James Mulwana

Compiled by Ojijo (Author, Poet, Lawyer, Speaker, Entreprenuer)

Nearly every one in ten Ugandans has used a nice pen, plastic mug, basin or jerry can. The man behind it all is none other than James Mulwana, founder and owner of Nice House of Plastics.

He is not just one of East Africa’s finest Chief Executive Officers (CEO), but he is also one of the most successful businessmen in Uganda. Some sources claim that he was once a bouncer at the then famous Suzana nightclub in Nakulabye, some decades ago, before lady luck smiled at him.Mulwana was an early bloomer and got involved in the import-export business.

At one time, he ran a mail order business, exporting wooden combs to Shepherds Bush in the United Kingdom. Some say, life for Mulwana would have probably followed much the same routine had it not been for his friend, Dr William Kalema, formerly the Chairman of Uganda Manufacture’s Association. Kalema predicted, rightly so, that manufacturing was the future for the development of emerging economies like Uganda. He reportedly introduced Mulwana to Chloride, a British company that was at the time looking for partners in Uganda. The company opened a motor battery manufacturing line in Kampala, with Mulwana as managing director.

Apart from the Battery company, Mulwana set up Ship Tooth Brush (renamed Nice House of Plastics), the first company to manufacture toothbrushes in Africa. The battery line shut down at the height of political instability in the 70s and early 80s but re-opened soon after peace returned to the country. The Nice product line has now diversified into tableware, packaging and knapsack sprayers. The factory sells 12,000 batteries a month and has made pile for Mulwana.

But that’s not all Mulwana owns. In 1986 he started Jesa Mixed Farm with a seed herd of 82 Friesian cows, which have now multiplied to thousands. In 1994, he added a milk processing plant. In 1992, he entered a partnership with some German businessmen and established Nsimbe Estates, now one of the country’s biggest exporters of cut flowers. In his own words, Mulwana once told the East African newspaper thus: “my success is the contribution of many people’´.