The Young Achievers Awards 2017 Official Magazine

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August 2017 ISSUE #3

2017 YOUNG ACHIEVERS AWARDS FINALISTS

FEATURING HUMPHERY NABIMANYA IVAN K. SSERWANO REHEMA NAKYAZZE IRENE MUTUZO

WITH A GAME, PHIONA MUTESI IS CHESS-ING A DREAM, PAST WINNERS STORY 3 BATTLE TESTED KEYS TO FUNDRAISING

BY TEJU RAVILOCHAN

THE KADAFRICA STORY

How the Kadurus are using agriculture to empower women and girls

PROF. PETER MUGENYI THE TRIPLET GHETTO KIDS

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CONTENTS

3 7 9 10 19 24

Foreword - Humphrey and RAHU team Note from the Co- Founders (Awel and Ivan) Introducing YouthConnekt Uganda initiative Journey of the 2017 Young Achievers Awards YAA road map

33 34 44 46

Meet the 2017 young achievers awards judges With a Game, Phiona Mutesi Is Chess-ing A Dream, Past winners story

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How to nurture our young entrepreneurs

by Ashish J. Thakkar The Beauty of working with UniTED 2017 Young Achievers Awards Special Awards With Nakyazze’s UgaStove, Clean Indoor Open Fire Cooking Is Finally A Possibility, Past winners story Segal Family Foundation

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Welcome to the

2017 YOUNG ACHIEVERS AWARDS!

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he Young Achievers Awards since its

people in different fields starting with Farming and

inaugural event, is a prestigious initiative

Agro-processing, Innovations & ICT, Business, Media

that has sought to recognize and celebrate

& Journalism, Sports, Social entrepreneurship and

outstanding youth in the Ugandan

Creative Arts (film & photography, music and fashion).

Community that have excelled in various

realms like the Arts, Entrepreneurship, Media and

In 2017, we have grown this initiative through

Journalism, Philanthropy, Innovation, Sports among

partnerships with various organisations as you will

others.

meet them in this edition of the magazine. From the one day award ceremony, we have grown it into an

At Reach a Hand Uganda (RAHU), a youth led and youth

initiative and movement to provide the recipients,

serving organisation, we are very passionate about

nominees and other young people around Uganda with

young people and the issues affecting them. Mitigating

opportunities with like minded peers and interested

these issues and empowering our peers is something

funders as well as skills and knowledge needed for

we pride ourselves in as a way of plugging into the

starting and running sustainable enterprises.

positive development agenda of Uganda as a nation.

The Young Achievers Awards’ vision is to create The team at RAHU remains committed to reaching

inspiration among the young people to harness their

out to young people and the Young Achievers

talent and efforts to foster a ripple effect of continued

Awards is a new and unique approach. It is our first

innovation for centuries to come.

livelihoods project that will seek to inspire young

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PUBLISHING CREDITS EDITORIAL PUBLISHER REACH A HAND UGANDA

EDITOR IN CHIEF GILBERT BEYAMBA @Kyama_Chama

MANAGING EDITOR Ibrahim Waiswa Batambuze @ibatambuze

COPY EDITORS Maureen Andinda Issa Buka Nsubuga

CONTRIBUTORS Sylvester Nyombi Helen Patricia Amutaire Ashish J. Thakkar Teju Ravilochan Awel Uwihanganye Ivan K. Serwano

ART DIRECTOR Gilbert Beyamba

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

REWARDING INNOVATION AND EXCELLENCE, INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION OF WORLD LEADERS

SYDNEY BUKENYA

The Young Achievers Awards, the livelihoods program of Reach A Hand, Uganda, is a prestigious initiative that seeks to recognize and celebrate outstanding youth in the Ugandan Community that have excelled in various realms like the Arts, Social Entrepreneurship, Innovation and ICT, Sports among others.

