Family Life
Born on 14th February 1975 to Mr. Atima Julian (deceased) from Lamila Ciru Village, Kijomoro Subcounty, Maracha District and Mrs Mary Atima Asenduru (deceased) from Kamaka, Oluffe Subcounty, Maracha District, Ejiku Robert spent his early childhood and adult life as a resident of Arua Municipality. The humble family he grew up in was of civil servants with his father who served as a Trade Development Officer for Arua District and his Mother as primary School Teacher at Arua hill Primary School. Living in various parts of the municipality from as early as 1981, his life has been shaped by his parents, the people and the environment within the municipality. He is the third born in a family of four children and after the death of both parents, he assumed responsibilities that would see him shoulder burdens of the entire family and its extended relationships. With an elder Sister Candiru Nelly trained as an Accountant and the only surviving brother Jimmy Mungunira as a Medical Doctor, the family still misses and suffers the pain of losing a promising child in the family and his immediate elder brother Sidney Ayellow in 1985 while living in Anyafio, Mvara ward. Ejiku’s parents later moved on to live in Junior Quarters, Mvara Congo zone and finally settled in Ramathan Abia cell. As a result of pressures for land and while still maintaining the family home in Abia, he acquired land in Ayibiri village, Oluko Subcounty, Ayivu Division where he built a home and lives today. He was born into a Catholic family and his early Christian life was nurtured by his Mother who as a member of the Legion of Mary instilled very strong Christian values and beliefs in him and other family members during their early childhood. His religious development was characterized by daily early morning prayers at Christ the King, Arua and an engaging participation in Christian teachings and catechism. However as he grew up his association with children and people of various denominations in school and wherever he lived made it difficult to tell what religion he professed. Today he is married to Mrs Regina Ejiku Nabateregga with whom they have Five (5) children.
Education
Born to a mother who was a disciplinarian and educationist, Ejiku’s early learning and education was well defined from the start. He started his education at Arua Hill primary school and spent the next seven years there from 1982 – 1988. After a very good performance in the Primary leaving exams of 1988, he proceeded onto Mvara Secondary School for his O and A levels from 1989 – 1995. A stellar performance in the A level exams got him admitted to Makerere University on government sponsorship to study Bachelors in Food Science and Technology from 1995 – 1999 graduating in 1999 with a second class (Upper division) degree. During the time he was in the university, he also attended weekend courses at Uganda Management Institute and Foundation for African Development where he obtained a certificate in management and Diploma in Leadership respectively. Later on during a decorated work career with Uganda Tea Development Agency Limited at Igara Growers Tea Factory in Bushenyi South Western Uganda, he attended the prestigious Maastricht School of Managements’ (Netherlands) Executive Program obtaining a Certificate in Management in 2001, The Chartered Institute of Environment Health (UK) obtaining a certificate in Food safety in 2005, The Bygholm Agricultural College (Denmark) obtaining a Diploma in Entrepreneurship and Agricultural innovation in 2009 and also the renowned Eastern and Southern Africa Management Institute (ESAMI – Tanzania) obtaining a Masters’ in Business Administration (2007 – 2009). He has continuously attended refresher courses in agribusiness management, environmental safety, Quality control and Seed business management in various institutions and countries such as South Africa, Zambia, Kenya and Malawi. Ejiku loves to read and learn continually in order to build his wealth of knowledge and experience.
Work
Ejiku Robert the self-motivated, results-oriented person with great analytical, negotiation, communication, interpersonal and team building skills has served in various capacities and places during his formal employment. Upon finishing at Makerere University before graduation, he was retained as a Research Assistant on a project at the then Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry for 2 Months. After the short stint at Makerere University he was recruited as a junior staff at Rwenzori Commodities where he worked as a factory Assistant in Buzirasagama tea factory, Fort Portal, Kabarole District (1999-2000). As his star continued to shine, he was meritoriously recruited by Igara Growers tea factory in Kyamuhunga, Bushenyi District (Nov 2000) as Assistant Production Manager and 6 months later he was promoted to Production Manager. His hard work again paid off when in 2003 he was elevated to Group / General Manager of Igara Growers Tea Factory under Uganda Tea Development Agency Limited. He spent the next 12 years as a General Manager at the company and that period represented the longest spell for anyone to have served in that position till today. He was later on in 2015 awarded an order of merit and plaque for the diligent services at a ceremony that attracted many of his family, relatives and friends in Entebbe. In 2015 he started work as a Seed Specialist with USAID. Working on a three year contract with the implementing Partner Tetra Tech ARD, he spent the next year consulting with another USAID project implementing partner Chemonics Inc. The assignment at Chemonics was interrupted with a sojourn into politics at the by-elections in Arua Municipality after the brutal murder of the then MP Hon Ibrahim Abiriga (RIP). After failing to get elected to the seat in a hotly contested and memorable race where he came third, he returned to complete the consultancy assignment with Chemonics Inc. and also did other consultancies with Uganda Development Corporation for the Project to establish Tea in Zombo and Rwampara Tea Project (2018 – 2019). In 2019 he was employed as an Agribusiness Manager by NARO Holdings Ltd on secondment from the Dutch funded Integrated Seed Sector Development (ISSD Plus) Project. He has also presented technical and expert papers at several fora around the country, region and the world. He posed an eventful, fulfilling and unblemished career to again contest for the seat of Member of Parliament for central division of the newly created Arua City.
