Question: Who is Tony Isubikalu?
Tony: Good question to begin with, umm Tony Isubikalu, I was born and raised in Jinja, attended my education to University in Uganda then moved to England for greener pastures. I did not stay long in England because i had to move to Minesota in the USA where I finished school and majored in a Master’s in Business Administration.communications representative.
Question: What exactly prompted you to move to England after University?
Tony: Frankly speaking, it was the time to move because we were a group of friends then that were in search of a better life because good employment opportunities were few in Uganda at a time. Infact, you had to be working with the likes of Nile Breweries to count yourself lucky but the opportunities were few so we moved to England to search for better. I personally moved to England to do school and of course also look for better opportunities.
Question: So how do you now end up in USA?
Tony: While in England I made a decision to move to USA first and foremost to join my girlfriend but also to further my studying as a way of increasing my opportunities. When I got to the USA, I decided to take advantage of the tuition reimbursement programme in the United States system and decided to do Banking.
Question: How were your early days in USA?
Tony: My early days in the USA were a little tough because I had to keep up with the new environment especially after moving from England to Minesota. Finding food was one hectic thing, then the weather was also tough on me in the early days. Also, I need to note that while in England I had a lot of friends and here I was now in a new community where I only knew a handful of people at the beginning.
Question: How did you manage to handle family affairs in the early days of your arrival in USA?
Tony: I got to the US in the year 2004, being a first-time parent was a challenge because I was working and my wife was doing work and school at the same time. I had to use grandmothers to babysit the children.
Question: I know you are a man who loves your culture and heritage very much, how do you keep up?
Question: You are a former President of Twegaite International, tell us about your journey with this organisation?
Tony: : Before Twegaite International, I found an established group of Basoga people in Minesota and as a fact Minesota has the highest number of Basonga in the United States. This Basoga group I found was doing some charity works in Busoga. At the time many other states within USA had Basoga groups under different leadership within their communities. I became a leader of the Basoga group in Minesota, shortly the major Basoga groups came together to join Twegaite International.
Make it a point to look out for the second part of this interview to know all the insights that Tony shared about his leadership as President of Twegaite International.
