Two Ugandan companies bidding to build an international airport in Mbarara City in partnership with Chinese counterparts, were founded only in the last six years and have cross-shareholding.
Our investigations show that Base 7 International Aviation Academy Ltd (B7IAA), established on May 10, 2019, and Hamster Business Solutions Limited, incorporated on December 21, 2022, own six shares in each other.
The former has total share capital of 2,000,000 while the latter has share capital of 5,000,000 and neither firm has filed annual returns since founding, according to Uganda Registrations Services Bureau records. Available details show that B7IAA has six individual shareholders, with four of them with the highest number of shares (15-17) doubling as directors.
These are Mr Ham Kamuntu, Mr David M. Kamanya, Mr Charles Mugabi and Mr Alex Kyakunzire, who is also the company secretary. The others are Jeremiah M. Aronda and Ms Patience Ataho.
The second company, Hamster Business Solutions Limited, has a similar shareholding structure and directorship; six shareholders out of whom four – Mr Patrick Kangume, Ms Sylvia S. Komuhangi, Mr Eddie K. Sengendo and Mr Harrison Asiimwe – are directors. Two of the shareholders are Chinese nationals Guo Dong and Jing Hong.
Representatives of the two Ugandan firms, a UK-registered entity and two big-ticket design and construction companies in China, have jointly received a presidential nod for them to build an international airport at the present-day Nyakisharara aerodrome.
In his directive to Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, President Museveni said the mega facility would serve as a mid-point transit, logistical and refuelling hub for long-haul flights between Asia and South America, specifically China and Brazil, two of the largest economies in the world.
It remains unclear how implementation of the presidential directive has progressed. Some bureaucrats, speaking on condition of anonymity in order not to appear to publicly challenge the head of state, however questioned the rationale of clearing Ugandan companies with no footprint of airport infrastructure development, and without a feasibility study, to construct a world-class airport where one of them failed to establish an aviation academy under a MoU with the government.
The Nakasero-based Hamster Business Solutions Limited, which presents itself as an investment and development consulting firm, was not part of the March 2020 MoU.
However, B7IAA, the signatory, said it partially fulfilled terms of the deal, explaining that the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted other arrangements, including on-boarding of its 360 Aviation South African affiliate.
On its website, B7IAA indicates that it specialises in operating a flight academy and pilot licensing, providing airport services, maintaining aircrafts, chartering flights and simulator training.
The government handed to the company the Nyakisharara airfield, north of Mbarara City centre, for establishing an aviation and flight training academy, which did not happen. Its director David Magaga Kamanya, however, told our sister NTV-Uganda television station that they established the school and graduated students.
This account contradicts findings by a government team that no such students were presented for certification by the regulator, Uganda Civil Aviation Authority, as required by law.
The bureaucrats concluded that B7IAA lacked finances, had no aircraft or parts of an airplane for hands-on skilling of trainees and did not even establish a library, despite being offered Nyakisharara aerodrome to domicile its operations.
‘The objectives of the MoU have not been achieved … due to lack of funds by B7IAA to fully establish and operationalise the Academy,’ the team noted.
The company has brushed aside concerns about its financial muscle and technical expertise to construct an international airport, pointing instead to its potential partners: Blackrock Uwekeza Ltd, Hunan Construction Investment Group Co. Ltd and China Southwest Architectural Design and Research Institute (CSADRI).
In meetings with President Museveni, first in September 2025 and again in February this year, the project promoters fronted Blackrock Uwekeza Ltd, incorporated in the UK on May 24, 2022 originally as FINOWL Investments Ltd, as the lead financier.
The UK government records show that registered activities of the company include financial services, security dealing on its own account and fund management.
Our investigations show that the two Chinese companies – both state-owned – linked to the planned Nyakisharara project are financial A-listers with demonstrable infrastructure designing, planning, financing and execution record.
Some of their notable works include developing mega airports, national parks and bridges in China and a presidential palace in Burundi.
However, neither of the Chinese firms is registered in Uganda. In the fifth and final installment tomorrow of our riveting series, Chasing Big Dreams in the Air, read about how upcountry aerodrome facilities are breaking apart, contrasting the government’s priority to build a new international airport instead, plus Uganda Civil Aviation Authority’s quick-fix plans.