Ron Kawamara

Ron was born on 22 December 1986 in Fort Portal, Uganda, to Mishac Kawamara, currently a Senior Presidential Advisor– Mobilisation, and Peluce Kawamara.^[6] He attended Buhinga Primary School and later joined Ntare School, where he completed his O’Level education. In his teens, Ron moved to the United States and studied at Los Angeles Valley College. In 2007, he enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley where he earned a bachelor's degree in political science and development economics in 2011. As a Miller Scholar, he carried out research in 2012 on how the Lord's Resistance Army in Northern Uganda managed to terrorize the region for so long. He is a co-founder of the Organization of African Students at University of California, Berkeley and served as Berkeley Student Ambassador for study abroad.^[7] He completed a postgraduate programme in Development Economics from the University of Cambridge in 2012. Ron further pursued a Master of Science degree in African Development Studies at the University of Oxford, graduating in 2013.^[1]

Ron began his career in the San Francisco Bay Area as a Business Development Manager at People Connect and later as a Strategy Manager at FedEx. In 2014, he returned to Uganda and co-founded Hello Food, which later became Jumia Food.^[8] Ron helped popularizing online food delivery services, and building logistics for digital commerce.^[9]

Ron led Hello Food's involvement in community-focused initiatives, including donating food to Dwelling Places, a children's home in Kampala, in observance of World Hunger Day.^[10] In 2014, the company partnered with the 40 Days over 40 Smiles Foundation to host an early Christmas celebration for children at Akiba Children's Home.^[11]

In 2016, Ron joined Jumia group, initially, as the East Africa Regional Managing Director of Jumia On-Demand Services, and later, he served as Senior Vice President at Jumia Group and CEO of Jumia Uganda.^[12] In 2022, Ron transitioned from Jumia to focus on his own company, Hugamara, a long-term holding company with a focus on building and acquiring businesses across various sectors. Hugamara holds a portfolio of 18 hospitality, Green Tech, security, and logistics companies run by extraordinary leaders in Uganda, Kenya, UAE, and the USA. He continues to serve as the Chairman of Uganda's E-Trade and Startup Association.^[13] He is on board of directors of I&M Bank Uganda.^[14]

Ron contributed to the development of the Uganda's Electronic Investors Protection Portal (EIPP); a digital platform that facilitates communication between investors and government agencies. ^[15] It was launched in December 2023 by President Yoweri Museveni. Ron is a co-founder of Uganda Connect, an initiative that promotes Uganda exports. In July 2023, the initiative opened Uganda's first trade hub in Serbia which was launched by President Yoweri Museveni.^[16]

Ron often described as Uganda's "father of e-commerce," his journey began when he returned to Uganda and launched Hello Food in 2013. Despite the challenges, Hello Food won the Best E-Commerce Service award at the Digital Impact Awards for two consecutive years, this facilitated to being acquired by Jumia in 2016.^[17] In 2021, Hello Food raised $100M for expansion.^[18] As East Africa Managing Director for Jumia, Ron tackled challenges, advocated for regulatory reforms and development of digital commerce infrastructures.^[1] Mobile phones became the most popular and revenue-generating items. ^[19][20]

As CEO of Jumia Uganda, Ron a 2019 partnership with Liberty Insurance to provide one-year insurance on purchases.^[21] He witnessed the listing of first African tech company on the New York Stock Exchange for Jumia in 2019.^[22] During COVID-19, Ron guided Jumia Uganda in providing services when physical stores were closed.^[3] He led a partnership with the UNDP to implement the Jumia Food Vendor App, an e-commerce platform aimed at supporting MSMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[23]