ENG. DERRICK BWANIKA: Uganda’s enterprising youth living the dream as construction engineer

  BY BRIAN MUGENYI

Mugenyijj@gmail 

In his youthful days, Derrick Bwanika’s cards were all evident and clear that he would go off to a major Catholic faith Seminary in Bukalasa and become a formidable priest after pastoral work studies. Period!

The family inclusive was very positive and supportive to realize that their son Bwanika could rise onto the altar like morning shine towards the eyes of believers and preach the gospel of the Lord.

However, as time passed by while at Bukalasa Major Seminary, Bwanika’s beliefs and mindset changed gradually and chose to become a family man; a father with children after studies and went into Civil engineering which has made him an enterprising construction engineer in Uganda.

Maybe the Holy Spirit gifts as observed in book of Galatians 5-22- 23 (Love, joy, peace, kindness and forbearance, faithfulness, goodness, gentleness and self-control had acclimatized onto his cerebrum to settle for a lucrative career in construction with as a family man and involve himself in mapping and drafting construction plans instead of roaring for a career in priesthood.

The power to communicate to someone’s heart through preaching the word of God was his driving factor since he holds counselling and preaching gifts at his command though the construction industry has propelled him to become the face of successful engineers in the construction industry in Uganda.

The focus and attention to details in crafting construction plans has enabled the latter to leave a legacy in the construction industry by designing well architecture plans for different family homes, warehouses and flat-topped building structures for corporate companies in Uganda and abroad.

The construction and maintenance of buildings are what keeps Bwanika eventful and smiling.

The founder of Defram-Tekno Building Contractors Limited dealing in construction in Masaka City has been busy in the construction industry since 2019.

In an orange building, reflector Bwanika is the brain behind the construction of a coffee processing plant located in Kyabakuza suburbs in Masaka City for coffee farmers.

Bwanika’s company has been able to erect buildings of purpose and according to him; it is the power of art of and resilience that keeps all the constructed jobs on their work-to-do list through and successful as planned on the paper.

“We started slowly by the time I left the campus. Two friends of mine Sam Mulungi was good at Technical Drawing (TD) and Frank Katabaazi helped me draft how we could start up with our works,” starts Bwanika who had hopes of serving the priesthood during his high school days at Bukalasa Minor Seminary in 2009.

The soft-spoken Bwanika is well informed and has had remarkable exposure in touring countries such as South Africa, Dubai to learn and master skills in construction and being a down to earth person with a charisma of constructing good structures have all enabled him to attract clients and win contracts after sealing deals for constructing and designing their buildings.

He talks with audacity about construction and how he has been able to make some dime in his youthful days including in Inyatsi construction company Limited.

“We haven’t fetched more returns but we hope to have multi-national companies like Standard Structure, Excel Constructions and Roko contractors. Such companies keep us going and believing for more,” adds Bwanika.

He has been able to construct several building sites and most of the time Bwanika is contracted through friends and former clients.

“Sometimes I can construct a site and after a few days a friend of mine or even my client connects me up to someone with another business. That’s how we have reached,” says Bwanika, also a Bachelor’s Degree holder in Civil Engineering which he attained at Ndejje University in 2018.

Bwanika, married to a long time lover in wife Viola Najjemba, says most of the clients he normally gets are Ugandans in foreign countries who work outside the country and later invest their money in constructing homes and rental apartments for their businesses.

“Through recommendations from friends we have been able to walk the talk and achieved loads of construction projects,” says Bwanika who has had numerous training in construction including Stanbic Business incubator mentorship which he achieved in 2019.

Born to Alex Kakeeto and Ms Aidah Namulindwa residents of Sanje village, Kyotera District Bwanika also the fourth born in the family of nine children has constructed buildings in Luweero District, Entebbe, Masaka and Kyotera District.

“My construction story started in Kawempe, and I was contracted by the time I started my second year at the campus. Thereafter, we constructed an underground tunnel for the Child free foundation in Kyanamukaka,” he says.

Since construction involves a lot of hard work and determination especially when winning rich contracts in government institutions, Bwanika says the competition in construction will always be stiff.

“The process of winning contracts is very stiff. Sometimes we face a lot of challenges but personally am always available with my paper work since we are a registered company,” explains Bwanika.

As a company, Defram Teckno Construction Limited, they are a registered entity certified with a certificate and trading license which they attained in 2018.

“The formal procedures set by Uganda Registration Service Bureau (URSB) are clear and we’ve always adhered to their requirements by exercising our works in a professional way and we always subject our clients to first come- first serve basis,” Bwanika boldly shared.

Bwanika is building a career in construction amidst challenges and the training he has had altogether with the well guidance of Engineer Ben Misagga populary renowned in sports at SC Villa; the reigning Star-Times Uganda Premier League winners have worked miracles for him.

“We cannot construct houses that are less planned as a company. We have professional engineers we consult too and I am privileged to be mentored by Engineer Ben Misagga who is an old lion in the construction industry. Most of the time we have our construction architects and when the client is willing to offer both planning and construction charges, it becomes easier for us as a company to subject them to instant service and attention,” says Bwanika.

For a client to have a well-streamlined building plan, Bwanika says, it has to go through seven stages; planning (Involves architectural work), Execution, Monitoring and the completion phase which allows them to start-off with construction.

“When the plan is drawn, the local authorities intervene to guide us with their authorised documents and ideas too on how the land and the house should be demarcated,” says Bwanika.

Apparently, they are considering constructing modern houses with features on a building structure such as self-contained rooms and the roof structure which are appealing accordingly.

“Changes on a construction site can be as much as the client pleases based on the allocated budget and availability of resources,” shared Bwanika.

As for construction credentials, Bwanika says a certified stamped architectural drawing by a certified architect must be submitted to the Municipal engineer to endorse its verification and approval.

“It is a responsibility of a client to submit the proof of ownership of the proposed land for development to the engineers to analyse the authentic data of the property to avoid inconvenience with Municipal plans during the construction phase,” adds Bwanika.

Since Bwanika’s company plies its trade throughout the country, the Municipal engineers normally ask for inspection fee, development fee and Value Added Tax (VAT) charges.

“The charges differ accordingly. For example, residential, commercial and warehouse construction plans charges are slightly different,” says Bwanika.

Among the motivating factors that keeps Bwanika going are the positive feedback normally received from clients.

“We’ve served well so far. We hope to achieve more and work for more clients,” articulates Bwanika, also the brain behind the construction of St Paul Kasasa Primary School main hall complex stationed in Kabira, Kyotera District.

Behind every successful man lies a successful woman and Bwanika’s credits wife Najjemba for motivating him to serve his work with diligence and he hopes to send her too into Civil engineering studies.

He adds that he has had support from father Mr. Kakeeto and the former Kakuuto Member of parliament Mathias Kasamba who have cohesively supported him financially to realise the growth of the construction company.

“I give credit to my friends, parents and Mr Kasamba for igniting my career every day,” added Bwanika who has fostered a spiritual relationship too with Masaka Diocesan Bishop Slaverus Jjumba whom he credits for counselling them as a family with wife Najjemba.

According to Ms Sylvia Mirembe, the acting Head of Natural resources, Rakai District, Defram-Tekno Building Contractors Limited are a trustworthy entity and are good at delivering a proposed project timely.

“They constructed my home in Kyotera District from the clearing phase up to roofing. They are too hardworking and trustworthy which is very rare in some construction companies,” shared Mirembe.