Isaac Kigozi, the Head of Trade and Investment in the Office of the Senior Presidential Advisor on Diaspora Affairs, Office of the President of the Republic of Uganda has been nominated for the 2023 Forbes Africa Forty Under 40 Awards.
Kigozi has been nominated under the category of Governance and Government Agencies alongside other continental personalities such as; Tando Luyaba -South Africa, Sosthen Eugine Simiyu -Kenya, Yershen Pillay- South Africa, Antony Samba Buluma- Kenya, Fabrice Vavemi- Cameroon, Rabiu Onaolapo Olowo -Nigeria, Benson Ochiel Ngiela- Kenya, Yvonne Mothibi- South Africa, Dr. Anthonia Opeyemi Alebiosu- Nigeria and Dr. Lilian Kerubo- Kenya.
The Forty under 40 Africa Awards is aimed at identifying, honoring and celebrating a cross-section of the continent’s most influential and accomplished young business leaders under the age forty who are committed to business growth, professional excellence and community service and have risen up the ranks of their companies or industries at a relatively young age.
Kigozi has held his current position for now three years which he has used to entice a number of investors and historical diaspora to take up investment in the different sectors of Uganda’s economy.
Before his appointment, he was the Executive Director of East African Partners (EAP) an international consultancy. Using his position and extensive network, Isaac has enticed several historical diaspora investors to visit Africa and set up investments that in turn have provided employment opportunities to the youthful population. Isaac’s mantra is “Building Africa by Africans.”
Isaac Kigozi has worked for a number of top Hollywood production companies such as Asylum Entertainment, Pilgrim Studios and Lionsgate Studios as an Executive Producer in the non-scripted content department.
In 2016, Isaac was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for his work on wildlife, the Docs Africa series filmed in Uganda, which was broadcast on the ABC network in America. He also founded E-world, media group, an independent production company based in Los Angles, California.
Recently in 2022, Kigozi won the Africa Choice Awards 22 under the Male Young Entrepreneur’s category. The awards were aimed at recognizing and appreciating the efforts of outstanding youth on the continent in the different spheres.
Of late, Kigozi was appointed on the board of directors for the Islamic University of Uganda. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Debate and Council of Uganda and a member of the Board of Directors of the National Urban Debate League of California.
Isaac is a part of the ICARE Foundation, an NGO created by him in Uganda July 2016 to treat blindness. As someone diagnosed with keratoconus in 2008, Kigozi felt it was his calling to assist those with vision impairment. His foundation has carried out 4,720 cataract surgeries in Uganda and has provided 12,000 eyeglasses and eyeglass, and to 30,000 people since 2017. They also performed 74 cornea transplants. They have organized camps all over the country.
Through the COVID-19 pandemic, with the blessing of God. Isaac rallied to distribute 94 tons of food with the help of his friends in the diaspora, distributed to vulnerable communities in Uganda.
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