The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
UNFPA, Outbox accelerate youth innovations
The United Nations Population Fund, in collaboration with Outbox, a local business incubator has launched a health-based innovation accelerator dubbed ‘Up Accelerate.’
This is part of a regional initiative by UNFPA East and Southern Africa Regional Office, with funding from UKAID, seeking to explore new and engaging ways to tackle pressing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) challenges in Uganda while promoting social entrepreneurship among young people.
“To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and further UNFPA’s mandate, we need to test new approaches and improve on those already in use,” said Miranda Tabifor, UNFPA representative in Uganda.
Eight youth-led innovations will be picked to join the two acceleration cycles, which entails two months of training, mentoring, fine-tuning their solutions and business models, and financing. The project is running till October 2017.
Richard Zulu, the founder of Outbox said investing in a healthier and more educated population and enabling young people to access opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship, will provide young Ugandans with a favorable environment to thrive in business.
NSSF wins three awards at FiRe Awards
The National Social Security Fund has won three prestigious awards at the 6th edition of the Annual Financial Reporting Awards that was held on Nov.20 at the Kampala Serena Hotel.
The Fund won the Corporate Governance award, Sustainability Reporting award and was named the 1st Runner up in Parastatals and Government Business category.
The awards, which are organized by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU), aim at promoting best practices in financial reporting in complying with international financial reporting standards for the various sectors of Uganda’s economy.
NSSF Chief Finance Officer, Patrick Ayota who received the awards on behalf of the Fund, said the recognition is affirms the Fund’s commitment to transparency.
NSSF has received various awards over the past five years including the East Africa Super Brands 2014 award for excellence in branding and the International Social Security Association (ISSA) Good Practice Award.
Huawei boosts MTN Kampala Marathon with Shs250million
Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider has contributed Shs250million towards the 2016 MTN Marathon’s cause to support the schools’ sustainable sanitation in Kampala.
The 2016 MTN Kampala Marathon is set to take place on Nov.20 with the aim of raising funds towards the construction of bio toilets with water harvesting facilities and environmental friendly bio gas technology.
The bio toilets are intended to reduce the cost of energy used in preparing meals for school children in Kampala.
“This is our fifth time to give to this great cause and we shall continue to support efforts to improve access to sustainable sanitation for the urban poor school children in Kampala,” said Stanley Chyn, Huawei managing director in Uganda.
Wim Vanhelleputte, the chief executive officer of MTN Uganda said Huawei has continued to support MTN’s business foot prints. More than 150 Huawei staff are set to participate in the marathon.
Qatar Airways mark 5 years of service to Uganda
Time can indeed fly. Qatar Airways, five years ago, commenced daily passenger flights from Doha to Entebbe, and on to Kigali, using Airbus A320 aircraft on the route.
This was the same time that the airline’s new hub airport, Hamad International was in the early stages of construction.
Since then, HIA been completed and is one of the world’s leading hub airports with over 30 million passengers handled last year.
And to celebrate the achievement, Qatar Airways invited Ugandan journalists for a lunch briefing at the Kampala Serena Hotel.
Ehab Amin, the Qatar Airways vice president for Africa, Middle East and Pakistan said: “We are honoured to continue to serving the Ugandan market, building strong relationship with our partners for the long term, and looking forward for growing together.”
Qatar Airways has itself grown, now flying to some 150 destinations worldwide with a fleet of now 191 aircraft in service.
Vodafone Uganda targets youth, SME market
Vodafone Uganda has unveiled a digital first approach targeting youth and Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s). The firm say it will demonstrate how the internet can help both groups achieve their potential.
“The biggest way we can support Uganda is to provide technology and data services that support the growth of young entrepreneurs in this country because tomorrow the world will be data driven and data led and only those who will be empowered will easily fit in,” Vodafone Uganda CEO John Ndego said on Nov 10 at Kampala International University
Ndego said the focus on youth was informed by the 2014 Uganda Census data which indicates that youth constitute 78 percent of the Ugandan population.
Vodafone will also be extending internships to about 250 students from KIU every year before rolling out to youth from other institutions.
