The inaugural Uganda Developers Summit (UG Dev Summit), a landmark event that aims to revolutionize Uganda’s developer landscape, accelerate the adoption of IT, and open up global work opportunities for local tech talent, came to an end yesterday —having gathered over 500 attendees including 300 developers from around East Africa & across Africa, regulators of the tech industry, government MDAs, industry leaders, tertiary academic institutions, Enterprise Support Organisations, HR associations & recruitment agencies, fintech strategic partners, and development partners, among others.
Refactory’s Executive Director, Mr. Michael Niyitegeka while wrapping the summit said was proud of the turnout —thanking the partners and attendees for showing up in big numbers. “This UG Dev Summit couldn’t have been this without you here. And the proof that we were doing something that has value for us as individuals is in the number of people that are still seated here and listening through all the sessions,” he said.
Niyitegeka ended his remarks by revealing that in October this year, they will announce the dates for the 2025 summit. Rectifying our tweet on the summit being held in Gulu, he said “We will have regional Uganda Developer Summits and the climax in Kampala.”
The second day of the summit had engagements including keynote speeches from Rashmi Pillai, Group Head of Public Policy, Wave Mobile Money, and Michael Mukasa, CEO of Liquid Intelligent Technologies Uganda.
While speaking on cloud-powered Africa, its benefits, and the opportunities for stakeholders, Mukasa said cloud computing offers opportunities for Ugandan organizations to modernize their IT infrastructures and adopt new technologies. He also emphasized that cloud computing enables businesses to reduce IT expenditure and enhance operational efficiencies leading to improved productivity and revenue growth.
Mukasa also touched on data protection and the digital transformation roadmap. “Liquid Technologies has been at the forefront of expanding access to infrastructure and digital services, which are Uganda’s digital economy, creating new growth opportunities,” he said. “Liquid Intelligent Technologies drives digital transformation in Uganda with a Pan-African presence and expertise.” He noted that the country’s digital transformation roadmap highlights the need for cloud-based solutions and collaboration, among other things.
At the end of his keynote, Mukasa launched the first Azure Stack in Uganda and its impact on revolutionizing cloud connectivity and how businesses will be positively impacted.
Prior to the keynote speeches, the second day of the summit kicked off with Masterclasses on (1) Design Engineering, (2) API Development and Deployment, and (3) Leveraging Shared Infrastructure in the Digital Economy. The biggest takeaway from the Masterclasses was leveraging digital infrastructure to serve last-mile communities through Community Pass. The platform is not just a digital tool but a catalyst for change, building a network of trust within the financial ecosystem and bridging the gap between underserved communities by bringing essential services closer to them.
Community Pass goes beyond mere connectivity to fostering sustainable economic opportunities and integrating digitally excluded individuals into the formal digital economy. Through this platform, farmers will be provided with a digital footprint, enabling them to track their activities and build a unique digital identity. This identity helps them access critical services like finance, promoting inclusion, and empowering their livelihoods.
The keynote speeches were followed by panel sessions Cloud Technology, and Tech Governance & Policy. Takeaways from a panel discussion, Cloud Technology; Powering Africa’s Cloud-driven Future, James Byaruhanga, Managing Director of Roke Cloud noted that cloud service providers in Africa are evolving to offer more than just internet connectivity driven by government adoption and private sector integration.
Joanita Asio Banda while discussing cloud computing benefits including scalability, cost, saving, innovation, and security —noted that the cloud enables foster innovation using resource-intensive AI and ML technologies, as for security, she noted that stakeholders have raised security concerns which is valid, however, she remarked that security concerns are addressed through embedded security features such as encryptions, redundancy, to mention a few.
Silver Kayondo, Legal, Regulatory & Policy strategist touched on the legal aspects of cloud computing. “I must say that you will not find a particular law governing cloud, AI, or other technologies because when we are enacting technology laws, we follow the principle of technology neutrality. You cannot legislate for each technology because new technologies are coming up in our country and we cannot tell how the adoption and scale will be,” he said.
He also emphasized the importance of compliance documents for organizations, including data protection and child protection policies. “You must have a set of policies that protect your company. We are talking about data protection and privacy policy, password policy, cloud policy, and a child protection & safeguarding policy, among others” said Kayondo.
Steven Mugabe, MD at PDPO Uganda highlighted data sovereignty concerns in cloud computing emphasizing the need for policies and compliance with Uganda’s Data Protection and Privacy Act.
Takeaways from a panel discussion, Tech governance & Policy regulation; Lessons from the Past Decade & What Next —Andrew Bukenya, Senior Manager at MTN Uganda emphasized the importance of regulations in this digital age —he believes regulations can transform traditional environments into the digital space. On regulation for emerging technologies to protect consumers, Jackie Ochola, GM and Head of Mobile at Wave Mobile Money Limited urged regulators to promote competition and protect consumers.
Irene Kaggwa Ssewakambo, the Director of Research at UCC highlighted Uganda’s entrepreneurial spirit and potential for ICT innovation. “Many of our people develop apps and they’re thriving outside of Uganda. So the opportunity for us to harness our ICT apps is great and it no longer requires you to work in another country,” said Ssewakambo.
The summit closed with Tekjuice launching in Uganda. They graciously gave the Refactory Academy a donation of UGX4.5 million to fund 3 promising tech talents to do a course of choice in the academy. “At Tekjuice we believe in creating opportunities and making career dreams come true,” said Tekjuice CEO, Jason Hathaway.
