When we saw this monster white Hummer with the private Licence plate “Kakooza”, we thought it belonged to one of those basummer or the “sangomas” who ply their trade in South Africa and come back during the festive season to show off their money.
Well, it turned out that Kakooza is a really rich man and the father of another really rich lad.
This Kakooza is of Indian origin but he speaks perfect Luganda.
“Banzala Bombo,” he told Matooke Republic, saying that he was born in Bombo.
Kakooza is the father to young rich man Ashish Thakkar, who was named on Fortune Magazine’s list of 40 under 40 in 2013. Thakkar is the founder of Mara Group that operates in 22 African countries and the United Arab Emirates.
He started the business in 1996 at just 15 years of age, but it was his father who goes by the name Kakooza who gave him the $5,000 loan.
Actually Ashish’s business started without having planned it. A family friend visited their home and loved the computer that the father had just bought for Ashish. The young lad, then just 13 told him he could sell it to him but he added $100 to the initial price claiming he had to computers, yet he had just one.
He later bought another computer which he also sold at school.
During the holidays, he asked for a loan from the senior Thakkar and opened up a computer shop on Kampala Road, just opposite his father’s business, saying he would close it when it was time to return to school.
When the holidays ended, Ashish told his father it was business he wanted to do. “You will send me to school, but I will end up doing this anyway so I better start now,” he told the old man.
His father told him to try it for a year and if it didn’t work out, he would go back to school, but business became very lucrative and he actually opened up shop in Dubai to supply African countries when he was still just 15!
He is now a big global business player and he raised $325m to start one of his latest businesses, Atlas Mara that invests in commercial banking institutions across Africa with Bob Diamond, the former chief executive of Barclays. The company is listed on the London stock exchange.
Mr Kakooza can ride the monster Hummer without worrying about fuel consumption because he is loaded and his son is also loaded.