DUBAI: Delivering a keynote speech on Uganda’s participation in the 2020 Dubai Expo, Hon. Kabbyanga Godfrey Baluku, the Minister of State for National Guidance said the Government of Uganda embarked on an initiative to develop the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Innovation sectors in Uganda as one of the key areas that the government can exploit as a long-term solution to address issues of unemployment amongst educated youths.
In October 2021, Uganda joined over 190 countries in Dubai to showcase their expertise in numerous fields ranging from tourism, agriculture, information and technology, and much more.
Extending his heartfelt appreciation to President Yoweri Museveni for his leadership and guidance in ensuring that Uganda is present at the Dubai Expo, Hon. Kabbyanga said the Government of Uganda is committed to fostering a trusted and vibrant business environment, where businesses and workers are empowered to innovate.
“For us, BPO and Innovation are not mere buzzwords, their development is deliberate as we believe that is how we can ensure employment for our young people and importantly play our role in the development of the Country and region. That is why, as an example, we started a program whose purpose was to identify and support innovators & BPO practitioners and provide growth opportunities for them,” said Hon. Kabbyanga.
Believing that several representatives of the vast Ugandan innovator community participating in the Dubai Expo have experienced breakthrough technologies and learnt about disruptive innovations, Hon. Kabbyanga is confident that the innovators will bring learned lessons back home.
Noting that although Uganda might not be the largest from a geographical perspective nor the richest from a GDP perspective, it has Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Innovation that can be curved out as a niche amongst the many treasures that are resident in the nation.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, ensuring a thriving tech sector is critical to the future of the Ugandan economy — it is critical to growth, critical to job creation and critical to raising our nation’s productivity. It is a top priority for the whole government and we are determined that Uganda will be a science and tech superpower in Africa, and that is why we’re bold in inviting the world to Discover Africa’s Innovation Powerhouse,” he added.
Here is why Hon. Kabbyanga says Uganda is Africa’s Innovation Powerhouse:
1. Labour availability
Uganda has over 30,000 youth leaving universities each year, these are fluent in English and are ICT literate. “We have the labour, we invite you to utilize it,” he stressed.
Other related reasons why Uganda is Africa’s Innovation Powerhouse include:
> Uganda has one of the youngest populations in Africa, with 69% of the population under the age of 24 – an incredible human capital indicator;
> High quality and employability of workforce according to World Economic Forum 2018 Global Competitiveness Index, on a scale of 1 to 7 (7 excellent), Uganda reaches 4.4 out of 7 on the ease of finding skilled workers (on sourcing talent with digital skills).
> Uganda has been ranked in the top percentile among African countries linked to and soaring in digital potential in line with Business Process Outsourcing
2. Internet Connectivity
Uganda has achieved a lot in terms of connectivity. Coverage is predominantly provided through wireless networks – especially mobile platforms. Internet subscriptions in Uganda have crossed the 29 million mark, suggesting that nearly one in every two Ugandans has internet access. There is significant coverage of 4G and 3G across the nation.
The Government, through Ministry of ICT & National Guidance has over the years invested in establishing secure infrastructure and information systems through the National Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) fibre cable. The Ministry has created a secure high-speed network that connects most of Uganda. So far we have built 4,000km of fibre and in the next 3years, we plan on connecting the entire nation with more optic fibre.
Uganda’s fibre, provides network connectivity across 53 districts to 1,353 Government sites that include offices, Schools, Hospitals, Courts, Universities, Police, Local Governments which are now able to utilize high speed connectivity and access over 333 e-Government services.
The Government fibre has facilitated regional connectivity across 10 border points via Entebbe, Vurra, Oraba, Goli, Mpondwe, Malaba, Busia, Mutukula, Katuna, and Elegu thus fostering trade and cross border relations. By creating this nation-wide network and spurring the development of e-government services, the Government through the NBI/EGI has contributed to the ease of doing business across the region.
Cost of Internet – In order to reduce on what would be considered impediments to setting up BPO or innovation, the Ministry of ICT has lowered the cost of internet. In the next financial year 2022/2023, the ICT Ministry shall reduce the cost to $25 for every 1Mbps of dedicated internet. The Government’s target for BPO/Innovation is to buy internet at $5 for every 1Mbps of dedicated internet.
With the growth in data usage and storage and the broader digital transformation of businesses and the public sector in Uganda, the Ministry of ICT set up the first tier 3 data center and data recovery site supporting the growth and digitalisation of the Ugandan economy.
Government plans on building more data centers across the country, with regional points of presence to enhance the internet service experience.
4. Enabling environment.
For innovation, regulation can be catalytic—or a hindrance. In Uganda, we have ensured that the regulation we have implemented is catalytic. Our laws and regulations are agile, iterative, and collaborative.
Recently, the United Nations Capital Development Fund ranked Uganda 12th in Africa, with a score above the regional average in technology and governance. UNCDF indicated that the performance of Uganda’s policy and regulatory environment as assessed by the Inclusive Digital Economy Scorecard (IDES) is consistent with other global comparative sources.
5. Technology Parks
The Government has embarked on the development of Technology Parks in all the regions of the country using Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). These parks have all utilities needed for the establishment of IT Parks; these include water, electricity, roads, etc.
During Hon. Kabbyanga’s stay in Dubai, he also visited 2 Data Centres, a Tier 3 and Tier 4 – in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. “We appreciate the depth of facilities they run. One of the data centres is where the global ICT firm Microsoft stores its data,” he said, adding that the lessons from understanding how global tech leaders are managing their digitalization are part of what they are taking back to Uganda, in our bid to continue maintaining the country’s position as Africa’s Innovation Powerhouse.
In order to do well as a nation, Hon. Kabbyanga said there is need to complete the innovation and economic cycle, from the creation of new knowledge to the utilization of this new knowledge. “This means we must translate research into enterprise, and to have enterprise demand for new solutions, thus creating a positive innovation cycle,” he explained, stressing that the job at hand is not for Government alone because it can only be successful if its collaborative.
In his remarks, he thanked the private sector partners that joined the 2020 Dubai Expo in an effort to use technology to ignite social and economic transformation across Uganda. The participating private sector partners include: Huawei Technologies Uganda, MTN Uganda, Airtel Uganda, NBS Televsion, Uganda Broadcasting Cooperation (UBC), Vision Group, Centenary Technology Services, and TBWA Uganda.
The 2020 Expo continues to run under the theme: Connecting Minds, Creating the Future. The spirit of this theme is also seen in Uganda’s efforts as it moves ahead to use ICT as a pillar of the development of its economy.
The 2020 Dubai Expo will run till March 31 with a closing ceremony at the central Al Wasl Plaza, the same venue where the opening ceremony took place last October.