In summary
-Long before the likes of Jadelica and Five Star Autospares became the talk of town, there was Mama Harris, the proprietor of New Nyanza Supermarket – she ‘owned’ Bungoma.
-Sarah Hersi’s investments in Bungoma are second to none. She was arguably the richest person in the whole county, before the painful collapse of her empire.
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The name Sarah Hersi may not ring a bell to a majority of Bungoma residents, but talk of Mama Harris, her alias and everybody will tell you of how she ‘owned’ the whole town.
She had multimillion investments in retail, real estate, energy and logistics sector. However, she saw her businesses sink; and auctioneers came knocking.
Here is the story as told by WoK
Wealthy partner
Mama Harris is of Somali descent. Her family moved and settled in Bungoma at around 1956. She was in a relationship with a wealthy businessman named Sigalame who made fortunes by smuggling coffee to Uganda. By extent, she reaped from this relationship, while Sigalame himself dwindled.
According to Amina Moghe, who is the daughter of Mama Harris, their family started out by selling fast moving goods in Bungoma.
“After Kenya got independence from the British in 1963, a lot of Indians started leaving the small towns for bigger cities. In the process, they abandoned most of their shops to locals. Because my mother was well known in Bungoma town, she was one of the recipients of these shops,” says Amina Moghe.
They began selling sugar, wheat flour and salt. Mama Harris then began distribution business and would go into villages and buy produce which she would sell in town.
The booming ’80’s
The 80’s was a boom for the tycoon as she set up her first hardware shop. With humble beginnings, the hardware would soon be overwhelmed with customers. Hersi used the windfall to invest in real estate in Nairobi.
Given the fact that Uganda’s economy wasn’t doing well at the time, she seized the opportunity and ventured into cross-border business. As Uganda’s industries were in shambles, she made millions supplying various products including cement.
Building an empire
With the multimillion fortunes, Mama Harris built the wealthiest empire in Bungoma. Her investments include:-
- Fleet of lorries
- New Nyanza Supermarket
- Moghe Plaza:- the building housing Safaricom and KRA
- Petrol stations
- Rental apartments
- Mt Elgon Hardware
- Building hosting Cooperative Bank, Equity, KWFT
Collapse of an empire
While no reports are available on how Mama Harris lost a big chunk of her fortunes, it is said that her woes started when her assets were put on auction due to various debts.
She is also said to have been conned by politicians who promised her multibillion tenders including the SGR.
Various locals hint that her cross-border businesses also went south.
However, her daughter Amina Moghe is currently the richest woman in Uganda and owns a mall in Kampala and a sugar factory.