Between 22nd – 27th March 2022, Uganda participated at the Expo 2020 Dubai Innovation Week in a bid to further position Uganda as a BPO and innovation investment destination. Leading the Ugandan delegation to the event was the Uganda State Minister for ICT & National Guidance, Kabbyanga Godfrey Baluku as well as the Permanent Secretary, Dr Aminah Zawedde. The Ugandan team also included private sector players, mainly startups, members from the BPO & Innovation Council, as well as a delegation from Cente Technologies, a technology arm of the Centenary Group. At the event’s closing ceremony, held at the Hyatt Regency Deira Dubai, Kabbyanga made a passioned pitch for Uganda, urging the world to come and “Discover Africa’s Innovation Powerhouse.”
Here below we reproduce a part of his speech:
It is my absolute pleasure to be joining you here today, in person, after two years of the global lockdown. It’s exciting to once again feel the buzz and energy in a room, energy we have felt all week as we interacted with different pavilions at the Expo but also in the business meetings we have held across Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
I’m particularly delighted that today is a culmination of what has been quite the experience of our nation in participating in the 6-month expo. Congratulations to the various Ministries, Departments & Agencies that have been at the heart of organizing our participation in the Dubai Expo.
I extend my heartfelt appreciation to President Yoweri Museveni for his leadership and guidance in ensuring that Uganda is present at the Dubai Expo – Your Excellency, thank you.
The government of Uganda is committed to fostering a vibrant business environment
The Government of Uganda embarked on an initiative to develop the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Innovation sectors in Uganda as one of the key areas that the Government can exploit as a long-term solution to addressing issues of unemployment amongst educated youths.
For us, BPO and Innovation are not mere buzzwords, their development is deliberate as we believe that is how we can ensure employment for our young people and importantly play our role in the development of the Country and region. That is why, as an example, we started a program whose purpose was to identify and support innovators & BPO practitioners and provide growth opportunities for them. Today in this room, we have representatives of the vast Ugandan innovator community. They have been participating in the Dubai Expo, we believe that they have experienced breakthrough technologies and learnt about disruptive innovations and we are confident, they will bring these lessons back home.
The Government of Uganda is committed to fostering a trusted and vibrant business environment, where our businesses and workers are empowered to innovate. We are cognizant that we might not be the largest from a geographical perspective nor the richest from a GDP perspective, but we do have Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Innovation that we can curve out as a niche amongst the many treasures that are resident in the nation.
Discover Africa’s Innovation Powerhouse— 5 Reasons why
Ladies and Gentlemen, ensuring a thriving tech sector is critical to the future of the Ugandan economy — it is critical to growth, critical to job creation and critical to raising our nation’s productivity. It is a top priority for the whole government and we are determined that Uganda will be a science and tech superpower in Africa, and that is why were bold in inviting the world to Discover Africa’s Innovation Powerhouse; come, let us show you why we believe and know that we are Africa’s Innovation Powerhouse.
Labour availability
We have over 30,000 youth leaving universities each year, these are fluent in English and are ICT literate. We have the labour, we invite you to utilize it. Other related reasons why you should choose us include:
- Uganda has one of the youngest populations in Africa, with 69% of the population under the age of 24 – an incredible human capital indicator;
- High quality and employability of workforce according to World Economic Forum 2018 Global Competitiveness Index, on a scale of 1 to 7 (7 excellent), Uganda reaches 4.4 out of 7 on the ease of finding skilled workers (on sourcing talent with digital skills).
- Uganda has been ranked in the top percentile among African countries linked to and soaring in digital potential in line with Business Process Outsourcing
Internet Connectivity
Uganda has achieved a lot in terms of connectivity. Coverage is predominantly provided through wireless networks – especially mobile platforms. Internet subscriptions in Uganda have crossed the 29 million mark, suggesting that nearly one in every two Ugandans has internet access. There is significant coverage of 4G and 3G across the nation.
