Party after Party: The illuminating Story of Allan Kanyike, the retiree who ‘Invested Wisely’
At 10:15am (November 7), a talkative, bald-headed man walks into our office in Kiwatule, Kampala. He is late by fifteen minutes for the interview appointment.
We had a day earlier reached out to Allan Kanyike, a 56-year-old Kampala socialite to share with us his life story.
For fans of jazz band in Kampala, there would be a hollow center in the middle of their social life without Kanyike, alias The Dynamite.
Kanyike hit the social scene nearly ten years ago upon returning from United Kingdom, where his family still lives.
He boasts a successful real estate management career and “investing wisely” in Uganda.
In our newsroom, Kanyike starts a conversation with sub editors and reporters.
He is in a jovial mood. He sits calmly in our interview room, settling for a cup of tea.
“My name is Allan Kanyike,” he introduces himself, emphasising, “I am a dual citizen from the United Kingdom.”
In UK, Kanyike served as manager at Queensbridge Management Limited, a real estate company, for 25 years.
“I managed the biggest conference and banqueting property in London for 8 years. And thereafter I became a property manager for 18 years, a total of 25 years. I was lucky to have had the privilege to have been a black Manager for 25 years in the United Kingdom but also to have had the wisdom to invest wisely back home in Uganda – the pearl of Africa,” he tells us as the interview begins.
Black Africans generally speak English as a second language, and accent is strongly influenced by mother-tongue (particularly Bantu languages). But Kanyike speaks in fluent British accent.
Unlike many immigrants who waste away their lifetime earnings, Kanyike was smarter. He saved every Pound earned for the better part of his working life.
Kanyike never dabbled in the stock craze of the time or spent money on impulse.
He was a conservative investor who believed that real estate in his country home was best choice for a retired person.
His bosses loved his neatness and punctuality.
Kanyike excelled in keeping things in order and had a great fondness for paperwork, processes and filing, special traits that endeared him to his British supervisors.
Kanyike’s life was shaped by an inspirational father, Anthony Henry Kanyike, who worked so hard to provide and protect his children during the murderous reign of Idi Amin in the 1970s.
“I was given the wisdom by my late mother and also with the exposure when my dad was the first African director for Mitchell Cotts. We had to go to Mombasa in exile for nine years,” he recounts
Growing up
“We lived a very luxurious life in Fort Portal where I was born in Lubowa Estates and migrated to Mombasa in early 70s. So I lived in Nyali where I had my primary education,” says Kanyike.
To him, peace is everything, the reason he says he continues to “party and party” in Uganda.
“So, when the situation stabilized in Uganda, I had to come back and do my O’ Levels at St Henry’s College, Kitovu. At this school, I studied with the current Buganda Premier, Charles Peter Mayiga, Kwame Ruyondo and others. That was 1976.”
At the time, many educated Ugandans had fled to the diaspora to arrange for war against Idi Amin. In 1979, as the Tanzania-led force invaded Uganda to topple Amin, the Kanyikes fled to Nairobi, Kenya.
Kanyike’s residence along Mityana road was bombed in the war. This was the second time he was running back to exile in a space of ten years.
“This taught me a big lesson – to treasure peace and stability,” says a jovial Kanyike.
He pursued his ABE (Association of Business Executive) at Strathmore College in Nairobi. When Amin was eventually forced into exile by hardened Tanzanian combatants, the Kanyikes returned to Uganda.
Kanyike was briefly employed by Statewide Insurance Company. Its founders, Ssebaana Kizito and Patrick Kiwanuka, have since passed on.
In Uganda, Kanyike’s father, Anthony Kanyike, was employed as Managing Director, Total Uganda.
London life
“Times were not good but I married my first wife Florence Kanyike, the mother of my son Kelvin. She is in the United Kingdom now,” he recalls.
At Statewide Insurance Company, Kanyike worked as an assistant accountant. He says he would sometimes sign checks for the company.
Thereafter, Kanyike made a decision to go to London. He arrived in London in 1987 where he luckily got a job as a marketing manager of a car business in central London. He served eight years.
He later joined Queensbridge Management where he managed 42 properties in central London.
Official records indicate that Queensbridge management was dissolved in 2012.
Nevertheless, Kanyike says he was “lucky that I had the wisdom to invest wisely from day one because I didn’t like the life abroad. With the exposure we had in the past and with the help of my late mother we managed to put up some structures. Luckily, I had the mother at home who enabled me to invest wisely. I always flew back home to check on the progress of my investment.”