CONTACTS Reach A Hand Uganda Plot 7502, Block 244, Heritage village (Kitaranga)

www.youngachieversawards.ug @achievers_award facebook.com/YoungachieversawardsUg

Kansanga,Ggaba Road P. O. Box 21288 Kampala,Uganda Tel : 0414 607037 Email: info@reachahand.org, Web: www.reachahand.org

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Note from the co- founders (Awel and Ivan)

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he journey over the last seven years has been a great privilege of learning, of experiencing challenging moments and of a constant interface with brilliance and inspiration. It has also been an opportunity to be in people’s lives, and of being part of other people’s lives, those who reflect the best in our society, and of whom we recognize and celebrate.

When we set out on our entrepreneurial journey many years ago, we were a young, and ambitious, idealist lot. We knew little of the challenges that came with choosing an entrepreneurial life, and inevitably we were quickly faced with challenges that tested our faith and resolve. What sustained our motivation in dealing with and overcoming these challenges was the encouragement and support from those who thought we had good ideas for society and could contribute to creating a good society.

In the spirit of this encouragement is how the Young Achiever’s Awards was borne, the idea that we can contribute to keeping entrepreneurs and leaders on the path of their dreams. We quickly learnt that having a positive foot print in young people’s lives is perhaps the best investment one can make in achieving a prosperous and good society. We therefore recognize the privileged moment we find ourselves, having championed this initiative over the last seven years, and the impact the Award has had and will continue to have in lives of so many young people.

The dreams and hopes reflected in stories of the 2017 finalists, is what Africa needs to realize is necessary for socio-economic transformation. Africa needs a generation of Young Achievers to complete the hopes our forefathers dreamt of.

What gives us even more hope in the future of the Young Achievers Awards is the vigor and enthusiasm of the new steerers, Reach A Hand Uganda, a youth led and youth serving organization that is empowering young people with skills and knowledge on livelihoods and skills development, sexual reproductive health and rights as well as HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.

We must continue to pave way for young people to lead on projects that are important to them, and in occupying the space where they can make their voice heard.

We remain committed to this journey of encouraging young people to succeed and in guiding them to becoming significant members of a society that reflects their hopes and dreams.

Hearty congratulations to all the finalists, we celebrate you and honour the contribution of outstanding citizens who will also be receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Star in the Hall of Fame Award, and the Heroes Award.

Aluta continua!

Awel Uwihaganye Co-founder

Ivan K. Serwano Co-founder

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hello@unitedpartnerships.org www.unitedpartnerships.org UK Charity No. 1158935 Uganda NGO No. 11853

What We Do

We build empathetic and globally-minded graduates who are changing the world by leading innovative social ventures.

Our tutorials offer one of the richest experiential learning opportunities available to Ugandan students. We find the most promising early-stage student social ventures and offer them 20 hours of tailored incubation over a year to maximize their impact and financial sustainability.

We also leverage international student volunteers to contribute their energy and skills to Ugandan ventures, predominantly over the internet. These partnerships are a unique opportunity for students to co-create across cultures .

Why We Do It Uganda struggles with a host of societal issues: insecure incomes, diseases, poor education, pollution, lack of access to justice, to name a few. Social entrepreneurs are uniquely well placed to offer systemic, sustainable solutions to these problems.

Youth unemployment in Uganda is as high as 83%. Graduates are three times as likely to be unemployed as their primary-school-educated peers. These students need to be equipped to lead change in their communities and create jobs for themselves and others.

There is a general disconnect between cultures and classes, which can weaken development projects and international volunteering. By placing relationships at the centre of social change, we build empathy and transform the experience and effectiveness of social ventures.

The greatest challenges of the 21st Century are all faced at a global level – from climate change and pandemics to global distributive injustice and conflict.

A new emphasis on global collaborations is required to combat disasters and build a fairer future for all.

