The Missionary That Built A Business Empire

Ian Clarke left Northern Ireland to join a missionary in Uganda. Decades later, he has a business empire that includes clinics, construction, education and a hotel.

- Joseph Burite

The man at the gate, lacking an intercom, leaves to deliver the message of a guest’s arrival by mouth. Fresh patches of plaster point to renovations on the iron-roofed single-storey building in the Kampala suburb of Bukasa. The occupants of the main workstation compete for space with stacks of paperwork. As Choksi, the administrator, offers a drink, she apologizes for the lack of glasses. The water comes in a mug with a conspicuous crack on the side. It’s a scene akin to start-ups run by varsity drop-outs in their parents’ garage. Only this time, the founder is a millionaire.

For two decades, Ian Clarke, a Northern Irish-Ugandan medical doctor, made his fortune operating the International Medical Group, which boasts 22 clinics, a health insurance company, a hospital, a diagnostic laboratory and a university. In 2015, he sold a majority stake to Mauritian company, Ciel Healthcare, retaining a shareholding of just 9.88%, according to records at Uganda’s company registry reviewed by FORBES AFRICA.

“I am in my 60s and you get to a point where you say ‘I have been doing this all my life because I am passionate about it’. I wanted to make a difference, and then somebody gives you a lot of money. You say ‘okay, that’s not bad’,” Clarke says.

Selling a huge stake in his company didn’t mean Clarke was prepared to put his feet up.

“I probably should have gone on a cruise, traveled the world and spent my money. And then decided I would invest it in start-up entrepreneurial companies, and I look at that now and I say ‘what the hell was I doing?’” 

Clarke is no stranger to such decisions.