20: The 2017 Young Achievers Award Winners Received 5 Million UGX each to Scale Up Their Ideas & Innovations
The Young Achievers Awards winners who were announced on Saturday August 12th, 2017 during an auspicious gala at the Kampala Serena Hotel coinciding with the International Youth Day, each received 5 million UGX support from the government to scale up their ideas and innovations. The support, was handed over to each of the winners at a meeting convened by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives; Hon. Amelia Kyambadde at her office (goo.gl/NFdNQt).
19: Boosting Innovation: CTO Secretary General Shola Tylor Visited Afrosoft Incubation Hub
The Secretary General of the Common Wealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), Hon. Shola Tylor was amazed by ongoing innovations at Ugandan technology incubation hub, Afrosoft IT solutions during his visit in Uganda to discuss cyber security and other technology related issues with various stakeholders (goo.gl/hfeuWB).
18: DIAA study revealed Mobile Money users saved 19,329,887 million hours a month
A study by Digital Impact Awards Africa (DIAA) revealed that at least 5 million regular users of mobile financial services in Uganda during a 3 months period spent 7,113,356 man hours to clear simple financial transactions and saved 57,989,660 productive hours (An average of 19,329,887 million hours a month) that would otherwise be spent on using traditional transactions payment means (goo.gl/NKr64d).
17: UCC, Barefoot Law Partnered to Provide Free Legal Support to ACIA 2017 Winners
The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) struck a partnership with legal firm; Barefoot Law to provide legal support and mentorship to outstanding innovators who emerged winners in the 2017 ACIA Awards (goo.gl/wF1Cq7).
16: Ugandan Startup SolarNow Aquired USD$6 Million Syndicated Loan
Uganda’s leading off-grid solar energy startup “SolarNow” acquired a USD$6 million syndicated credit facility to enable them expand their services as well as improve their Pay As You Go solar power access (goo.gl/8uy9BD).
15: Liquid Telecom Uganda Partnered With Innovation Village To Support Ugandan Startups
Liquid Telecom Uganda, part of the leading pan-African telecoms group Liquid Telecom, on November 30th, 2017 announced a new partnership with tech-incubation hub; the Innovation Village in order to support local based startup with high speed internet and cloud-based services (goo.gl/tM2ko9).
14: Ugandan Innovator Was Named Among Three Winners at 6th Edition of the Innovation Prize for Africa
The 6th edition of the prestigious Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA2017) which took place in Accra Ghana from 17th to 18th of July 2017 came to an end with the African Innovation Foundation (AIF) awarding three more African innovators for their incredible innovations – one of the three being Philippa Ngaju Makobore of Uganda who came in the second place (goo.gl/v6XyA1).
13: IFC Invested USD$6 Million in Africa’s Talking
Washington D.C based Development finance institution; International Finance Corporation (IFC) on September 7th, 2017 announced it was investing up to 619 million Kenyan Shillings (roughly USD$6 million , 21.6 billion UGX) in Kenyan-based mobile technology firm; Africa’s Talking, with the funds earmarked for the company’s expansion in Africa (goo.gl/oRC1it).
12: 4 Ugandan Youth Engineers Were Shortlisted For the 2018 Royal Academy of Engineering Africa Prize
The 2018 shortlist for the Royal Academy of Engineering Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation is out and it includes innovators working to make malaria and reproductive health tests easier, using dolphin-inspired echo-location for visually impaired people, and recovering precious metals from car parts for re-use in manufacturing – and among the finalists were 4 Ugandan youth engineers (goo.gl/AqxQeM).
11: Stanbic Bank Uganda Won a Record Haul at the Financial Reporting Awards
Stanbic Bank Uganda won an unprecedented five accolades including the overall Gold award at the 2017 Financial Reporting awards that are organised by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda in collaboration with the Capital Markets Authority, and Uganda Securities Exchange (goo.gl/tnE7nx).
