This list includes trendsetters and mavericks who might generally be unknown or may not be as very popular but have eventually burst to fame courtesy of some hard-to-ignore milestones in the year. The list has previously included people like the long-distance king Joshua Cheptegei and Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya. Here below is David Bikhado Ofungi’s list of 10 Ugandans who made Uganda proud in 2021- in no particular order.
#1:
Vanessa Nakate
Climate Justice Activist
Founder, Rise Up Movement
Vanessa Nakate truly harvested her crop in 2021. She turned the shade thrown at her into a means to amplify her message on climate change. A TIME Magazine cover completely flipped the photo-edit blip on its head. Throughout 2021, global leaders and celebrities from Idris Elba to Trevor Noah clamored for an audience with her. Plus she published a book! Amidst all the attention, her resolve Betturkey has been emboldened particularly when it comes to addressing institutional inertia on climate change mitigation at the government and large corporate level.
#2:
Ham Serunjogi
CEO & Founder
Chipper Technologies (Chipper Cash)
In a way, 2021 was a tale of two Hams but thankfully every known tributary of the Nile confluenced for Serunjogi. The Digital Payment arena in any one country is brutal enough but developing a product in multiple jurisdictions across Africa’s systemic and structural minefields is no easy feat. Chipper Cash with among others, Jeff Bezos’s cash and validation is well-prepped for the battles ahead. Following their Series- C raise, the US$ 2.0b valuation makes Chipper arguably Africa’s most valuable unicorn and might well have kicked the right Ham to the top of the country’s net worth charts.
#3:
Peruth Chemutai
Award-Winning Long-Distance Runner
Olympic Games Gold medallist
In 2021, Peruth Chemutai was a girl on fire — hot enough to light the Olympic cauldron. Only athletic diehards and sections of the press knew what lay in store as the 22-year-old took to the 3000 metres finals at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo on the 4th of August 2021. Just over 9 minutes later, the country had a new shero to celebrate. She became the country’s first female Olympic Gold medallist and in so doing, reinforced the case for much-needed investment in sports infrastructure. At the time of writing this article, Peruth is in 5th place- globally in the WOmen’s 3000m Steeple Chase and 41st in the Women’s Overall rankings.
#4:
Dennis Matanda
Chief Executive Officer
Morgenthau Stirling, Inc.
Dennis is your typical seed-like guy. Everywhere you throw, him, he sprouts and with a bang.
An Africaholic passionate and skilled communicator, at the start of 2021, he was appointed Staff Director of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Global Human Rights in Congress. In that role, he would be working with the Committee Chair Representative Karen Bass on the US’s alliance with Africa. But in October 2021, he quit to found Morgenthau Stirling, Inc an into-Africa trade and FDI advisory, internationalization, and advocacy space outfit. For looking to attract the elusive FDI and jobs to the motherland, hats off to Dennis.
#5:
Prof Patrick Engeu Ogwang
Pharmacist, Pharmacologist, Ethnobotanist
Executive Chairman, Jena Herbals Uganda
As far as Wikipedia entries go, Prof Patrick Ogwang’s is a major flex. He is a Ugandan pharmacist, pharmacologist, ethnobotanist, medical researcher and entrepreneur, who serves as an associate professor and Head of the Department of Pharmacy at Mbarara University in Uganda. He concurrently serves as the Executive Chairman of Jena Herbals Uganda Limited, a private company that he founded that manufactures Covidex’ *mic drop. Prof. Ogwang is arguably my frontrunner for Uganda’s 2021 Person of the Year.
Covidex’s release as the Delta variant ravaged through the country during the second wave was godsent. The IP mess was an unwelcome distraction but the innovation is something that speaks to some form of function in our system. Covidex’s success emphasizes the need for public and private sector players to invest in the sciences.
Diageo to Exit East African Breweries as Asahi Takes Control#6:
Dr. Davis Musinguzi
Chief Executive Officer
Rocket Health
Dr Davis Musinguzi is a poster child of what the emerging entrepreneur should be like: defiant, bold, tech-savvy, and possessing excellent communication skills. RocketHealth’s rise is terribly important. To innovate and build trust in a sector as sensitive as healthcare is no mean feat — one must stay true to the all-important relationship between medic and patient but ride on an undercurrent of tech tools that make the process more efficient. Property, education, finance, tourism, logistics…there really need to be rockets for everything.
#7:
Ishmael Wainright
Professional Basketballer
Phoenix Suns
Ishmael Wainright — No one in their right mind can question Ish’s allegiance to Black, Yellow and Red following his performance in the qualifiers for and during Afrobasket. He and his teammates got to the tournament’s quarterfinals against the all too familiar mess in the backend. Wainright is now one of just over 500 elite basketballers who play in the NBA and the first Ugandan at that (he certainly will not be our last). The standout star on our over-achieving Silverbacks now plays for the scorching hot Phoenix Suns whose mascot just so happens to be a gorilla — serendipitous! UTB should give him a call.
#8:
Priscilla Zawedde (Azawi)
Singer-Songwriter
Swangz Avenue
Azawi — ‘From Nakulabye to Times Square’ is no mean feat but talent and hard work eventually get their time in the spotlight. Like every ‘overnight success’, Priscilla Zawedde has been on the grid for a couple of years now but in 2021, she laid a strong claim for the domestic crown. Azawi is a celebrity post away from major recognition — the number of hits from her album will leave them spoilt for choice. She certainly does well to learn from Eddy Kenzo whose vibes she channels. For now, getting her that collabo with a global heavyweight is a matter of national priority deserving of its own task force.
#9:
Loukman Ali
Cinematographer, Screenwriter, Film Director, Producer, and Graphic Designer
I have always been a fan of Loukman Ali and as such, silently knew that it was only a matter of time before he got the attention of a higher power in the media space. He certainly hit it out of the ballpark with Netflix. The high drama involved in making ‘The Girl in the Yellow Jumper’ is itself a story worth telling — it highlights the dearth of investments in the creative arts. Mr Ali’s creative juices will undoubtedly continue to crack through the barriers and inspire our bounty of talent to showcase their work in a sector that is unshackled by geographic boundaries.
#10:
Peter Benhur Nyeko
Co-Founder & Director
Mandulis Energy
Disclosure: I know Peter Benhur Nyeko well so this potentially comes with a tinge of bias but the results speak for themselves. Mandulis Energy is a renewable energy company, yes but what’s most important in what they do is how the business model lives and breathes the concept of circularity. They do this by combining a number of stand-alone models that in their own right, tick the sustainability box. Here’s how:
- Support farmers to improve crop yields and link them to institutional buyers
- Use the surplus biomass from the farmer as feedstock a hybrid biomass/solar power plant
- Use some biowaste to make pellets for cookstoves for farmers families
- Provide energy-efficient cookstoves to households
- Provide power to the communities at large and feed additional capacity into the grid
Unlike almost everyone else in the renewable energy market, Mandulis can do all this without the need for a viability gap subsidy. On the whole, Pete is an engineer who engineers by going back to first principles. The thoughts he shares in private are Elon Musk-level scary and the signature Uganda flag tie he wears lets you know where his heart is— Uganda.
By way of final comment, it is an easy out to segment talent across the divide of arts and science or the creative and non-creatives as our education system and planning seems to guide. On the contrary, I like to think that there’s as much science to Azawi’s songwriting as there is an art to Pete’s approach to tackling the problem of power in rural Uganda. Perhaps more appropriate is that in Vanessa’s advocacy, no one really cares about her qualifications. There will be some omissions no doubt but that’s the art and science of it. Who features on your list?
