For nearly two decades, Paula Mugisa has been experimenting, failing, learning, teaching, and building businesses, both for herself and for others. What began as a personal pursuit of entrepreneurship gradually evolved into a broader mission focused on staff education, learning design, and entrepreneurship development in Uganda. Today, she is known as the founder of Teesa Advisory, an entrepreneurship educator, business coach, author, and learning designer. But behind those titles lies a journey marked by difficult decisions, failed ventures, reinvention, and a growing conviction that Uganda’s future will be built by people willing to invest their knowledge and energy at home. The decision to walk away from a scholarship worth approximately Shs500 million was not the beginning of that story. It was simply the latest chapter.
The gift of freedom
Mugisa grew up in a single-parent household after the loss of her father. As the youngest of five children, she was raised by a mother who believed deeply in responsibility and personal accountability.
‘If you could justify your idea, you could try it,’ Mugisa recalls. ‘We were allowed to fail, but we were also expected to learn from those experiences.’
That mindset would shape many of the decisions that followed. At 17, she found her way to Lubowa, sat examinations, secured admission to a university in the United States, and travelled alone to pursue a degree in Business Administration with a minor in Music. After one year at university, Mugisa believed she had learnt enough to return home and start a business. Like many young entrepreneurs, she had confidence, ambition, and a desire to create opportunities for others. What she lacked was experience. Her first major venture was a commercial laundry business. She started the business with a friend and travelled to Dubai and China herself to secure the machines and have them shipped to Uganda. Instead, the business collapsed. It would not be the last failure. Over the years, she would experiment with multiple ventures, including Oyster mushroom farming, import and export businesses, consulting, and financing initiatives like money lending and boda boda financing (something she would never recommend anyone to do.) Some worked for a period. Others did not.
Looking back, Mugisa sees those years differently.
‘Failure is a poor teacher if you refuse to reflect. But if you pay attention, it rapidly increases your wisdom and can teach you things success never will.’
Returning to learn
Several years later, Mugisa returned to formal education, completing her studies with a BSc in Business Enterprise in the United Kingdom. Like many Africans who study abroad, she was exposed to environments that encouraged questioning, experimentation, and critical thinking. She acquired funds from the University of Buckingham and won an award at the University of Oxford, UK for a project that she developed from a growing interest in how Ugandan entrepreneurs can learn, refine their ideas, and grow their innovations. When graduation approached, and scared to return home to economic uncertainty, she chose to remain abroad. She explored different employment opportunities and after many rejections, she was forced to return home. At the time, it felt like a disappointment.
When good ideas meet hard ground
One of Mugisa’s earliest attempts to contribute after returning home involved a project she had developed for the Ugandan entrepreneurs rooted in the education sector.
‘At the time, I thought a good idea was enough. What I had not yet learnt was that transformative ideas require founders with the strength, conviction, experience, and resilience to carry them through resistance.’
I had used my savings to tailor the project specifically for the Ugandan education system.
‘I reached out to the Ministry of Education at the time with an idea. The coordinator looked at me and said, ‘Young lady, why don’t we make you an intern? You can help us when we need someone to run errands. Use your energy to serve tea, snacks, and run errands,'” she recounts.
Unable to find a home for her ideas, she got a job instead and that is how she ended up at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, serving as a Third Secretary at the Consular Desk. The role provided stability, but over time, she realised she was being drawn back toward entrepreneurship and education. After less than two years, she resigned and founded Teesa. The name came from her mother and reflects the idea of people coming together to discuss, learn, and solve problems collectively. By then, Mugisa had experienced enough entrepreneurial setbacks to understand that many founders like her, were struggling with challenges that extended far beyond access to capital. They lacked guidance, community, structure, and practical knowledge. She wanted to create a space where entrepreneurs who had failed could come together, talk honestly, learn from one another, and rebuild.
From entrepreneur to educator
As Teesa grew, Mugisa found herself increasingly drawn toward teaching rather than traditional consulting. That work eventually led to the creation of the Tutandike programme in 2020 with a small unit. The programme-helped participants explore business ideas, customer acquisition, branding, operations, administration, and growth. What started with a few dozen participants eventually reached thousands of Ugandans.
A new mission
Over time, Mugisa became increasingly interested in workforce development, learning design, and how education can help people build meaningful livelihoods. Yet despite the visible growth of her work, she found herself exhausted. She had spent years helping others grow. Now she needed space to grow herself.
The Shs500m scholarship
That opportunity arrived through the Fulbright Scholarship worth approximately $140,000 (about Shs508m). One of Teesa’s partners was the American Center, where she learnt about the Fulbright Scholarship. Mugisa was selected to pursue a Master’s degree in Learning, Design and Technology at the University of Georgia. She wanted to better understand how learning experiences are designed so she could create stronger systems for entrepreneurs and learners across Uganda and Africa. For her, the scholarship represented a chance to sharpen the tools she would eventually bring back home.
The hardest choice
When Mugisa left for the United States in August 2025, she believed her daughter would eventually join her. Professionally, things were going well. Academically, she was thriving. But the question she found herself wrestling with was simple. Could she continue building a future that excluded her daughter? After multiple visa applications and appeals, that never happened. Her daughter’s visa application was denied in October 2025. An internal appeal in November was denied too. A second application in December was also denied.
“My family had prayed. We were certain she would get the visa after two rejections.”
When preparing for the final interview, Mugisa asked herself a difficult question: What if she is denied again?
On January 12, 2026, her daughter’s visa application was rejected once more.
The explanation given stated that there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate strong reasons for returning to Uganda. The choice before her was simple but painful: Finish the scholarship and leave her daughter behind. Or return home and walk away from the scholarship, the prestige, the opportunity, and the research.
‘I chose my daughter.’
Knowledge matters most when it returns to serve
Today, Mugisa does not present her story as a blueprint for others to copy. Instead, she sees it as evidence that true success is rarely linear and is often self-defined. Success is not a one size fits all but something we each determine for ourselves.
‘The lesson I keep coming back to is that some callings require surrender. Sometimes the path is not choosing what benefits you most; it is choosing what allows you to serve others most faithfully. We need more people willing to build, teach, mentor, and create solutions even when the environment is difficult. Every generation benefits from men and women who were willing to sacrifice something for those who came after them. Some gave up comfort. Some gave up wealth. Some gave up opportunities. If we want a different future for our people, somebody has to be willing to build it, and somebody has to stay engaged long enough to plant trees whose shade they may never sit under. Hope is not found in complaining about what is broken. Hope is found in building.’