Daily Monitor profiles Quest: keeping safari revenue in East Africa

In September 2026, correspondent Rajab Mukombozi profiled Quest founder Devin Itaagi for the Daily Monitor lifestyle section under the headline Itaagi's app aims to keep millions of dollars in East Africa (opens in a new tab). The piece traces how a tour operator's spreadsheet pain became a platform for the safari industry.

From four-hour quotes to minutes

Itaagi spent four years at Canine Safaris in western Uganda before building Quest. The Monitor describes a typical five-day Lake Mburo, Queen Elizabeth and Bwindi itinerary taking about four hours of manual work: lodge rates over WhatsApp, Uganda Wildlife Authority fees by nationality, vehicle and guide costs, then formatting something a client might read. On busy weeks, operators could spend 30 to 40 hours on little else.

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I remember one Monday morning when our senior consultant had spent the entire weekend on a quote for a group of 12 German tourists. She came in looking exhausted, only to get an email that the group had chosen a Kenyan operator instead. Fourteen hours of work, zero return. I thought, there has to be a better way.

Quest automates that workflow: destinations, accommodation and activities with nationality-specific fees in real time, then a branded PDF with day-by-day detail. The article cites preparation time falling from hours to roughly 15 to 38 minutes, and inventory growing to hundreds of lodges, destinations and activities.

Why the headline matters

Foreign booking platforms can take 15 to 25 percent on a reservation. On a $2,500 safari, that is hundreds of dollars leaving the continent per booking. Itaagi's argument in the Monitor is that if East African operators keep even a slice of bookings on direct channels, tens of millions of dollars could stay in the region each year. Quest is built as tooling for that shift, not as another commission layer.

Traction at home and abroad

The profile notes Quest at GITEX Africa, GITEX Global and COMEUP, finalist spots at the Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation Summit and GEC+ Uganda 2026, and live demos at the Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo. Adoption is still hard won: experienced operators double-check new software against their own math until it earns trust.

Itaagi told the Monitor he wants Quest to become the default operating system for East African safari businesses within five years: as normal as having a vehicle and a phone when a new operator sets up in Kampala, Nairobi, Arusha or Kigali.

Try the platform

• Prices trips with nationality-based park fees and seasonal rates.
• Models transport from real routes, vehicles and fuel prices.
• Handles dollars and shillings with multi-currency.
• Lets operators sell on their own websites with embeds and the SDK.

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