Meet Yogi Birigwa, a woman with a resounding impact on Africa’s aviation and tourism industries

Yogi Birigwa is a household name in the Ugandan and Africa’s aviation and tourism industries.

Yogi, as she is known, has built an industrious career in the aviation and tourism industries for more than 20 years.

She started her career in the aviation industry in the early 2000s as a general manager at United Airlines and held the position for five years.

She has also served as South African Airways regional manager for Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia, from 2005 to 2020.

Yogi attributes her long stint in the aviation industry to professionalism, “In aviation, whatever you do you have to be very professional,” she says in a recent interview with Daily Monitor, Uganda’s leading independent daily.

In September 2020, she was among 9 officials appointed and approved by cabinet as members of Uganda Tourism Board’s Board of Directors. This was her second term in office.

Created by the Tourism Act (2008), Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) is the official Government of Uganda’s destination marketing organization for Destination Uganda, the Pearl of Africa. It is also the regulatory agency for the sector, charged with licensing and regulating sector standards.

She has also previously served on the board of Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC).

Although Ethiopian by blood, Yogi proudly declares her love for Uganda.

“I have travelled all over but as soon as I land here, I feel at home. This is my God given country,” she told Daily Monitor’s Edgar Batte.

She was born Yewagnesh Mamo Yogi but later added Birigwa, following her marriage to Ambassador Wasswa Birigwa, whom she met and married in 1994 in Mombasa. She then moved to Uganda and opened a restaurant and a tours and travel agency, to allow her more time to look after her young family.    

Having settled in, between 2002 and 2004, she enrolled for and completed a master’s degree in management at Uganda Management Institute (UMI).

It was during a consultancy project to restructure the travel and conference department of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa in 2005 that she spotted an opportunity to join South African Airways (SAA). She eventually was successful and started what would be a 15-year aviation career that she only retired from, last year to go back to private business.

Yogi currently runs Nature’s Green Resort on the shorelines of Lake Victoria.

Yogi holds a master’s degree in management from Uganda Management Institute (UMI), a bachelor’s degree in business administration and has acquired training in hotel management at the Alliance Hotels in Mombasa.