Sadolin offers Shs 50 million to support Ugandan architects

Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | Sadolin Paint injected Shs 50 million in the just concluded Uganda Society of Architects Annual General Meeting (AGM), a move that company officials said would boost the association’s work thereafter.

Speaking to The Independent on the sidelines of the AGM at Pearl of Africa Hotel on Dec. 01 in Kampala, Felix Adupa Ongwech, Sadolin’s public relations manager for Uganda said that they are supporting all key players in the construction industry as part of supporting growth of the sector.

“…if there are other meetings of similar nature, as Sadolin Paint, we will support them,” Ongwech.

Deon Nieuwoudt, the planning and execution manager at the Dutch based AkzoNobel Coatings International BV, which owns Sadolin Paint in Uganda, said the company, funded the meeting so as to pave way for election of new leaders of the association which is critical in supporting the growth of the construction sector “where we belong.”

Analysts say the company’s support for such activities is geared towards regaining its market share that has been snatched by Plascon – a paint maker that recently entered Uganda’s market.
Nieuwoudt added that the sponsorship was in line with Sadolin’s US$3 million investment in a new paint plant in Namanve industrial Park that would be launched early next year. He also said that the company believes in partnerships as a form of success of businesses and industries.

Barnabas Nawangwe, the vice chancellor of Makerere University and chief guest of the after AGM dinner applauded the sponsors of the event saying that it was one sure way of increasing the number of good quality architects engineers in Uganda.

He said that 20 years back, Uganda had only 20 qualified Architects but the number has now grown to around 400 partly because of the efforts put in by the association in partnership with other players.

“The problem is that we have many unqualified architects doing work for the qualified,” Nawangwe said, adding they are doing shoddy work and causing some buildings to collapse.” He urged relevant authorities to partner with the association of Architects in Uganda to deal with this challenge.

All set for tonight’s #UgArchSocietyAGM17 dinner here at the #PearlofAfricaHotel @UgArchSociety @sadolin pic.twitter.com/9oHssKL0fq

— Pearl OfAfrica Hotel (@PearlOfAfrica__) December 1, 2017