Amos Masaba Wekesa, is a businessman, entrepreneur and

corporate executive Corporate titles or business titles are given to corporate officers to show what duties and responsibilities they have in the organization. Such titles are used by publicly and privately held for-profit corporations, cooperatives, non-profit or ...

in Uganda, who is the founder, proprietor and managing director of ''Great Lakes Safaris Limited'', a tour operating company, in the

African Great Lakes The African Great Lakes ( sw, Maziwa Makuu; rw, Ibiyaga bigari) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. They include Lake Victoria, the second-largest fresh water lake in the ...

region. His conglomerate of related tour businesses grosses an estimated US$8 million annually, and employs in excess of 250 people.

Background and education

Wekesa was born on 22 April 1973, in

Lwakhakha, Uganda Lwakhakha is a town in the Eastern Region of Uganda. It is one of the municipal centers in Manafwa District. The town lies across the international border from Lwakhakha, Kenya. Location Lwakhakha is approximately , by road, southeast of Mbal ...

, a border town at the international border with

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. His family was of very modest means. When he was ten years old, missionaries from the

Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

came and offered him sponsorship to elementary school. He transferred to the town of

Tororo Tororo is a town in the Eastern Region of Uganda. It is the main municipal, administrative, and commercial center of Tororo District. History Tororo was garrisoned by the Uganda Army's Air and Sea Battalion during the Uganda–Tanzania War ( ...

, where he completed his elementary school, under sponsorship from the Salvation Army. He went on to complete his O-Level education at Wairaka College, in Wairaka,

Jinja District Jinja District is a district in the Eastern Region of Uganda. The town of Jinja is the district's main municipal and commercial center. Location Jinja District is bordered by Kamuli District to the north, Luuka District to the east, Mayuge Dist ...

. He then transferred to St. Peter's College Tororo, where he completed his A-Level studies. He then studied at a tourism school in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, Uganda's capital city, graduating with a Certificate in Tourism, nine months later.

Career

From 1997 until 2001, he worked in four different tour operating companies as a lowly-paid office employee. In 2001, with US$200 in savings, without a motor vehicle and with his office underneath a staircase, in Kampala, Amos Wekesa founded Great Lakes Safaris Limited. His other investments include Uganda Lodges Limited, a collection of four unique eco-friendly safari facilities: (a) Simba Safari Camp Limited in

Queen Elizabeth National Park Queen Elizabeth National Park is a national park in Uganda. Location Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP) is in the Western Region of Uganda, spanning the districts of Kasese, Kamwenge, Rubirizi, and Rukungiri. The park is approximately by ro ...

(QENP) (b) Elephant Plains Limited in QENP (c) Primate Lodge Limited in Kibaale National Park and (d) Budongo Eco Lodge Limited in

Murchison Falls National Park Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP) is a national park in Uganda and managed by the Ugandan Wildlife Authority. It is in north-western Uganda, spreading inland from the shores of Lake Albert (Africa), Lake Albert, around the Victoria Nile, up to ...

Family

Amos Wekesa is married to Susan Amy Wekesa and together are the parents of three children, two sons and one daughter.

Other considerations

He sits on a number of corporate boards, including as a member of the board of directors of the ''Uganda Tourism Board''. He is a former president of the Uganda Tourism Association and the current chairman of the Tourism Technical Working Group of the Presidential Investment Round Table. In 2019, Wekesa plans to take up

motivational speaking A motivational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep talk. Motivational speakers ca ...

as a paying engagement. He also plans to build a hotel in the city of

Entebbe Entebbe is a city in Central Uganda. Located on a Lake Victoria peninsula, approximately southwest of the Ugandan capital city, Kampala. Entebbe was once the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda prior to independence, in 1962. The c ...

, in the next four years.

References

External links