Mr. Pradid Karia, whose family runs city real estate giant — Property Services Limited — has dismissed reports that he is looking to move investments to Nairobi, Kenya and elsewhere.
Mr. Pradip said the reports were inaccurate and their family feels the confidence of the Ugandan business environment.
“We have been in Uganda for 100 years, we never left,” he said.
This comes after reports last week emerged that the family had decided to sell off its investments in Uganda due to over-taxation and bullying by corrupt regulators.
But Mr. Pradip said they have invested in Uganda for over 100 years, hence can’t think of quitting now. He instead revealed that they are planning to further expand their business.
The family is one if the very few families that remained in Uganda, after President Idi Amins expulsion of Asians in 1972, and have a rich Ugandan heritage.
They also maintain a good working relationship with the indigenous Ugandan communities and authorities.
Founded in 1990, Property Services Limited, which is the leading commercial and residential real estate agency in Uganda, has showcased itself as a major brand in the real estate industry.
Property Services Ltd invests heavily in improving its brand image each year
Another business tycoon, who was said to be planning to exit Uganda is Alykhan Karmali, the Executive Director of Mukwano Industries Limited has since dismissed the reports.
The exit rumours came after Karmali sold his Acacia Mall, one of Uganda’s most prominent and sought-after shopping malls in Kololo, to Lexington Properties Limited.
But the businessman also dismisses the claims and said his family is Ugandan and is not going anywhere.
Instead Karmali says he is looking to further expand and consolidate his business empire.
“This is fake news. I’m not leaving Uganda. If anything, I am expanding locally and regionally,” he said in an interview at the weekend.
Karmali also served as a non-executive director of Exim Bank (Uganda), a commercial bank in which the Mukwano Group maintains 36.5 percent shareholding.