The Chancellor Makerere University, Prof. George Mondo Kagonyera inaugurated the first Board of Directors for the Makerere University Holdings Company on 22nd August 2014 in the Senior Common Room, Main Administration Building. The 7- board member team, led by illustrious businessman, entrepreneur and industrialist; Charles Mbire, will be charged with laying further strategies for improving Makerere University’s finances. The other members include:

• Mr. Charles Ocici, Executive Director of Enterprise Uganda    
• Dr. William Bazeyo, an Associate Professor and the Dean, School of Public Health, CHS, Makerere University.
• Ms. Ruth Biyinzika Musoke, Director, Member Services at the Private Sector Foundation Uganda.
• Mr. Dan Kasirye, Country Investment Officer promoting IFC investments in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi for the World Bank Group
• Dr. Winifred Tarinyeba-Kiryabwire, Lecturer, School of Law, Makerere University, and
• Dr. Gorrettie Nsubuga Nabanoga, Deputy Principal, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES), Makerere University.

In his acceptance speech, Charles Mbire pledged that the Board will give its very best towards improving Makerere University’s finances and requested that the bureaucratic tendencies synonymous with public institutions be minimized to allow the Board work faster and smoothly.

The Chancellor called upon the inaugural Board of Directors to take up the task wholesomely. “The task ahead may seem challenging. However, through creativity and innovation you have the opportunity to tap into your individual wealth of experience to collectively make little work of seemingly impossible tasks,” he said.

The Vice Chancellor, Makerere University, Prof. John Ddumba-Ssentamu, emphasized that this University has vast resources for the Board to work with. “Makerere University has a wealth of land resources located in the most strategic locations of this city right from the up-market suburbs of Kololo and Makindye to the less affluent but more dynamically evolving areas such as Katanga. We need to evolve with the times so as to make the most of our own resources and influence,” he said.

In a related development, the Chancellor inaugurated the Endowment fund Board of trustees last month. This Board is responsible for mobilising resources from Makerere University Alumni and well-wishers (http://news.mak.ac.ug/2014/07/makerere-inaugurates-endowment-fund-board-trustees).

In relation to both the Board of Directors for the Makerere University Holdings Company and the Board of Trustees for the Endowment fund, the Chairperson of Makerere University Council, Eng. Dr. Charles Wana Etyem observed that, “The confidence that we have placed in both the Board of Trustees and the Board of Directors is firmly rooted in the ethos that have shaped Makerere University over the past 92 years. In addition to our vast land resources, Makerere University also has vast human resources. People are our greatest resource, and you ladies and gentlemen of the board are an embodiment of this adage. Therefore as we continue to place the best qualified people in the right places, we are destined to achieve our objective of a financially stable Makerere University.”

Article by Marion Alina, PUblic Relations Office