From a little girl whose hearing aids were rejected by a nursery school, to an award-winning model, entrepreneur, and disability advocate, Enrika is proving that disability indeed does not define destiny.
On runways, as the music pulses and cameras flash, the crowd watches as Enrika Mijumbi Kabagenyi glides down the runway, her head held high, her movements graceful and her confidence unmistakable.
Because she is deaf and can therefore not depend on what she is hearing to ‘strut her stuff ’ like the other models, she has learnt to follow the heavy bass of the music pulsing through the floorboards into her feet, her rhythm guided not by sound, but by sensation and muscle memory.
When she strikes her final pose, the audience erupts in applause she can only see, as she retreats into a stillness that only she inhabits. Many in the room do not realize that Enrika cannot hear the applause. In her world, it is total silence.
She reads the crowd’s admiration not in sound, but in their glowing eyes and the proud smile of her mother watching from the front row. Diagnosed with a hearing and speech impairment at just eight months old, the 18-year-old has learnt to command a world that too often struggles to understand hers.
Known as Super Model Enrika, she is a fashion model signed to Eiffel Models Uganda. She is a trained chef and baker, an entrepreneur running three businesses, and founder of the Enrika Foundation. She also holds the title of Little Miss Ability Uganda.
Her journey is more than a story of glamour and glittering awards. It is about a young woman, who has refused to let society’s assumptions dictate the size of her dreams.
MOTHER’S LOVE, DAUGHTER’S COURAGE
Growing up in Kampala, with family roots in Hoima City, Enrika is the second-born of three children. Her diagnosis brought uncertainty, but her parents made a defining choice; they would not allow fear or society’s prejudices to determine their daughter’s future.
“My parents accepted me, believed in me, and chose to support me instead of allowing my disability to limit my future,” Enrika says.
“They have shown me that children with disabilities deserve the same love, protection, education and opportunities as every other child.”
Her mother, Mary Goretti Kaija Tusiime, became one of her greatest champions, standing beside her through the difficult moments and nurturing the possibilities others sometimes failed to see.
“Raising Enrika taught us that disability does not mean a lack of potential. Children with disabilities do not need sympathy alone. They need love, protection, quality education and the opportunity to show the world what they can do,” she says.
Yet the road was far rougher for her! At just three years old, Enrika experienced rejection for the first time. Her nursery school asked her parents to take her home, because the small hearing aids were considered a distraction to other children.
To the school, her hearing aids were an inconvenience, but to a young child, their absence was an early and painful barrier to her learning. She later attended Uganda School for the Deaf in Ntinda for kindergarten and primary education, before joining Merryland High School for Senior One.
The cost of a sign language interpreter, however, made continuing there difficult. She transferred to Wakiso School for the Deaf, where she completed her Uganda Certificate of Education.
For her mother, the hardest part was realizing she could protect Enrika at home, but not shield her from society’s ignorance. Watching her bright, innocent three-year-old get turned away from school simply for wearing hearing aids was not just a setback; it was a painful, personal rejection that left her feeling both angry and helpless.
“Families should not have to struggle alone just to secure basic education for their children. Society must learn to focus on a child’s abilities rather than limitations,” her mother says.
For Enrika’s older brother, Emmanuel Aidan Mijumbi, the pain was watching his sister work twice as hard as everyone else just to be granted the same baseline respect. It was the frustration of seeing her talents overlooked purely because people focused on what she could not hear rather than what she could accomplish.
“Seeing her command the runway, run her businesses and stand up for other children with disabilities makes me incredibly proud. She is proving that disability will never define what you can achieve,” he says.
FROM MIRROR TO THE RUNWAY
Long before the titles and cameras, Enrika was a little girl fascinated by red-carpet appearances, practicing poses in front of a mirror.
Her mother recognised the spark and enrolled her in a children’s modelling academy, setting her on a path towards professional modelling. In 2017, at just eight years old, she competed against more than 20 contestants at the Little Miss Uganda pageant.
She won the Miss Rising Lady and Miss Confidence titles and finished second runner up, overall.
It was the beginning of a remarkable journey, one that has seen her recognised at the Malengo Foundation’s Next Generation Honoree Award in 2019, Most Inspirational Kid Model in 2021, East Africa’s Most Influential Kid Model in 2022, and a nomination for the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2023.
In 2026, she received the Girl Champion Award for Unique Abilities. But Enrika’s ambitions extend beyond the runway. She runs Enrika Jewellery, Enrika Liquid Soap and Enrika Eatery, turning creativity into income-generating ventures.
She also trained at the Cosam School of Baking and Cooking, nurturing a passion that can be done in respectful and artistic silence. Unlike many who start advocating later in life, Enrika built her platform with a clear purpose from the beginning.
She is more than just a model wearing designer clothes; she is an active business leader who runs three companies and directs her own foundation. By turning childhood rejection into motivation, she brings a unique depth and resilience to her modeling career.
Through the Enrika Foundation, she seeks to empower marginalised groups, particularly young girls with disabilities in rural Uganda, through practical skills and entrepreneurship. For Enrika, success is not simply about being seen. It is about opening doors for others who have been overlooked.
CHANGING HOW UGANDA SEES DISABILITY
Despite her achievements, Enrika is aware that prejudice remains a formidable obstacle. Deafness is often mistaken for an inability to think, lead, learn or create.
“People often equate hearing loss with mental incapacity. Because you cannot hear or speak in the traditional way, society assumes you cannot think, create or lead,” she says, depending on sign language to make herself understood.
She dreams of a Uganda where schools have qualified sign language interpreters, families can access early intervention services, and children with disabilities are given meaningful opportunities to learn and thrive.
Her message is especially urgent for children whose talents may never be discovered because of inaccessible classrooms, financial constraints or low expectations. For Enrika, inclusion means more than allowing a child into a classroom.
It means ensuring that the child can communicate, participate, learn and belong. At 18, she is still writing her story. There will be more businesses to grow, more runways to conquer and more young people to encourage.
But her greatest achievement may be challenging a society that too often sees disability before it sees the erson. She is one of the lucky ones, whose parents did not give up and deny her available opportunities.
Many deaf children are kept out of school, because of how far they may live from a specialized centre, or, their parents will simply not go out of their way to seek the services. When Enrika steps onto the runway, her confidence speaks.
Her achievements speak. And through her work, she is helping others find their voices, too. Her message to young people is simple: “Believe in yourself, discover your talent, and never let other people’s assumptions determine your future. You are capable, you are valuable, and your dreams matter.”
SOME OF HER MAJOR RECOGNITIONS INCLUDE:
- Little Miss Uganda 2017: She won the Miss Rising Lady and Miss Confidence titles and became second runner-up in the overall competition.
- Next Generation Honoree Award 2019: A recognition from the Malengo Foundation.
- UN Women Girl Child Award nominee, 2019
- Most Inspirational Kid Model, 2021
- East Africa’s Most Influential Kid Model, 2022
- International Children’s Peace Prize nominee, 2023
- Girl Champion Award Winner – Unique Abilities, 2026: A recognition that celebrates her abilities and advocacy.
- Junior Malengo Ambassador
- Certificates of achievement and appreciation: For activities such as the Kampala Kids and Teens Fashion Show and the Box It Challenge.