rwenzori Ballroom, but that event was abruptly cancelled. Instead, he arrived fashionably late, at 10 a.m. to a packed Africana hall full of sports journalists eager for his next move.

With trademark swagger, Ezra laid out his vision:

“I will sponsor USPA activities for the next two years—2005 and 2006—without co-sponsors. Start spending immediately. I don’t expect you to complain about resources.”

As USPA patron, presiding over that year’s gala for the first time, he wasn’t shy about challenging the association to dream bigger. His ambition? To have international stars—like Arsenal’s Thierry Henry or Cameroonian legend Roger Milla—fly into Kampala to crown Uganda’s best athletes.

“We are going global,” he declared. “We have the money. If USPA can’t bring them, I will. I have the contacts.”

In true Ezra style, the event had its lighter moments. When Star FM sports presenter and marathon runner Hamza Ngobi asked a question, Ezra teased him about racing “almost every month” and warned it was unhealthy. Ngobi, seizing the moment, requested sh1 million to fund a trip to a race in South Africa. Ezra didn’t hesitate.

“Sh1m? I’ll give you sh2m,” he replied—nearly making the thrilled journalist drop to his knees in gratitude.

It was a day that reminded Uganda why Michael Ezra was never just a businessman—he was a dreamer, and, at least for that moment, the most talked-about name in Ugandan sport.