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Introducing YouthConnekt Uganda initiative

n July, we were honoured to join the United

It is furthers aimed at connecting youth to

Nations Family in Uganda spearheaded by the

their role models, peers, resources, skills,

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

economic opportunities. The initiative

in partnership with the country’s Ministry of

will build on and scale up already ongoing

Gender, Labour and Social Development to

innovations in the country such as the Young

launch YouthConnekt Uganda, a platform aimed

Achievers Awards - our own livelihoods

at addressing issues of youth unemployment

program and other initiatives by the Ministry

and inclusion in economic development as well as

of Gender, Labor and Social Development for

scaling up job creation processes thus creating an

example the Youth Livelihood Program (YLP),

ecosystem that supports youth led and youth serving

Youth Venture Capital Fund (YEVCF), Skilling

initiatives.

Uganda, Green Jobs and Fair Labour Markets, Youth Entrepreneurship Facility, Pakasa.

YouthConnekt Uganda, which was born out of Youth Connekt Rwanda, is aimed at bringing together young people and linking them to the public, private and civil society sectors as a means of building and fostering partnerships that identify and tap into young people’s potential to spearhead development.

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The Journey of the 2017 Young Achievers Awards

The 2017 Roadmap At the start of the year, we laid down our plan for this year’s edition of the awards. We drew a road map that was to aide our journey from launching the awards, creating partnerships, calling for nominations and judging to mention but a few.

Launching the 2017 Young Achievers Awards The 2017 edition of the awards were launched on January 23rd, 2017.

The press conference that was attended by over 50 journalists from different media houses, was graced by Rt. Hon. Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uganda.

Calling for nominations Nominations for the awards launched after the press conference that saw applications from young people from across the country. By close of nominations on June 15th, 2017, over 300 applications had been registered.

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Seven months down the road and we are impressed by the remarkable journey The Young Achievers Awards have made so far. Take a look at how far we have come, and how farther we intend to go.

Profiling nominees We conducted interviews for each of the nominees to get to know their stories and the impact that they are doing in their communities.

Judging process This process that lasted for three weeks, involved two levels. The first phase had category judges who scored the top five in each of their respective categories and the last phase had a panel of judges who selected a winner in each of the categories.

Beyond the 2017 Young Achievers Awards Gala Night The Young Achievers Awards has grown into an initiative that is providing nominees, finalists and winners around Uganda with opportunities, connecting them with like minded peers and interested funders, as well as empowering them with skills and knowledge needed for starting and running sustainable enterprises.

We will be organizing summits that will ensure the award winners and nominees continue along the path to learning, accessing finance and improving their business enterprises. For example; we intend to hold the funders summit that will.

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How the Kadurus’ KadAfrica is Transforming Girls’ Fortunes through Passion Fruit Farming

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hrough their initiative KadAfrica, Eric and Rebecca Kaduru are helping thousands of out-of-school girls in Western Uganda through agriculture by turning small tracts of unused land into money-making passion fruit farms.

According to Forbes, KadAfrica provides intensive training in entrepreneurship, financial literacy and gender empowerment. Thus far, 2,014 girls have boosted their incomes to $20 - $50 per month—representing a 600% increase in income per participant. Some young women have used the money to expand their agribusinesses, and others have started new ventures, such as a nursery school for local children.

The Reach A Hand Uganda communications team caught up with Eric and Rebecca, the winners of the 2013 Young Achievers Award in the Agriculture and Agro-processing category to tell the KadAfrica story to you the readers of the Achiever Magazine.

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How would you describe KadAfrica to someone who KadAfrica focuses on hasn’t heard of it transforming livelihoods before? amongst women and

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adAfrica is an innovative agribusiness that uses passion fruit farming to empower out of school girls in Western Uganda. By equipping girls with knowledge, skills and assets to begin their own sustainable passion fruit farms, they become financially literate, entrepreneurial leaders generating income through agribusiness.

Girls progress through a fun, integrated curriculum called the “KadAfrica Experience” alongside their peers and families, becoming wellequipped to both make and afford responsible decisions for themselves and their children— breaking the poverty cycle and building stronger, more prosperous, and equal communities.

KadAfrica provides a ready market for 100% of girls’ fruit, then bulks, grades, packs, and transports fruit for wholesale; and beginning in September 2017 for processing at an approximate 5x value increase—covering program costs and ensuring sustainability.

