Sunday Flashback: How Suleiman Kiggundu Told-off Brethren over a Noble idea of Starting a Moslems Bank but Hijacked It!

The name Dr Suleiman Kiggundu is heavily stamped on Greenland Bank. So much so that one can hardly believe, if they were to be told that the highly learned Moslem initially dismissed the project idea as a fantasy.

This was at the time some ordinary but farsighted Muslims first introduced the idea to him. The Investigator is privileged to have finally chanced upon insiders who virtually knows everything about the Greenland empire before it came down crumbling like a pack of cards. One of the insiders wrote to us and we now let him tell the story:

“Hajj SULAIMAN Kiggundu was never the Founder neither the founding Shareholder of First Islamic Bank (FIBA). The main man behind FIBA was Hajj Suleiman Lule. He then owned Sole Electrics (Official owners and sponsors of Sam Ssali rally car) and Bhazma International (the first Private local company to get an export license for Tea and Match; International Ltd.)

The other founding shareholders were; Hajj Ssevviiri, Hajj Kangavve of HAKS, Hajj Jjumba Masagazi, Hajj Mityana, Hajji Kaddu Kiberu, Hajj Kaweesi (Sun International) and Omukooki Hajj Lutta of Peacock Dry cleaners among two others. Those were the initial shareholders of FIBA, the holding Company for Greenland bank [later]. Kiggundu at first completely refused to join the bank as he under looked the above “farmers” as incompetent to start a bank.

Embwa yamala kumuluma najukira nti abasiramu batandikawo bank.(Editor: The writer wants to communicate that Kiggundu’s firing as the governor Bank of Uganda helped him remember of the other `farmers` idea and he rejoined them to grow their bank idea).

Remember, the first branch and head office of Greenland bank was at Kitgum House on Jinja road before the newcomer Kiggundu finally built its home at Kampala Road adjacent to Bank of Uganda. Jokingly speaking, Kiggundu jumped on the Greenland bandwagon from City Square where its original owners had struggled and driven it to.

The wealthy and much experienced banker would talk the originators of the idea into selling to him a big stake in the bank and even renamed it Greenland from First Islamic Bank (FIBA).

FIBA would later turn into an exclusive coffee processing and export company but without leaving the Greenland empire which included a university, insurance company and UCB,” Our source penned off, just for the record.