Faculty of Commerce became a fully fledged Faculty in 1987. Before then, commerce was a Department in the Faculty of Social Sciences. The Faculty of Commerce is well respected for pioneering the private sponsorship programme in 1991 starting with Bachelor and Masters in Business Administration programmes, which greatly increased enrolment at Makerere University.
In 1997, Makerere University Business School (MUBS) was created out of a merger between the Faculty of Commerce (FOC) and the National College of Business Studies (NCBS), Nakawa. MUBS was therefore established as a Constituent College of Makerere University (Establishment of Constituent College Order 1997)
Prof. Waswa Balunywa who joined Makerere University in 1983 became the Head of Department, Finance and Accounting in 1987 and thereafter Dean, Faculty of Commerce in 1991. On the creation of MUBS, he became its first Director and subsequently the Principal, a position he holds to date.
Prof. Balunywa and the leadership has transformed MUBS from a one degree programme institution to one with 16 undergraduate, eight Masters and 2 Doctoral programmes. This was also with a corresponding rise in the number of students from 3,000 in 1998 to over 14,000 students currently, with 65% of these on undergraduate degree programmes.