Ugandan businessman Charles Mbire
By Joseph Kiggundu
Ugandan businessman Charles Mbire has crossed a major wealth threshold on East Africa’s stock exchanges, with his publicly traded holdings now valued at more than $100 million.
The milestone places Mbire among a small group of East Africans whose fortunes have reached the centi-millionaire level through listed equity holdings, which are continuously repriced by the market rather than estimated from private companies, property, land or other assets.
Mbire’s milestone has been driven principally by his substantial stake in MTN Uganda, listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
Mbire, 67 the chairman and non-executive director of MTN Uganda, owns approximately 895.56 million shares in the telecom company, equivalent to about 4% of its issued shares.
The value of that holding has risen sharply as MTN Uganda’s share price has rallied in 2026.
Recent market data put the value of Mbire’s MTN Uganda stake at approximately US$101.8 million, compared with about US$77.94 million at the end of 2025.
That represents an increase of roughly US$23.9 million in market value during the year.
At the current exchange rate, US$101.8 million is equivalent to about Shs400 billion.
The figure, however, represents the market value of his MTN Uganda shares and does not necessarily constitute his total personal net worth.
A separate review of disclosed holdings across eight companies listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange valued Mbire’s identified stakes in MTN Uganda and Bank of Baroda Uganda at approximately Shs408.72 billion.