WHO IS AMOS WEKESA?

THE LIFE STORY AND BIOGRAPHY OF AMOS WEKESA

Amos Wekesa who is popularly known as Wekesa is a Ugandan businessman, entrepreneur, tourist enthusiast and a philanthropist. 

Amos Wekesa is the founder and managing director of two tourism companies.  He founded Great Lakes Safaris Limited and Lodges Uganda Limited.  

Amos Wekesa is one of the first Ugandans to venture into the tourism business and at an early age. Amos Wekesa was born in the Western part of Uganda in the year 1956. 

According to an interview that he had on television, in his early childhood years he was not interested in studies rather wanted to do something else with his life.  

This wish came true immediately after finishing elementary school; he dropped out of school and decided to look for some odd jobs that he could do at that time. 

He landed on a job as a cleaner at a certain office where he was earning a meagre income of about $10 dollars per month. That was his humble beginning where he began his working career. 

He did this work for a few years, he then decided to quit the job and move onto another job. During this time, he got a job as an office messenger in a certain office where he worked for some time until he met someone who introduced him into the tourism industry. 

At the time he worked as an office messenger, Amos Wekesa says that he earned $15 dollars   per month.  

After joining the tourism industry, Amos Wekesa said that he started as a tourist guide in Queen Elizabeth National park in the early 1990s when tourism industry in Uganda was young and very few Ugandans were in the business.

 It was during this time that he came into contact with some American citizens who had come into the country as tourists and he guided them through national parks and also went Gorilla trekking and after that exciting trip, the idea of starting up a tourism company struck him. 

That was the time when he launched the company called Great Lakes Safaris Limited. He said that his first tourist clients that he got were impressed by the services that his company had offered them. 

He said that during the three days that they spent in the wild, he decided with his friends to keep the camp fire burning and they were able to set up tents in the wild to keep their first tourist clients comfortable as they traversed the wild in Uganda. 

These first clients that he had, according to him have been the ones that opened doors to his success in this tourism industry. 

He also said that what amplified and exposed his tourist company to the rest of the world was the time when one journalist from Britain visited Uganda and he had the privilege of guiding him around the national parks and when he went back to his country, he wrote an article about his travels around Uganda and this article was published in various newspapers around the world. 

This article opened doors for more tourists to come to Uganda and his company started making money and generating large sums of revenue.  

After realising that Great Lakes Safaris Limited was successful, Amos Wekesa decided to launch another company, this time he decided to look into the accommodation for the tourists that were flocking the national parks in Uganda. He started a company called Lodges Uganda Limited in 2012.  

He was the first Ugandan to buy land within the national parks.  He bought a piece of land near Lake George in the Queen Elizabeth National park and set up the first lodge within a national park. 

That was how Lodges Uganda Limited started and as the years went on he decided to increase the number of lodges in different national parks in Uganda. 

His popularity in the tourism industry continues to grow like never before. 

Amos Wekesa says trust and being honest are one of the most important aspects of the tourism business and these are the two pillars that have kept him on top of the business in Uganda.  

As a result of achieving success in the tourism industry, Amos Wekesa has now ventured into real estate business where he has managed to acquire some pieces of land and put up houses. 

Amos Wekesa is an inspirational figure in Uganda who has worn many accolades as a result of his success in the tourist industry.

 He is married to a United States citizen and they met in Uganda and fell in love. She came to Uganda as a tourist and ended up getting a husband. 

Amos Wekesa’s rags to riches story is an inspiration to all the youths in Uganda as he began with nothing and has reached the peak of the Ugandan tourism industry, it means that anyone can reach the top of any field as long as you are passionate about it.