My Biography

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Patrick Bitature

14 March 1973

Early life

When I was 13 my dad was brutally murdered by the Idi Amin regime. My Dad died at the age of 44, just as I began to truly know him and admire him as my true hero. I loved my father so much. I was so devastated and shocked…..words cannot describe. It was the most heart wrenching experience.


Not only were we robbed of a father and breadwinner. But everything material that we owned was taken overnight. Everything was gone in a flash, taken.


Riches to rags doesn’t begin to describe what we went through. It was moments like those that I felt God had indeed forsaken us. Father Grimes of Namasagali college took me and my siblings in and catered for our school fees for the next few years.


30 April 1974

Turning Point

The turning point in my life was about a year later, on the day when the family sat down on a mat, not a dining table, to have tea without Sugar for the first time. My mother insisted we just get used to it and drink the tea. Then my youngest brother started crying for Daddy. Then my mother who had 6 children by the age of 30 started crying too. Hysterically. And asking God to come and take us all. Then I felt a big lump in my throat.


That night I was on the Akamba Bus to Nairobi to look for some sugar. I returned the next day with a suitcase full of sugar – 15 kgs. I got some extra from concerned relatives that realized a 14-year-old had come all the way to Kenya just for sugar. Traveling that far in those days was unheard of, it was like going to Syria today. Communication was hardly there. Crossing the border was scary but no one suspected a young kid to be smuggling sugar in a school suitcase. When I got back home there was so much delight and happiness. My mum hugged me. I automatically realized that I was no longer a boy. I had become a man. That one act had re-defined me. The neighbors heard through the grapevine that I had brought sugar and almost begged to buy some. So we sold them half, and got 4 times what it had cost. And I was on the bus back to Kenya for another suitcase of sugar…and so my career began.


Do you know what it is to live without a Door lock on the front of your house, or not to have a bathroom door that actually closed? That is the loss of Dignity. I had to restore our dignity and family Self Esteem.


2 April 1998

Simba Group

Patrick Bitature is the Founder and Chairman of Simba Group of Companies, based in Uganda, as well as the chairman of several Ugandan boards, the Honorary Consul for the Australian Consulate in Uganda, and a devoted philanthropist supporting initiatives in health, education, and mentoring young entrepreneurs. He studied at the London School of Accountancy and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators in the United Kingdom. In 2013, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate by the United Graduate College and Seminary International, based in Asheville, North Carolina.


Founded in 1998 with the flagship Simba Telecom business, Simba Group is now a conglomerate of East African companies spanning telecommunications, properties, power generation, agro-business, oil and gas, health and education, tourism, and social enterprise. All Simba Group companies operate under the Group’s core principles of integrity, innovation, and adaptability, and are overseen by sound management structures and rigorous boards.


Till Today

Where He Is Now

Patrick Bitature serves as the chairman of the boards of Umeme Uganda Ltd. (the country’s main energy distributor). He also previously served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), and several other organizations.

The Bitature family supports initiatives improving health, education, mentorship, and youth empowerment through The Bitature Foundation. The chairman also serves as a patron of Alliance of Mayors & Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDS in Africa (AMICAALL), CURE Children’s Home Uganda among other goodwill initiatives.

Patrick Bitature has been honored with numerous awards, including the ICSA Presidential Medal for Meritorious Service (2018), Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year – East African (2011), and The Price Water House Coopers East African Business Leaders of the Future (2003).

Patrick Bitature was born in Uganda, where he still resides. He is married with four children and prioritizes spending time with family. He is an active participant in church and enjoys educational reading, traveling, motor cross, and attending international conferences.