| Sylvia Owori | |
| Birth Place: | Uganda |
| Alma Mater: | Newham College (B.A., Fashion Design) Derby University (Bachelor of Business Management) |
| Years Active: | 1999 — present |
| Nationality: | Ugandan |
| Known For: | Fashion Design, Business Acumen and Civil Service |
| Chairman & CEO, Zipa Modeling Agency | |
Sylvia Owori (born 1972) is a Ugandan fashion designer, entrepreneur and civil servant.[1] She is the Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Zipa Modeling Agency, a company that she founded and owns. She is a high-ranking public official in the Office of the President in the Ugandan Government. She is reported to be one of the wealthiest individuals in Uganda, the third-largest economy in the East African Community.[2]
Owori was born in Uganda, one of seven siblings. She attended Nsambya Senior Secondary School, in Kampala, the capital of Uganda and the largest city in that country. She studied at Newham College in London, beginning at the age of 19, graduating with a qualification in fashion design.She also holds a bachelor's degree in Business from the University of Derby as of 2024[3]
Following her studies in the United Kingdom, Owori returned to her native Uganda and opened a boutique that initially sold imported clothes. That enterprise, Sylvie's Boutique, maintains its headquarters at Garden City Mall in Kampala's central business district, with another branch at Mabirizi Complex, also in Kampala, and a third store in Kilimani, a section of Nairobi, the Kenyan capital. It employed 80 people in both countries, as of December 2009.[4]
In the late 1990s, Owori began designing and manufacturing clothes for herself and her friends. In 2000, Sylvia Owori was selected to design the clothes worn by the contestants at the MNet Face of Africa, in Dar es Salaam and Cape Town. The following year, in 2001, she was selected to design the clothes worn by the Ugandan finalist at the Nokia Face of Africa competition. From 2001 until 2004, Sylvia Owori took charge of organizing the "Miss Uganda Beauty Pageant", thereby expanding her visibility. In 2004, she launched her own clothes line, under the Sylvia Owori label. In 2005, she launched Africa Woman Magazine, a glossy monthly publication with circulation in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan and Tanzania.[5] [6] Owori designed and manufactured the costumes for the lead actors, actresses and part of the cast of the film The Last King of Scotland, released in 2006. She is also the founder and owner of Zipa Modeling Agency, a leading fashion talent house in the African Great Lakes area.[7] [8] [9] In 2014, she started and became host of The Style Project, a weekly educative, entertaining, fashion and beauty show in partnership with NTV Uganda. The show was the first of its kind in Uganda and went on to be most rated show on Ugandan airwaves especially on Friday evenings.[10]
Owori left the show in 2017, when she was appointed as the Executive Assistant to General Caleb Akandwanaho, the Chief Coordinator of "Operation Wealth Creation" OWC is a special Civil Military Operation initiated under the Office of the President by President Yoweri Museveni. After a stellar performance in the role, she was promoted to Director of Operations in the same organisation in 2020, a position she still holds up now. The main responsibility is to head all field operations and provide strategic, technical and administrative support in terms of coordination, harmonisation and collaboration of all activities of OWC.[11]
Owori is the mother to two sons. One of the children, born in 2007, was fathered by Al Hajji Nasser Sebaggala, the former mayor of Kampala, in office from 2006 to 2011.[12]