KAMPALA: The National Information Technology Authority Uganda (NITA-U) in partnership with International Trade Centre (ITC) and Korea Small and Medium Enterprises and Startup Agency (KOSME) have launched the Youth Start up Academy in Uganda (YSAU).
The project, which will be implemented by Hive Colab, an innovation hub, will provide comprehensive incubation facilities to 1,000 young entrepreneurs in different parts of the country, with the aim of finally generating the first unicorn startup in Uganda.
Speaking at the launch at Mestil Hotel in Kampala on Tuesday, June 21, 2022, Barbara B. Mutabazi, the co-founder of Hive Colab, said: “We are looking at empowering the youth to start up scalable businesses in Uganda. We look forward to helping young entrepreneurs have better access to capital, knowledge, innovation and the global market under the YSAU project.”
“When you look at investments in Africa especially Kenya, Nigerian and Egypt were leading in terms of scale and growth, but of late Uganda is one of the fastest growing start-ups,” she added.
Dr. Hatwib Mugasa, Executive Director of NITA-U, said his team is ready to give support to the programme at all levels.
“We as NITA Uganda are committed to give support to this Youth start up academy at all levels, right from planning, implementation, among others,” Dr. Mugasa said.
“The youth population in Uganda is 77%, the highest youth population in the world, how do we support them? This programme has arrived at the right time,” he added.
Dr. Mugasa further explained that the program will help give access to international markets and thus participating start-ups will access such markets.
“The youths will access support from National Support strategy and this can help expand their enterprises,” he said.
“Many of our youth entrepreneurs have inadequate levels of entrepreneurship, some lack business management skills, others lack skills on business model development. The Youth Start Up Academy is here to support you,” he added.
Dr. Hak Do Kim, the president of KOSME said: “We’re committed to supporting youth start-ups in Uganda.”
He said the goal of YSAU is to drive growth, scale and globalisation of Uganda’s emerging youth startups.
Youth Start up Academy in Uganda (YSAU) is setting up manufacturing and maker-space facilities, mobile app testing and computer labs, co-working spaces, that will not only provide early stage startups with access to all the equipment they need to build their Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
