Residence Kampala, Uganda Years active 2006 - present | Nationality Ugandan | |
Born 1987 (age 29–30) Uganda Occupation Businessman, entrepreneur Nominations The Future Awards Africa Prize for Business | ||
Ali-Shah Jivraj (born in 1987) is a Ugandan businessman and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman, majority shareholder, and chief executive officer of Royal Electronic Limited, a Ugandan company that assembles products such as television sets, DVD players, radios, and speakers, with annual sales exceeding US$15 million in 2015. According to Forbes, in 2010 the company was ranked seventh in KPMG's annual ranking of the top 100 mid-sized companies in Uganda.
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Background and education
He was born in 1987 into a wealthy Ugandan family of Pakistani descent. He first considered becoming an entrepreneur in 2006 at age 19, when he was still attending high school.
Career
In 2006, a relative and resident in Pakistan sent some confectionery gifts to the family in Uganda via an acquaintance who was moving to Uganda in search of employment. The visitor was an experienced television repairman who impressed Jivrah and his mother by repairing the family television set. The still teenage-aged Jivrah borrowed money from family members, hired the visitor, and started assembling television sets with the help of parts imported from Malaysia and China. He has also set up a television assembly factory in neighboring Tanzania
More recently, Jivrah has been manufacturing dry-cell batteries. His factory is located in China and the products are marketed in Uganda and neighboring countries under the "Ugacell" brand. He has branched out into real estate, with loans from Ugandan banks, by building two luxury apartment complexes, one in Kololo and the other in Bukoto, both valued at US$17 million.