Ham Kiggundu: "I have made money genuinely"

Young businessman, Hamis Kiggundu has rubbished reports that he is a front for a senior politician and that his business success is hinged on having connections with some people in government.

Kiggundu made the remarks while officially launching his book: Success and Failure; based on Reason and Reality today.

He said people who usually trade that line have a poor mindset and do not believe someone can make it through sweat and hard work.

He said: "Some people have asked me, how have you accumulated this income at such a young age?I tell them it is about mindset and determination. When you look at a majority of the youth, they do not believe in themselves."

Kiggundu is 34 years old and according to his book, he started working when he was 19 years.

"In the first year of my university studies, my parents gave me some small reasonable capital to start a business. I started small by trading in commodities... but now I have grown and have upgraded to real estate," he said.

Kiggundu has been doing business for 15 years.

He owns a number of prime properties in the city including Ham Shopping Mall, along the Nakivubo Channel.

The decision by government to allocate him the land upon which the mall sits, attracted controversy.

His book has 16 chapters and is based on his experience as a businessman. Kiggundu said the book is not an autobiography but rather a collection of his thoughts on how one can achieve success.

He said he while he can be categorised as a rich man is far from becoming wealthy.

"A rich person usually has large incomes, assets, large bank accounts but with a given level of uncertainty on sustainability of the riches. But wealthy people do not have this level of risk and money usually works for them whereas rich people work for money," he said.