What is KadAfrica’s proudest achievement when it comes to empowering young girls through agriculture?

girls through agriculture with emphasis on passion fruit farming. Why this demographic?

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n rural Uganda few livelihood options exist for young women; due to cultural bias and the patrilineal nature of land inheritance, they have limited access to resources. Their economic prospects are further affected by high attrition from school, and pressure to marry young and raise children—often leading them to chose risky livelihood options like sex work and early marriage.

For us, by coupling passion fruit farming with farming with our innovative KadAfrica Experience curriculum means that girls are provided with both the knowledge of how to make smart decisions for themselves and their families, and the financial resources to put their choices into action.

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e are really proud of the resources we have been able to attract to grow our girls program. We have been provided with mentorship and financial support to expand our

program and proprietary curriculum into something that creates real impact on an individual level.

It has been particularly rewarding and humbling to have other organizations and individuals feel that our program makes enough of a difference that they are willing to provide their time and resources to help us achieve our goals.

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Let’s talk about passion fruit farming.

Of all things, why did you venture into that?

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e didn’t start out as the commercial scale social enterprise we are today; we began as what we like to call “Google farmers” growing various horticulture crops like tomatoes and onions, quickly failed due to poor market linkages and trader price-setting. We learned that 10 crops accounted for 90% of the small holder production in Uganda—this lack of crop diversity combined with the dissolution of farming cooperatives during the political turmoil of the 80’s meant that farmers were driving their prices down, and agreeing to sell produce at subprime rates because they were unaware of the correct value and their collective influence. This failure taught us a key lesson—regardless of education or socioeconomic background, traders dominate the markets in Uganda and the lack of government

price protection means that farmers are not favored; on average farmers earn 40% less than market value which has created a culture where farming is not viewed as a viable and sustainable business. To overcome this young people often sell land assets in favor of rural to urban migration creating further environmental stress on cities.

We went back to the drawing board, conducted market research, and learned that 70% of the fresh passion fruit in Uganda is imported—though it is among the top 3 fruits consumed in the country. More interesting, was that among the four major fruit juice producers that dominate the market, 90% of their passion fruit pulp is sourced from Asian markets.

Passion fruit has a long shelf life, high value, and it grows upwards on vines making it an ideal smallholder crop.

The market for both smallholder and commercial scale passion fruit was ripe for opportunity; and the high altitude, black soils, and heavy rainfall in the Ugandan highlands made for the perfect growing conditions. KadAfrica doesn’t engage communities with the goal of influencing subsistence farmers to exclusively grow passion fruit; our goal is to introduce a crop that can be grown within existing smallholder farms as a cash crop to supplement household income while not displacing existing food supply.

Nice! So in terms of livelihoods empowerment, how do these women and girls benefit?

You were described by a youthful pull out in one of the dailies as a farmer with Swagg, incidentally a very youthful attribute.

How do you feel about such a description?

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ood question! The “KadAfrica Experience” is a 2.5-year farming program where girls engage with their peers and families. Girls will join our program in cohorts of 90, twice a year with the rains in August and February. We start by identifying locally available land which we lease on behalf of girls through in-kind agreements. In each community a Peer Facilitator will be identified who enters a month of intensive agriculture, health, and savings curriculum training. At the same time, girls will be organized into cooperatives of 30 and provided with a 3-acre plot of land. As they progress through a fun, technical and integrated curriculum, they receive a farm start-up kit with chemical inputs, tools, 60 seedlings, and an additional 10 for their families. Girls take classes in financial literacy, life-skills, gender, reproductive health, and farming; and they form savings groups where they learn how lend and borrow. Further, we hold bi-monthly Family Farm Days to engage the community as girls progress through our program and provide them with an opportunity to teach agricultural practices they have learned. Come harvest time at 6-months, KadAfrica provides a ready market for 100% of girls’ fruit generating an average income of $20-$50 per girl.

e would approve of the description.

Young people usually relate the word swag with being cool, hip and trendy.

