Kampala, Uganda: Ambassador Abbey Kigozi Walusimbi, a Senior Presidential Adviser on Diaspora Affairs, is mourning the sudden death of his son, Isaac Kigozi, whose sudden passing has plunged the country into utter shock and grief.
Isaac Kigozi’s death was confirmed on Wednesday, January 8, by Ambassador Kigozi, who said his son passed on after reportedly going to sleep and never waking up. He was 40.
“With a heavy heart, I must share the sorrowful news of the passing of my beloved son, Isaac Kigozi, who died today, January 8th, in Uganda,” the ambassador said in a statement. “May Allah grant him mercy and may we find patience during this difficult time.”
Isaac Kigozi, a Ugandan-American entrepreneur, media executive and senior government official, served as head of the Trade and Investment docket in the Office of the President, working directly under his father in the Diaspora Affairs portfolio, a position he had held for the past three years.
Colleagues credited him with playing a key role in positioning Uganda as an attractive investment destination, particularly among historical and professional diaspora communities, leveraging global networks to promote investment, enterprise growth and job creation.
Before joining government, Kigozi was the Executive Director of East African Partners (EAP), an international consultancy firm. His personal motto, frequently echoed at public forums, was “Building Africa by Africans.”
In business, Kigozi was the President and Chief Executive Officer of E World Media Group Inc., a firm he founded in 2012. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the company develops reality and non-scripted television content focused on education, empowerment and social impact.
As an executive producer, he worked with major Hollywood studios, including Lionsgate, Pilgrim Studios and Asylum Entertainment.
In 2016, Kigozi received a Daytime Emmy nomination for Docs Africa, a wildlife series filmed in Uganda and broadcast on the ABC Network.
His work earned continental recognition in 2023 when he was nominated for the Forbes Africa Forty Under 40 Awards in the Governance and Government Agencies category. A year earlier, he won the Africa Choice Awards under the Male Young Entrepreneur category.
Beyond business and public service, Kigozi was deeply involved in education and philanthropy. He served on the Board of Directors of the Islamic University in Uganda, the National Debate Council of Uganda, and the National Urban Debate League of California.
In 2016, he founded the ICARE Foundation, which focuses on treating preventable blindness. Since 2017, the foundation has conducted 4,720 cataract surgeries, distributed 12,000 eyeglasses and carried out 74 cornea transplants across Uganda.
Ambassador Kigozi announced that burial will take place on January 9 at 4:00 pm at the residence of the late Haji Juma Kigozi in Bajjo Village, near Bajjo Community School, along Bombo Road in Luwero District. “Indeed, we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we shall return,” he said.
Additional profiling by ChimpReports
If you would like your article/opinion to be published on Uganda’s most authoritative news platform, send your submission on: [email protected]. You can also follow DailyExpress on WhatsApp and on Twitter (X) for realtime updates.
