Mr Francis Xavier Kitaka, chairman MTK Holdings Limited has breathed his last today. Details of his death are still scanty but we will keep you posted.
Kitaka has been living in the shadow of his son-in-law, Emmanuel Katongole, the CEO, Quality Chemical Industries Limited (QCi) but Francis Xavier Kitaka, 85, has been the brain behind the $32m plant alongside a multi-billion business empire that constitutes six companies.
Kitaka was the first (British-trained) biochemist in East and Central Africa and the first Ugandan to run a private veterinary pharmaceutical in Uganda.
According to information on Wikipedia, Kitaka was born in 1935, in a family of six siblings, to Celestino Mayambala Musoke and Monica Musoke.
He attended Rubaga Primary School, starting in 1944.
In 1948 Kitaka was admitted to Bukalasa Minor Seminary, but was expelled in 1950, for wearing bathroom sandals to Church.
The following year, 1951, he was admitted to Rubaga Boys’ Secondary School, where he sat his middle school examinations in 1952.
He joined St. Mary’s College Kisubi in 1952 and left in 1954 after sitting his O-Level examinations (Cambridge Ordinary School Certificate Examinations).
In 1955, he was admitted to the Faculty of Science at Makerere University for the intermediate course for two years. This was equivalent to Advanced Level (A Level) studies.
In 1957 Kitaka joined the Department of Veterinary Medicine, to study for the Diploma in Veterinary Medicine, which he obtained in 1958.
In 1961 he received a scholarship from the Government of Uganda to study Biochemistry at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and upon graduation, Kitaka became the first African biochemist in East Africa.
In 1961, prior to his departure for Scotland for further studies, he worked at the Animal Health Research Centre in Entebbe. While in Scotland, he worked at Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen for eight years, before returning to Uganda in 1968.
He built on his professional expertise over time, moving from a government veterinary officer and biochemist in the 1960s to setting up sub-Saharan Africa’s first ARV manufacturing plant.
His MTK Holdings also runs Quality Chemicals Limited an associate of QCi.
QCi runs Mosquito Net Village Limited (formerly Caelestino and Monica Centre) that is located on Old Entebbe Road in Bunamwaya.
The company fights malaria through manufacture and sale of mosquito nets locally. The company also runs Tinosoft Limited a technology solutions company, as well as commercial real estate.