If you look at agriculture in the country today, you realise that most of the young people shun it because they think it’s not cool, looking at it as a labour intensive back breaking task that is reserved for the old people who have lost all the vibe of youth.

We don’t think we would qualify for someone that isn’t youthful, yet we are farmers nonetheless. We think that description fits a young person in agriculture. It proves that you can be a farmer without losing your-well, swagg.

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From the experience gained, what do you think are the key concepts of agriculture that young people often ignore?

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irst, there is a perception that farming isn’t cool. While we have noticed a change in this since we started, there is still a huge percentage of the youth population who would chose an office job over working in agriculture. Agriculture is at the backbone of Uganda’s economy, and young people are the majority of the population. Ideally if young people changed this perception to appreciate agriculture, more of them would participate and earn from it, and development would be sky rocketing.

Young people are easily lured away by the tempting better life in the city. You find a rural young man selling a huge piece of land to come to the city, buy a motorcycle and ride that for a living yet land is the most precious economic resource. If they could realise that there is more value in this land, there would be more gains for them.

And second, we find that among both youth who approach us to farm and the girls we work with there is a hesitation to invest their own money into income generating projects. Young people are tentative to start small with what they have and reinvest to grow; they would prefer to raise money from outside sources or wait for a freebie rather than jumping in and allowing their agribusiness to grow organically. Agriculture is not easy, and we would never advise starting by raising large amounts of outside capital. Be willing to invest what you can in yourself so you can fail, learn, and grow; failure is going to be your best lesson and will only make you a better farmer and business person.

What is your main motivation that you could share with other young entrepreneurs to adopt because it has worked for you?

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When assessing the entrepreneurial environment in Uganda today, what challenges do you think demoralize young people from chasing their entrepreneurship dreams?

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e think Uganda is an easy place to get started in business. You have to just have the will to get going. Where we run into challenges is that, while there is a thriving social enterprise community in Uganda, there is no official registration for social enterprise. For us, this has presented challenges with the Revenue Authority; they can’t seem to understand why we invest so much into the community rather than prioritize profit and have encouraged us to register as an NGO. However we strongly feel that market-based approaches to development such as KadAfrica are the most sustainable and effective approaches to creating lasting change.

We always encourage young people to take a sociallyconscious approach to entrepreneurship and think that more conducive registration options would encourage more young people to get involved.

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on’t be afraid to fail. Failure is a gift that will only make you more resilient; and learning from mistakes is invaluable.

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t is only fair. Young people are the future, and the future starts with the next second the clock counts.

The future is now. Young people who display these varied successes in the different fields show that they are the people that can take this economy, turn

As a Young Achievers Awards past winner, what do you think is the significance of recognizing young people who have succeeded in various fields?

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inning is always a good feeling, especially when you are rewarded for something you hold dear. Being awarded at the 2013 Young Achievers Awards in the Agriculture and

Agro-processing category was definitely a landmark

achievement for me and KadAfrica as a whole. We were at the centre of two key issues; women empowerment and agriculture. Taking home the award was validation that a business can be respected for pursuing both profit and a social mission.

We were excited to see the awards back on this year; and are hopeful that Reach A Hand will continue to provide a platform to recognize young people over the years to come. And while we are sad that we are unable to attend this year’s event as we are currently participating in an accelerator program in Silicon Valley, I am sure the event will be life-changing for awarded youth as it was for us.

it on its heels and spur something that will see Uganda achieve initiatives like Vision 2040 in an even shorter time.

We also thank platforms like the Young Achievers Awards for putting focus to young people in the social entrepreneurs sector. As mentioned earlier, social entrepreneurship isn’t officially recognized in Uganda; but it is the most effective way for young people to create lasting change.

You have been a recipient of the Young Achievers Award before. How was that experience? What should the nominees of this year’s edition expect?

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Meet the 2017 young achievers awards judges

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eet the judges, the foundation of the awards who were carefully selected basing on their wide knowledge and varied experience in their different categories amongst other traits.