Leadership
Born to lead, Ejiku started establishing his leadership credentials from when he was very young serving as a Class monitor and Time Keeper at Arua Hill Primary School. He served as a Library Captain (a position reserved for the best performer at O level) at Mvara Secondary School. He held responsibilities in different school clubs and groups like the debating club, Drama club and Young Christian Society at the school. An avid debater at secondary school Ejiku while at Makerere University was elected the Speaker of Makerere Arua Students Union (MASU), then as Chairman of MASU in 1997/8. In 1998 he was also elected to the Guild Representative Council of MUK and appointed Guild Minister for Off Campus Affairs. Earlier in 1996/7 he was appointed by the Dean of Students as a Special Representative to lead a team of student leaders addressing and appealing for help from the District Local governments for the students emanating from Northern and North Western Uganda. A tour of duty that took him to 10 districts in the north and 4 in West Nile at the peak of the LRA insurgency in northern Uganda realized millions of shillings to support students who were held up at the University during the time. He led the Campaign Task force that got Hon Tiperu Nusura elected as the first ever Female Youth MP for Uganda. He was later to contest against Hon Tiperu Nusura in the Arua Municipality By-elections in an interesting twist of fate.
He has served and continues to serve Rotary International as a Member of Rotary Club of Bushenyi where he served in almost all executive portfolios at the club since 2005. He served as President, Vice President, Seargent-At-Arms, Treasurer and Committee Chair and he is a contributing member of Rotary Foundation and attained the award of a Paul Harris Fellow with one Sapphire having contributed 2000 dollars towards Rotary Foundation projects around the world. He has supported various projects through Rotary including a water project in Oli Division while still serving as President of the RC of Bushenyi.
Ejiku Robert presently serves as Vice President of West Nile Foundation and as a member of the Board of Trustees for West Nile Education Trust Fund, a fund that has made great contribution to education and presently sponsors upto 16 students at public universities in Uganda doing key courses of Human Medicine, Engineering, Law, Pharmacy and Agriculture. With a plan to expand on the work of the Fund to contribute to skills development at technical schools in the West Nile Region, he has successfully coordinated and organized two fundraising events for the Fund raising over 500 million in cash and pleadges for the fund over the last to years. He is a member of the Board of governors of Mvara Secondary School representing all the old students. His motivation to serve Mvara Secondary School is to see to it that the standards of the school improve and it regains its former glory. He is committed to see that this is replicated across the City and region. He has founded and successfully run companies with interest in hospitality noticeably Vino Planet, Capital One in central division and Club Geluta in Koboko. He has several interests in real estate, Food processing and grain trade, hospitality and farming.
Sports and travel exposure
A lover of sports, Ejiku is a fan of football, swimming, boxing, athletics, netball (inspired by his old student from Mvara Peace Proscovia) and Golf. He currently serves as Golf Captain of West Nile Club where his desire is to restore the pride in the game and maintain a green space within Arua city that will truly define it. Development of young talent and job creation are some of his motivations for serving the Club. He was also elected to the Executive Committee of the Uganda Golf Union and appointed by the President of the Uganda Golf Union as National Team Manager for the National Golf Team (both Senior and Junior Teams). His support to sports has been to boxing, football and netball. He has been part and parcel of the historic rise to fame of Ediofe hills FC and the indomitable Onduparaka FC which he continues to support till today.
Ejiku Robert is a well-traveled person and has traveled for business, humanitarian and volunteer work to many destinations around the world. On Rotary business he has traveled to Birmingham (UK), New Orleans (USA), Montreal (Canada) and Bangkok (Thailand). On company businesses he has traveled to various cities in USA, UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Germany, UAE, Qatar, Sudan, Ethiopia, South African region and the East African region. These travels have exposed him to different cultures, peoples, development concepts and a unique blend of business, socio-economic and political realities.
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