How I Got Here

Five pivotal moments

Building useful systems for people the system usually skips.

01 Foundation

My Roots & Upbringing

Uganda

Born and raised in Kampala, Uganda. The formative years shaped by a single mother (mostly), and a village — left me with a particular way of seeing things. Some systems worked and some didn't, some people got served, and others were left out.

Every piece of work since has been shaped by that early lens — the instinct for what practical help actually looks like, and the frustration when well-intentioned systems miss the people they claim to serve.

Running at sunset — Uganda hills, early years
02 Anchor

Family

Edmonton, Alberta · Canada

The work is personal because life is personal. Husband, father, brother, friend, collaborator and strategic advisor to the people closest to me — including daughter Gabriella, whose culinary career path is a live case study in the Human Capital Development work now offered through Olympia & Associates.

Relocating to Edmonton with family was the Canada chapter beginning in full motion. The city, the country, and the people we've built a community with here are the daily anchor.

Share a Coke with Brian, Gabriella, Samara, Keana, Fifi
03 Sector

Development Sector Work

Watoto · EGPAF · Global Health Corps · Medic

A decade of field-level work across East Africa's most significant Development and Health organisations. Watoto, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and Medic Mobile — each engagement sharpened the diagnostic instinct and deepened the commitment to the people implementing policy, not just writing it.

This is where the lesson landed: the gap between a well-funded programme and a working one is almost always a human capital and systems problem — not a resource problem.

Brian Ssennoga at Midigo Health Centre IV, Yumbe District — development sector field work
04 Now

Human Capital Development

Global Health Corps · Kampala Leadership Hub · Olympia & Associates

The thread that ties everything together. From fellowship programming at Global Health Corps to founding the Kampala Leadership Hub in 2018 — a management consulting practice that delivered career coaching and a full management course for young team leaders and small business owners.

After relocating to Edmonton, Olympia & Associates was established as a registered Alberta technology and business consulting practice. For people who know me, you know that I love computers, but I love people more. This is why my passion remains central for human capital development — whether it's a check-in or a system, one consistent theme remains: does this actually reach the person it was designed for?

Leadership training session — Kampala Leadership Hub
05 Sector

Technology Sector Work

Watoto · Medic · LMH · Guild Digital Uganda · Amii

Information systems management at Watoto and LMH provided the NGO-sector ICT foundation. Medic — a global open-source community health technology organisation — introduced digital health at scale.

My most substantive technology work came through Guild Digital Uganda — a registered nonprofit technology startup with seven staff and three years of sustained operation. The flagship product, rCHMIS, served 780,000+ refugees at 83% health worker adoption, integrated with Uganda's Ministry of Health and nearly extended into Rwanda under the Health Techhub. When I pivoted, I was already at the cusp of asking what was possible with AI and ML, and so naturally I found my new home at Amii — the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, which has connected the AI and Machine Learning ecosystem in Alberta to the world. At Amii, I can immerse daily into work that is central to how I desire to influence the world — AI Ethics, Literacy, Policy and Governance. This is my new voice, and expression.

Brian Ssennoga training Village Health Teams — community health technology

Read the full long-form story on the Bio page →