The process involved two levels. The first phase had category judges who scored the top five in each of their respective categories and the last phase had a panel of judges who selected a winner in each of the categories.

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CATEGORY JUDGES

The judges listed below executed the initial siever role; picking from the multiple nominations in each category submitted to identify the 5 outstanding ones.

Carol Beyanga

Carol is the Managing Editor of the Digital Content Section of the Monitor Publications Ltd. She was a judge in the Media and Journalism Excellence Category.

Charles Otine

Charles is an Innovation and Knowledge Management Specialist with United Nations Population Fund. He was a judge in the Innovations and ICT Category.

Evelyn Namara

Evelyn is the Founder of !nnovate Uganda and Policy Outreach Fellow at the Internet Society. She was a judge in the Innovations and ICT Category. Follow Evelyn on Twitter: @enamara

Rev. Richard Rukundo

Rev. Rukundo is a teacher, dedicated man of God and holder of a Master’s degree from Uganda Christian University and a member of f Reach A Hand, Uganda’s Advisory Board. He was a judge in the Social Entrepreneurship Category.

Brenda Maraka

Brenda is an Award winning Ugandan Fashion Designer and a past winner of the Young Achievers Awards. Brenda was a judge under the Creative Arts (Fashion) Category.

Norah Matovu Winyi

Norah is a Ugandan lawyer and advocate of the High Court of Uganda. She was a judge in the Social Entrepreneurship Category Santa Anzo

Santa ANZO

is the chief Fashion Designer & Managing Director of Arapapa, Uganda’s premium Fashion brand and, as well is the President of Uganda International Fashion Week. She was a judge in the Creative Arts (Fashion) category.

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Elizabeth Mushabe

Elizabeth is a social entrepreneur with interests in education, media, music and fashion. Elizabeth was a judge under the Media and Journalism Excellence Category.

Cynthia Mpanga

Cynthia is the President of the Public Relations Association of Uganda and the Country Brand and Marketing Manager for Standard Chartered Bank Uganda. She was a judge in the Business Category.

Miriam Magala

Miriam is a Lawyer by profession and Chief Executive Officer of Uganda Insurers Association.

She was a judge in the Farming and AgroProcessing Category.

Helen Mayanja

Managing Director & Public Affairs Lead at Hill & Knowlton Strategies Uganda | Rwanda. She was a judge in the Business Category.

Bernard Mukasa

Bernard is a senior associate (lawyer) at ENSafrica in Uganda, an office of ENSafrica— Africa’s largest law firm operating in a number of African jurisdictions. He was a judge in Business Category.

Jacqueline Asiimwe

Jaqueline is a Lawyer by training and an activist by calling. She was a judge in the Social Entrepreneurship Category.

Grace Kwizera

Grace is the Director, Finance and Administration at Rift Valley Investments, and also board member and Manager Finance and Administration at Fast Track Production. He was a judge under the Business Category.

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Dr. Herbert Talwana

Professor of Pest Management in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University. He was a judge under the category of Farming and Agro-Processing category.

Mujib Kasule

Mujib is a former Uganda Cranes Striker and the Director of Proline Soccer Academy and Proline Football Club. He was a judge under the Outstanding Sports Personality Category.

Esther Kalenzi

Esther is the Team Leader of 40 days over 40 smiles Foundation (40-40) and recipient of 2013 Young Achievers Heroine Award . She was a judge under Creative Arts Category.

AUDIT JUDGES

The names below, were the judges who were tasked with identifying a winner out of the top 5 nominees in each of the categories that called for nominations.

Dr. Naboth Cole

Currently, he’s a lecturer at makerere university, Director Special children special people, Founder Hope for persons with disability Uganda, President Isreal Foundation Head Operations en Finance Crest Group.

Omukungu Joe Kigozi

He is the CEO of the Kingdom of Buganda owned television station, Buganda Broadcasting Services (BBS) Terefayina. He doubles as the chairman of Reach A Hand, Uganda’s Advisory Board.

Phillip Luswata

Philip Luswata is founder and director of the Theatre Factory at the National Theatre in Kampala, Uganda.

