How Mityana billionaire Butebi built his business empire

Emmanuel Sembuusi Butebi, the father of Mityana municipality legislator Francis Zaake, needs no introduction. He has built a multibillion shilling empire. He owns hotels, commercial buildings, microfinance businesses and a school. Starting a business at eight years old, he was an established businessman at 18. He shared his story.

Emmanuel Sembuusi Butebi’s journey to the top is an inspiration for many. The 54-year-old did not go far in school even though his parents were of means and willing to take him up to university. After his O’level, he concentrated on business; building an empire from scratch.

Today, Butebi has made a name in the education, entertainment, microfinance and hospitality sectors.

He employs over 350 people in his hotels, school, nightclubs, money-lending business and commercial buildings spread across Mityana, Kampala and Wakiso districts.

But of all, Mityana is at his heart. When his umbrella finally folds, he wants to be remembered as a man who dedicated his all to developing his home district.

Butebi is the chairperson of Mityana Traders’ Association, an umbrella for over 800 traders. He is also a member of the Buganda Twezimbe Committee.

Butebi (left) with some Ssingo Secondary School students and headteacher Erone Nalumu (right) at their rabbit project.

Businesswise, Butebi owns the Emirates Hotel, Wamala Lake View Hotel and Green Valley Hotel. He also owns wholesale shops, Ambience Club, Zaake Plaza and Ssingo Secondary School. Butebi is also the brains behind Butebi Financial Services, which has branches in Kampala.

Beyond that, Butebi was thrust into the limelight in 2016, when his son, Francis Zaake Butebi, became the Mityana Municipality MP.

How he built his empire

Born Emmanuel Sembuusi, he later adopted ‘Butebi’, the name of the village where he grew up in a large polygamous family. The village lies 7km from Mityana town.

Butebi says his father, the late Protazio Muyanja, a former civil servant, had more than 30 children, but he ensured they all went to school. Butebi’s mother, Mary Namugwanya, was a housewife.

Butebi started fishing when he was eight years old in Primary Two at Nakibanga Primary School as the village is near Lake Wamala. He had mastered how to fish.

“My father was mad at me. He feared the money would sway me from school. He tried to get me off the lake in vain,” Butebi says.

Ssingo Secondary School.

That year, Muyanja decided to buy the budding businessman a boat and fishing nets, but kept an eye on him to ensure he balanced business with school.

Besides fishing, Butebi provided transportation services, ferrying firewood and foodstuffs from Zibwe Island. His father kept his savings.

While in Senior Two at Mityana Secondary School, Butebi used his savings to open a retail shop in the village. He would operate his shop from 6:00am to 11:00am, close and run to school. After classes at 4:00pm, he would run back to make some evening sales from 6:00pm to 10:00pm. Butebi restocked on weekends.

With time, he added bricklaying and coffee trading.

Additionally, he packed and sold groundnuts, popcorn, soya and pancakes. Whatever clients asked for, he would make it rather than buy it from others. Besides, at his shop, he sold fried fish.

His hands were full, but he would also hawk the snacks at weddings and other gatherings. One would wonder; how did Butebi manage to spread himself so thin, successfully at a young age.

Emirates Hotel is one of Butebi’s businesses.

To this, he says: “I married at 18 and my wife was also business-oriented. So, she took over the shop and I concentrated on coffee trading, hawking and fishing.”

By that time, Butebi had become popular beyond his village where he had already built a decent home and commercial building. He also owned a Datsun pickup truck, which he used in his coffee business and to restock the shop.

At 20 years old, he abandoned bricklaying and fishing for hawking. He learnt that selling clothes was lucrative, especially in the flea markets. He bought a bicycle and started moving to different places on different days. He juggled this with the coffee business.

On why he dropped some enterprises, Butebi says: “Flexibility is key in business. If a venture stops bringing in the money I want, I divert to a profitable one.”

Challenges

Looking back, Butebi says, he has made mistakes and learnt from them. He regrets partnering with friends to construct a commercial building from which he expected a good return on investment. It was a bad idea because he lost millions.

That aside, Butebi faces the challenges of dealing with employees who are lazy and untrustworthy.

For this, he says: “I now recruit more women than men. I have realised women are more trustworthy and committed. The bad ones are usually influenced by the men.”

In addition to that, he hires auditors and accountants to keep track of his businesses.