Margie Kigozi stuggled to cope with losing her government job

Nothing can truly prepare you for that time away from the limelight.

Margie Kigozi, the former Executive Director of the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) describes her experience after being dropped from the position 12 years ago as a “disaster”

It was the time she got to learn who her real friends were, she says.

“When that contract came to an end, I can tell you that even for me, it was a disaster,” Kigozi says.

“All of a sudden you are a nobody. People were used to seeing you on TV every day, now they have spent two months without seeing me and they start asking where you went

“It is an opportunity to know who your real friends are because others drop you.”

Kigozi had a long tenure in civil service

Mrs Kigozi, – mother to Ugandan hip-hop artist Navio – served as head of the Investments Authority from 1999 to 2011.

During this time, she also served on different boards including Crown Beverages, the makers of Pepsi Cola drinks where she is a shareholder.

Dr Margie Kigozi is now an ardent farmer pulse uganda

But losing the top government job, she says, caught her off guard, as she watched all the people that once revered her, disappear from her life.

“All the investors used to be my best friends and suddenly, they had a new best friend.”

To cope with the new reality, Kigozi says, she encouraged herself to get fulfilment from the other responsibilities that she remained with.

“I was lucky to still be a shareholder and board member of Pepsi Cola and I had to keep telling myself that that is a big thing though it is not that visible,” she said.

Now aged 73, Mrs Kigozi has found her way back into the limelight as a model farmer and thought leader in business and women’s affairs.