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Jacqueline Busingye

Jacqueline Busingye is a qualified Accountant and a Fellow of The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants of UK (FCCA), having qualified in UK in 1997. She has board experience and has Chaired Uganda Road Fund representing Accountants on that board.

Denis Ruharo

Founder of D-Mark Company Limited| Afriadd Company Limited. Dennis has over 15 Years experience as a product Developer, Team Leader in Mobile Telephony, focusing on Value Added services, Mapping, Addressing and Satellite Navigation for Mobile.

Leon Ssenyange

Leon is a seasoned and celebrated sports journalist formerly at NTV Uganda and currently working with CCTV

Mona Herbert

Mona works with DSW Uganda, an organization that specializes in holistic youth programming with a core competency in advocacy for adolescent sexual and reproductive health.

Bernard Tabaire

Bernard is a media trainer and director of programmes at the Kampala-based African Centre for Media Excellence, a not-for- profit professional organisation he co-founded in 2009 to advance journalistic and communication excellence in Uganda, and the region.

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With a Game, Phiona Mutesi is Chess-ing a Dream

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t the age of six, a little girl in Katwe walked home from school.

She knew it was the last time she would do that walk in ages. She got home, to an awaiting band of brothers who too had had their final walk not so long before hers. It was the time when their mother couldn’t afford to send them to school, and they had to join her to sell food, maizeironically to find something to eat, and also pay rent. The girl was Phiona Mutesi, now a worldwide phenomenon in the game of chess.

World Chess Olympiad at 14, participated in and won a boys’ only tournament at 15. She became an inspiration for the novel (and later, the movie) Queen of Katwe.

Her life has a story of perseverance for young people working at something.

“There was a boy who used to beat me in just five moves. I went to coach Robert who trained me further, and I was finally able to defeat the boy. He cried and quit chess, and I didn’t see him again until last year. That was the point I got interested in the game and knew I was becoming good” she added, showing the value of never giving up and working harder.

In a conversation with the International Monetary Fund earlier this year, Phiona, also a past Winner of the Young Achievers Outstanding Sports Personality Award in 2013 told the story of how chess has brought her With Chess, she has seen life redefined. She has dreams to life. since left the trying times in the ghetto of Katwe, travelled to many countries and seen life according “I found chess at the age of 9. We had been to other people and eventually gone back to kicked out of our house and we slept on the school, completing high school last year. In the streets. One day, I was so hungry and my same vein, she has managed to get her mother a brother came and told me about their chess house, and to her, it is one of the best things she project. I went there to play, but mainly to get feels she has done. a meal” she said.

Phiona has a notable number of accolades to her Her first day was a disaster. She was name, and continues to be an inspiration to many significantly dirty, and the boys, who were young people especially girls. dominating the place, rejected her. A fight ensued, and it was just the timely intervention “Most of the girls I meet tell me they almost gave of coach and mentor Robert Katende that up but because of my story they pushed on. That saved her from a thorough lynching. makes me feel really good” she adds.

“I was then introduced to a 5 year old who was to teach her the game. The main reward came in form of a cup of porridge” she added, spurring about laughter from the audience.

Soon she actually learnt how to play. At 10, she became a champion of her first national tournament, represented Uganda at the

She now has her sights set on higher education, having won an exclusive tuition scholarship to the North West University in the USA. Of course, the chessboard remains a close friend of hers. When you have played so many moves in life, there are some things you simply can’t let go of.

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Three Battle tested keys to Fundraising

By Teju Ravilochan*

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B

ack in 2009 when we were first getting started, I attended a fundraising bootcamp hosted by For Impact. That’s where I met Unreasonable Mentor Tom Suddes, a wisecracking, self-deprecating founder of 19 companies who can do 1,000 push-ups in a day, used to be a pro boxer, and never seems to run out of energy. He’s raised $1 billion himself, coached entrepreneurs to raise a total of $1 billion, and is currently coaching his third billion.

