Alumni Spotlight

Coffee, Code, and Cape Town: How One Vienna Alumnus is Brewing Change for Africa’s Future

For Roland Mwesigwa Banya, life after Vienna College has been a blend of big ideas and bold brews economics and espresso, research and resilience.

Now an economist at a Cape Town-based think tank, Banya focuses on artificial intelligence, data governance, and digital regulation. His mission: helping Africa chart a course through the emerging digital economy. But beyond the policy papers, he also runs a coffee business, importing beans from his hometown of Kigezi in Uganda.

“I’m passionate about inclusive growth on the continent,” he said. “And also about coffee, agriculture, family those things that root us.”

That balance between big-picture development and grounded, personal passion traces back to his days at Vienna College, which he joined in 2001 after transferring from St. Mary’s College Kisubi. The change, he says, was a “culture shock.”

“I went from eating posho and beans to being asked by the school owners, ‘What would you like to eat today?’ It was unreal,” he recalled. “We were a small class. We all knew each other. The entertainment, the teachers, everything was intimate and formative.”

Those early years weren’t without missteps. In Form 5, Banya was suspended.

“Peer pressure was real,” he said. “But that moment taught me to make choices that serve me, not just follow the crowd.”

Despite the bumps, his time at Vienna laid a foundation. After graduating in 2003, he worked in his father’s coffee shop before heading to the University of Cape Town for a degree in economics. He later earned a master’s in international finance from the University of Kent in the U.K., followed by a PhD in finance completed in 2018 all while working.

“It wasn’t easy,” he said. “But finishing my PhD is one of the accomplishments I’m most proud of.”

Today, Banya is inspired by those who defy odds to succeed. He credits his father as one of his role models and grounds his journey in faith.

“Worldly success is good, but faith in God and hard work that’s what sustains you,” he said.

He hasn’t forgotten where it all started. As Vienna College prepares to host an alumni dinner, Banya is eager to give back.

“Vienna gave me freedom, lifelong friends, and teachers who truly cared,” he said. “I want to be remembered as someone who mentored the next generation, someone who played their role.”

Now over 20 years removed from his school days, Banya still keeps in touch with former classmates and teammates from the school rugby team bonds that, like his favorite coffee roast, only get better with time.