Startup Uganda has announced the first ever Startup Uganda Awards that will recognize trailblazing tech innovations that have done outstandingly in creating solutions for Ugandan challenges.
The announcement was made Tuesday at the media launch of the 2021 Kampala Innovation Week due next month.
The public will participate by nominating tech startups that they feel have leveraged technology to create extraordinary solutions in the last one year, a period during which people’s way of life was significantly disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The categories for the Awards include Education, Agriculture, Health, Tech, Communication and Creative Arts, Startup Champion in the Corporate Space, Startup Champion in the Public Sector and Startup Champion in the Development Sector.
A special Award will recognize the startup that has exceeded imagination, showing a lot of growth and potential.
While making the announcement, Jean M. Maaki, the Vice Chairperson of Startup Uganda said the Awards seek to celebrate the wins that have been registered within the startup ecosystem.
“Technology has been key in spearheading innovation. We will be looking for startups that speak to the Ugandan context in a unique way,” Maaki said during the media launch held at MCI Hub in Nsambya, Kampala.
Without divulging details, she said winners will receive a cash prize. These details will be disclosed in due course, she said.
Maaki who doubles as the Director at Design Hub, a co-creation and co-working space in Kampala, however stressed that winning startups will have a priceless opportunity to attract players with the potential to transform these startups.
“Beyond cash, we have such a network of partners that will be relevant in working with entrepreneurs,” she said.
Nominations will close at the end of October and the nominees will be unveiled at the beginning of November. The awards ceremony will take place during the Kampala Innovation Week, the largest annual gathering of the startup community in Uganda, which opens November 8.
Founded in 2019, Startup Uganda is an association of 29 innovation and entrepreneurship support organizations (IESO) working towards strengthening the startup support ecosystem and sector.
It is guided by the belief that innovators and entrepreneurs are a driving source of economic, social, and environmental sustainable development, the association is committed to creating an enabling environment where startups can access the support they need to start and grow.
The association was initiated by eight IESO members with support from the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).