Kanyike owns several apartment units in Ntinda, about 7 kilometers from Kampala city centre. He says he was compelled to dispose of some of his prime properties “because I could not manage the thieves in Uganda, even relatives.”
He had invested in Allan & Pinky Resort in Mbalala, Mukono, before selling it off.
Kanyike says his apartments are located in Kalinabiri, Ntinda. They form part of his family investment which he says his kids will inherit.
“Each of my children are entitled to one of those properties.”
He also has more commercial buildings on Stretcher Road in Ntinda. The estimated value of the properties is Shs 2bn. An apartment unit generates between Shs 500,000 and Shs 800,000 for Kanyike.
This means he earns about Shs6m per month, enough money to meet his basic needs and finance a ‘party after party’ lifestyle.
Location, location, location
Kanyike says investment is not a simple task. Several factors including location and returns must be put into consideration.
“You don’t have to wait to be a millionaire or anything like that. I was never a millionaire at any one time. But you have to be determined and invest wisely in a prime location,” he says, reflecting on his commitment to save every cent for investment.
“I was lucky that when I decided to invest, the process of land were very affordable. But even now, you know, you don’t need to be in the cities to invest wisely. You can go to places like Gayaza or Mukono. You don’t need to be in the city because the places here are not very affordable,” advises Kanyike.
“You need to put up structures near the town where you can get people to rent your properties. That is the best way I can see it being feasible. The city is so congested and the prices are so high. So it’s good to go to places where you can afford land, put up structures which can generate you income and have a home around,” he adds.
An experienced property manager, we ask Kanyike to weighs in on the prices of Uganda’s real estate market.
“When you convert the Pound Sterling to the Uganda Shilling, the property in the UK is quite high. Like I have seen Naalya apartments going for Shs 300m. But if you convert Shs 300m to the Sterling, you find that the property of that value in the UK is actually very, very cheap here.”
Diaspora
Kanyike urges Ugandans in the diaspora to love their country.
“I’m a dual citizen. I even have a family there in the UK. For the love of my country, I was determined to work harder and return home. My family lives in the UK, but I didn’t like my life. I love my country, Uganda. But if you go to UK or United States or wherever, go with the ambition of working hard,” he tips the Ugandans in the Diaspora.
“Try to invest wisely and come back home because Uganda is one of the best places to live and invest your money. For example, I have not worked for the last eight years or even almost 10 years but I have lived a very good life. Because I invested wisely. All my children are well educated,” says Kanyike.
Marriage
He, however, says he has other kids from “reputable families.”
Kanyike says he has a son with Barbara Kakoma.
“He is one of the top doctors. He is called Dr Ian Bwete and he’s doing well,” says Kanyike, adding, “He’s investing wisely.”
Barbra is a sister of George William Kakoma who composed Uganda’s national anthem.
Kanyike has another son living in Dubai whom he says is also “investing wisely” in Uganda. Kelvin, his other son, is a practicing engineer in UK.
He also has another daughter, aged 38, living in Dubai.
“I am very happy to have five children from reputable families and to be a grandfather and great grandfather,” says Kanyike.
“At 56, I am retired and contented.”
He derives pride from being the first black person to serve as manager of 42 properties in Central London. Kanyike’s daughter Amanda won several awards at Kent University.
“She was interviewed by the BBC,” Kanyike recalls.
Kanyike speaks fondly of his father, Anthony Kanyike, the former Member of Parliament of Buikwe from 1996 to 2006. He lost the 2006 polls to Norman Muwulize.
In 2014, Kanyike said he was “totally devastated to lose my father.”
As Member of Parliament, Anthony served as Chairperson of the Sessional Committee on Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. He was praised as a voice of farmers.
“This is a great loss to the nation,” said Agriculture Minister Tress Bucyanayandi after Anthony’s death in 2014.
At 71 years, Kanyike’s father had excelled as an agriculturalist, lawmaker, managing director for Total-Uganda and Mitchell Courts as well as a human resource manager for Uganda Sugar Corporation Limited.
All this this gives Kanyike a sense of achievement and contentment.
With millions of shillings pouring into his coffers from his real estate investment, Kanyike believes now is the time to ‘party after party’.
He tells ChimpReports: “I invested wisely. I am contended in my life. I have to enjoy my life. I have to enjoy. You know I am not miserable. I don’t like miserable people around me because I am a very happy person.”
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