Mulugeta fought as a young warrior in the Battle of Adwa during the First Italo-Ethiopian War. He served as Minister of Finance during the last years of Emperor Menelik II's reign and then again under Empress Zewditu (1907-1915). From 1916 to 1917, he was Ethiopia's Minister of Foreign Affairs. While governor of Illubabor, Mulugeta escorted then Ras Tafari (the later Emperor Haile Selassie) on his tour of Europe in 1924. In 1926, he was appointed as Minister of War, and a few years later commanded the loyalist troops to victory at the Battle of Anchem.