10: Albert Mucunguzi Was Re-elected as ICTAU Board Chairperson
Technology entrepreneur Albert Mucunguzi was re-elected as the chairperson Board of Directors for the ICT Association of Uganda (ICTAU); a multi-stakeholder initiative formed by private sector-based Ugandans that seeks to provide professional guidance to individuals and organizations in the private sector, as well as offering advisory services to government on policy-based issues (goo.gl/TNXSto).
9: Uganda State Ministers Attended the 7th Annual Innovation Africa in Mozambique
Uganda state Ministers; Hon Elioda Tumwesigye, Hon Idah Nantaba, and Hon JC Muyingo joined other state Ministers from other African countries, industry partners, and other senior government officials during the 7th annual Innovation Africa Summit that took place in Mozambique between 23rd to 25th of October (goo.gl/k4ALvY).
8: Mobile Payments Set to Surpass Credit Cards by 2019 in Online Commerce
A new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) showed that online, mobile and digital currency payment systems were set to overtake credit and debit cards as the most popular ways to pay in e-commerce worldwide by 2019 (goo.gl/r2672A).
7: UCC Report: Number of Mobile Phone Subscribers in Uganda Dropped
The number of mobile phone subscribers in Uganda in 2017 dropped by a margin of close to 60,000, the new Post, Broadcasting and Telecommunications Market and Industry report indicates. The report was released by the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) showing a total of 56,946 subscribers were lost in fourth quarter (goo.gl/TVyRJ9).
6: Africa Set to Top 1 Billion Mobile Internet Connections in Five Years
According to a study conducted by research and consulting firm Ovum in London, showed that Africa’s mobile internet connections is set to double in the next five years, thanks to affordable smartphones and the roll-out of high-speed networks. The reported further estimated that mobile broadband connections will rise from 419 million at the end of this year to 1.07 billion by the end of 2022 (goo.gl/cSQA7S).
5: Uganda Was Named in the Top 10 African Countries With the Fastest Download Speeds
In new data, that was collected across the 12 months up to 10 May this year by M-Lab, a partnership between New America’s Open Technology Institute, Google Open Source Research, Princeton University’s PlanetLab, and other supporting partners, and compiled by Cable.co.uk, revealed countries in the world that have the fastest broadband internet connections, Uganda listed in the top 10 in Africa (goo.gl/TZN4QY).
4: MTN Uganda Announced TBWA as New Integrated Marketing Agency
MTN Uganda announced that its had integrated marketing and communication function will, with effect from July 1st 2017, be taken over by TBWA, following successful completion of a transition process from its former agency Metropolitan Republic. TBWA is part of the Omnicom Group that was recently appointed by MTN as the Group’s Integrated Marketing Communications agency; and is in the process of carrying out a similar transition to support MTN’s business in all markets where it has a presence (goo.gl/DmCLmw).
3: UCC Banned Live Coverage Amid Age Limit Crisis
Uganda Communications Commission ordered broadcasters to stop live coverage on both radio and television saying it “incites the public and stirs up hatred.” The order came at the backdrop of two failed plenary sessions all of which were aimed at tabling the motion to amend article 102(b) of the constitution to remove presidential age limits (goo.gl/7xtWte).
2: Government Unveiled 80 million UGX Innovation Hub at Makerere University
Government through the Ministry of Finance unveiled a new tech innovation and incubation hub at Makerere University in Kampala. The hub that was officially opened by State Minister for Finance in charge of General Duties, Dr. Gabriel Ajedra costed 80 million UGX and is expected to play an instrumental role in empowering youth to create new ideas that will boost enterprise development and the country’s economy at large (goo.gl/rVucPx).
1: Museveni Commend NITA-U Over Progress on Achieving Digital Vision
His Excellency the President, President Yoweri Museveni, launched the fifth phase of Presidential Investors’ Round Table (PIRT) at State House in August, 2015. The phase focuses on four thematic areas of Tourism; Competitiveness and Ease of Doing Business; Minerals Value Addition; and Energy, Oil and Gas (goo.gl/6xyYfb).
Happy Holidays !!!!
