John Walugembe

Walugembe is a former chairperson of the policy, planning and research committee of Skilling Uganda where he also served as a member of the Executive Committee of the reform task force. He was the chairperson of the panel of judges for the Late Prof. James Mulwana Awards for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, a judge for the ICCO Agri-Business Innovation Challenge, and also one of the Judges for the Pakasa Youth Awards 2016.

Walugembe worked as the head of the consulting unit for the business development services department at the Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UNCCI) from 2005 to 2012. In that spell, he promoted the establishment of the Turkey-Uganda Business Council, South Africa-Uganda Business Council and Iran-Uganda Business council. He was also the coordinator of the IGAD Business Forum (IBF) from 2009 to 2012. In 2012, he was appointed as the Executive Director of the Uganda Small Scale Industries Association (USSIA). He held this position till 2016. In 2017, he became the volunteer Executive Director of Federation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises - Uganda (FSME).

He attended Busoga College Mwiri and King's College Budo for his secondary school education and then proceeded to Makerere University, where he attained a Bachelor of Science first-class honours degree in 2004. In 2016, he attended the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, where he obtained a Master in Business Administration (MBA) majoring in Finance and Economics at Saïd Business School. At Oxford, he was a member of Wadham College and a recipient of the Skoll Scholarship for Social Entrepreneurship. He was also awarded an MPA (Development Economics and International Development) from Harvard University at Harvard Kennedy School.

John Kakungulu Walugembe (Born November 11, 1981) is a Ugandan business executive, economist, author, entrepreneur and scientist. He is the founder of Oxford International Development Advisors Ltd (OXIDAL) and co-founder of the Oxford Green Partnership, Better Livelihoods Inc. and the Water and Sanitation Entrepreneurs Association Uganda (WASEU). He is the volunteer Executive Director of Federation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises - Uganda (FSME), the former Executive Director of the Uganda Small Scale Industries Association (USSIA) and head of business development at the Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UNCCI).

Walugembe was born in Ntinda, a wealthy suburb of Uganda in 1981 to Emmanuel Ludovic Ndawula and Rebecca Ndawula. A Muganda by tribe, he belongs to the Buganda Royal Family (Balangira clan).