PEOPLE
GREGORY
BAKUNZI
MAKING A DOLLAR IN
THE WILD
W
hen I met with
Gregory Bakunzi recently at the
Ninzi Hotel in
Kacyiru for this
interview, I found him disarmingly
soft-spoken, friendly and unassuming – the furthest thing one would
expect from most successful business
people.
Bakunzi’s “niceness” is perhaps borne
out of his humble beginning: Growing up in a refugee camp in western
Uganda and dropping out of school in
Primary Seven due to lack of school
fees.
20 - CHIEF EXECUTIVE
His dignified demeanour can also be
attributed to his career. As a tour guide
for Amahoro Tours, his boutique tour
and travel company, Bakunzi has spent
many years interacting with people
from diverse cultures.
“I have been to about 37 countries
around the world and met and interacted with people from all walks of life.
Along the way I have learned that it
takes humility to deal with people of all
kinds of personalities,” he says.
In his career that spans almost two
decades, Bakunzi says most of his expeditions begin and end smoothly, but
he has had to tolerate a few annoying
clients. Like that American tourist
who came “expecting Africa to be like
America.”
Bakunzi says his client complained
about everything during his entire
visit – from the “bad roads” to “being
driven in a car that lacked an air conditioner.”
“In fact,” says Bakunzi, “when he went
back to the US he posted bad things
about us on Trip Adviser but our reply was diplomatic: We told him that
this is Africa, not America.”