Hima Cement Returns with UGX 250 Million Boost for Makerere Impis Rugby

Hima Cement has returned to Makerere Impis with a two-year UGX 250 million package, relaunching a partnership that first took shape in the early 2000s and putting the club back on the pitch as Hima Cement Impis.

The deal was unveiled on 1 October 2026 at the Graveyard, the club’s home ground, alongside the new Hima Impis jerseys. Of the package, UGX 150 million goes directly to the club. The remaining UGX 100 million is earmarked for stadium improvements, branding and promotion of both Impis and Hima Cement.

Philemon Mubiru, Head of Marketing and Innovation at Hima Cement, framed the money as a short, sharp push rather than a one-off cheque. “The 250 million is just for two years. Basically we are on a crash programme to ensure that Impis goes back to its former glory within the two years. Definitely we will continue the partnership over a much longer period,” he said.

Hima’s own line was shorter: “We’re back together. Hima Cement × Impis Rugby Club. A partnership rekindled and a new chapter ready to kick off.”

What the money is for

The cash side of the deal is meant to cover day-to-day operations, match and training preparations, and the club’s Uganda Rugby Premiership campaign. The in-kind share is tied to the ground itself: upgrading the Graveyard and giving the new Hima Cement Impis identity a visible home.

Club chairman Sylvester Egumire Nnyombi welcomed the return of a familiar backer and set the target in the sponsor’s own language, promising to “cement everything we touch… and cementing trophies.” Coaches and players have pointed to the same practical gains: steadier preparation, a better chance of keeping the squad together, and a clearer run at the Premiership.

An old tie, not a new one

This is a restart, not a first meeting. Hima Cement took up the Impis sponsorship around 2002. In April 2007, New Vision reported that the company had extended the deal for another three years with a Shs 14 million package for that season. Club patron Peninnah Kabenge has also recalled an earlier Hima contribution to the Graveyard itself: 200 bags of cement for renovation, plus facilitation for subsequent seasons, at a time when Impis were a benchmark side in Ugandan rugby.

The club was founded in 1989 and won the national league in 1996. In recent seasons the commercial load has sat with the Makerere University Games Union, Uganda Rugby Union allocations, and partners including Jibu, Giordano and Citadel Construction, with Sylvester Egumire Nnyombi chairing the executive and Nkamba Alvin leading the first team. Hima’s return puts a title sponsor back at the centre of that structure.

The two-year test

Mubiru’s “crash programme” sets a public clock. Two seasons to restore Impis to something closer to the side that once drew corporate money on the strength of results, with an explicit signal that Hima expects the relationship to run longer if the rebuild holds.

For Impis, the immediate test is simpler: turn UGX 150 million in the bank, a refurbished Graveyard, and a new shirt into points in the Premiership, and into the trophies the chairman has already promised to cement.