The Government, through the Ministry of ICT & National Guidance, has over the years invested in establishing secure infrastructure and information systems through the National Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) fibre cable. The Ministry has created a secure high-speed network that connects most of Uganda. So far we have built 4,000km of fibre and in the next 3years, we plan on connecting the entire nation with more optic fibre.
Our fibre is providing network connectivity across 53 districts to 1,353 Government sites that include offices, Schools, Hospitals, Courts, Universities, Police, Local Governments which are now able to utilize high-speed connectivity and access over 333 e-Government services.
The Government fibre has facilitated regional connectivity across 10 border points via Entebbe, Vurra, Oraba, Goli, Mpondwe, Malaba, Busia, Mutukula, Katuna, and Elegu thus fostering trade and cross border relations. By creating this nation-wide network and spurring the development of e-government services, the Government through the NBI/EGI has contributed to the ease of doing business across the region
Related
- Ugandan delegation of innovators to showcase at the Dubai Expo 2020
- Ugandan youth to participate in the Dubai Expo 2020 to promote ICT innovators and BPO practitioners
Cost of the Internet
To reduce what would be considered impediments to setting up BPO or innovation, the Ministry of ICT has lowered the cost of the internet. In the next financial year 2022/2023, the ICT Ministry shall reduce the cost to $25 for every 1Mbps of dedicated internet. The Government’s target for BPO/Innovation is to buy internet at $5 for every 1Mbps of dedicated internet.
With the growth in data usage and storage and the broader digital transformation of businesses and the public sector in Uganda, the Ministry of ICT set up the first tier 3 data centre and data recovery site supporting the growth and digitalisation of the Ugandan economy.
We plan on building more data centres across the country, with regional points of presence to enhance the internet service experience.
During our stay here, we visited 2 Data Centres, Tier 3 and Tier 4 – in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. We appreciate the depth of facilities they run. One of the data centres is where the global ICT firm Microsoft stores its data. The lessons from understanding how global tech leaders are managing their digitalization are part of what we are taking back with us to Uganda – in our bid to continue maintaining our position as Africa’s Innovation Powerhouse.
Enabling environment
For innovation, regulation can be catalytic—or a hindrance. In Uganda, we have ensured that the regulation we have implemented is catalytic. Our laws and regulations are agile, iterative, and collaborative.
Recently, the United Nations Capital Development Fund ranked Uganda 12th in Africa, with a score above the regional average in technology and governance. UNCDF indicated that the performance of Uganda’s policy and regulatory environment as assessed by the Inclusive Digital Economy Scorecard (IDES) is consistent with other global comparative sources.
Technology Parks
The Government has embarked on the development of Technology Parks in all the regions of the country using Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). These parks have all utilities needed for the establishment of IT Parks; these include water, electricity, roads, etc. Uganda is open for business – come now, we are ready.
Conclusion
For us to do well as a nation, we must complete the innovation and economic cycle, from the creation of new knowledge to the utilization of this new knowledge. This means we must translate research into enterprise, and have enterprise demand for new solutions, thus creating a positive innovation cycle.
The job at hand is not for Government alone, it can only be successful if it’s collaborative. I thank the private sector partners that have joined us in the effort to use technology to ignite social & economic transformation across Uganda. Particularly, I want to thank those that heeded our call and joined us in making the participation of our young innovators at the Dubai Expo 2020 – these include the following companies: Huawei Technologies Uganda, MTN Uganda, Airtel Uganda, NBS Television, Uganda Broadcasting Cooperation (UBC), Vision Group, Centenary Technology Services and TBWA Uganda
The main theme of Expo 2020 is: Connecting Minds, Creating the Future. The spirit of this theme is also seen in Uganda’s efforts as we move ahead to use ICT as a pillar of the development of our economy.
Uganda will continue to welcome global firms to work alongside Ugandans and advance the frontiers of innovation together. The Ministry of ICT & National Guidance will continue to work towards enabling market-oriented innovation, connecting the best of businesses, talent, and ideas, from around the world.
Africa’s Innovation Powerhouse is open for business.
