Ian Ortega is a Ugandan Thinker, Creator, and Implementer. Ortega stands at the intersection of the sciences and humanities, fusing operational and strategic experiences from both worlds. He’s worked as a Features Writer and Columnist at Daily Monitor Newspaper Uganda. Ortega has also worked as a Capital Projects Manager at Uganda Breweries Limited (UBL). While at UBL, Ortega oversaw the completion of the multi-million-dollar Capacity Expansion projects at the Brewery including the commissioning of new packaging lines, a Ready to Drink manufacturing plant and a decarbonization project that involved a shift from Heavy Furnace Oil to Biomass Boilers. He’s considered one of the pioneer executors of sustainability projects in Uganda.
Ortega was also a co-founder of Uganda’s first Digital Social website, www.bigeye.ug. While here, Ortega transformed the website into one of the most visited websites in Uganda at the time. Ortega has also worked at as Digital media consultant with the Independent Magazine, Economic Policy Research Centre and on various international organizations projects. Ortega has served as a fellow with the Youth4Policy Fellowship at Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. He’s also an advisory Board member of Africa Nxt Gen Economic Foundation.
Ortega is currently considered as one of Uganda’s outstanding thinkers in the fields of strategy, programme and project management, regional security, communication, and marketing, decision making and analysis, financial management and accounting and supply chain operations. He loves to engage with both the arts and sciences and sees himself as one of those individuals standing at the intersection of these two worlds.
Ortega dedicates his free time to hiking (with a goal of hiking a mountain in every African country), he’s an adrenaline junkie engaging in activities such as Bungee-jumping skydiving. In his free time, Ortega also consults on leadership and cultural transformation journeys for organizations and communities. He’s driven by a singular purpose of ‘creating models of Ugandan Excellence and exceptionalism at the global stage.’