Dr. Martin Aliker is one of the richest men in the country. The elder has sat on more than 40 boards of Ugandan companies and he owns shares in East African Breweries, Stanbic Bank, Nation Media Group, National Insurance Corporation and Uganda Clays.
But it wasn’t always like that. Aliker who is a humorous fellow used the celebrations of UBL marking 70 years to share his own beer history. Apparently back in the late 1940s he approached a beautiful girl in a nightclub, but there was one problem – she wanted a beer, which was the new trendy thing in the country and he couldn’t afford it.
“I was at Makerere and those days there was only one night club, near Clock Tower. I approached this girl and she actually wanted to dance with me. The condition was that I buy a beer. Back then a beer was only one shilling, but I couldn’t afford it.”
Of course you know girls have no time for such fellows, so Aliker missed out on the dance. But it looks like he is having the last laugh. “She rejected me because I couldn’t afford a beer but now I have a brewery,” The 88-year-old Aliker said sending the guests gathered for the party at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel into laughter.
“That night was my inspiration to be part of a brewery business. I vowed that one day I had to be involved in making beer,” he said.
Aliker who is also the chancellor of Victoria University is married to Camille whom he met several decades ago when he was a student in the US.