Makerere University is gearing up to host the inaugural Youth and Innovation Expo 2023, themed “Fostering Innovation for Uganda’s Transformational Development.”
The expo, scheduled for October 6th and 7th, 2023, at the Yusuf Lule Central Teaching Facility, is a collaborative effort between Makerere University, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and MTN. Its primary goal is to showcase exceptional youth innovations and youth enterprises and explore avenues for commercializing these innovations.
The partnership between Makerere University, UNDP, and MTN was unveiled last year. UNDP Resident Representative in Uganda, Elsie Attafuah, highlighted the establishment of the University Innovation Hub/Pod, with Makerere University serving as the host. This interdisciplinary initiative aims to bring together students, academia, and partners from various fields to foster innovation ecosystems in public universities.
The partnership is centered around five strategic areas, including nurturing innovation ecosystems, leveraging universities’ roles in grassroots development, establishing a regular Innovation Expo as a platform for youth innovators to network, promoting research on resilience, and strengthening gender equality in public institutions.
The Yusuf Lule Central Teaching Facility, designed to address the challenges posed by COVID-19, combines innovation, job creation, and entrepreneurship support. It provides access to a comprehensive range of financial products, business management skills, and market access for young entrepreneurs.
Through this program, UNDP has directly supported over 400 youth businesses and indirectly impacted over 6,000 youth through partnerships and outreach programs with organizations like BRAC and the National Association of Student Enterprises (NASE Africa). At the expo, Makerere University and UNDP will jointly showcase a diverse array of youth innovations and success stories of startups that have transitioned from research concepts into thriving commercial enterprises.
“Through this exhibition, we also hope to create viable forward and backward linkages that will facilitate the creation of jobs and foster entrepreneurship by supporting access to an integrated mix of finance products, business management skills, and market access to young women and men entrepreneurs and youth-owned MSMEs.” Another part of the press statement reads
The two-day expo will feature a student-inspired fashion show, a display of student innovations, and exhibitions highlighting innovations-turned-enterprises from the Youth for Business program across all ten colleges of the University and other University institutions.
By Fahad Muganga