Tom’s got three keys to fundraising, which are relevant to both for-profit and for-impact (what the IRS calls non-profit) fundraising. They may sound simple, but do not be fooled. I used them to raise our most recent round of $1.2 million in a few months. This blog post details the three keys and offers you templates and example emails to implement them.

Key #1: Be with the right person

on Google for a sense of their affluence, or simply having an honest conversation with them). They have a personal connection to you. The funders who meet all 3 Cs are your top targets and the first ones who you should ask. Many funders will care about what you’re doing and have the capacity to support you. Build a personal connection with these funders and ask. Don’t bother with those who don’t care about what you’re doing, and de-prioritize those who don’t have the capacity to fund you (although, it may be worth it to let them know you’re looking for contacts who could help you raise the amount you’re looking for). Your goal is to have 25 prospective funders who care about what you’re doing and have the capacity to support you. You should assume roughly two of them will give you funding (Note: Thanks to former teammate Ian Kim for teaching me the 3Cs).

This is the most frequently overlooked part of fundraising and perhaps the most important one to get right. Here are the steps to hone in on the right people: •

Come up with an ideal profile. What does your dream funder look like? What are their characteristics? Write them down and ask people in your network if they know anyone who fits your description. For example, if you were running a venture providing employment to people with disabilities in India you might look for someone who:

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Has a loved one with a disability.

•

Believes in dignified solutions, like job training or livelihood creation, that allow people with disabilities to move out of poverty, rather than charity.

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Is someone who you would enjoy having a beer with every week.

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Is someone you’d want as a mentor.

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Is of Indian descent or has traveled to India several times.

•

Come up with at least 50 prospects who match your ideal profile. Put them in a “prospective funder tracker”. Keep this funder tracker regularly updated with all the conversations you have with potential funders (Note: Thanks to Unreasonable Mentor, Billy Parish, for sharing the first version of this template).

•

Prioritize your prospects based on the 3Cs. The funders who are most likely to give you money are those who meet the 3Cs. They care about what you’re doing. They have the capacity to support you (which you can assess by looking at other funding they’ve done, looking up their personal background

•

The funders who are most likely to give you money are those who meet the three Cs. They care about what you’re doing. They have the capacity to support you (which you can assess by looking at other funding they’ve done, looking up their personal background on Google for a sense of their affluence, or simply having an honest conversation with them). They have a personal connection to you. The funders who meet all 3 Cs are your top targets and the first ones who you should ask.

Many funders will care about what you’re doing and have the capacity to support you. Build a personal connection with these funders and ask. Don’t bother with those who don’t care about what you’re doing, and de-prioritize those who don’t have the capacity to fund you (although, it may be worth it to let them know you’re looking for contacts who could help you raise the amount you’re looking for).

Your goal is to have 25 prospective funders who care about what you’re doing and have the capacity to support you. You should assume roughly two of them will give you funding (Note: Thanks to former teammate Ian Kim for teaching me the three Cs).

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Key #2: Predispose prospects in your favor.

If someone cares about your mission, has the capacity to fund you, and is positively inclined in your direction before you ask them for money, odds are in your favor that they’ll agree to fund you. Predisposition, or the process of getting someone to feel like they want to support you before you even ask, is an incredibly important part of fundraising. Here are the most powerful ways to predispose someone.

•

•

Get introduced by someone they trust. If you don’t know this prospect, but someone they trust can connect you, ask for that introduction! Ideally, you want the connector to say, “Sarah, you have to meet [insert your name here]! What she’s doing with [insert your company here] is beyond inspiring and • amazing and I think it’s one of the most impactful organizations I’ve seen. No pressure, but I’d love for you to sit down and learn about their model. If it’s the right fit, it might make a great addition to your portfolio.”

Write a thoughtful email explaining your intentions upfront. Funders know why startups/early-stage organizations approach them. Yet, so many of these • organizations mask their intentions by saying, “I just want to chat and get to know you.” That sort of line annoys funders. It makes them feel like they can’t trust entrepreneurs who approach them, who carry a secret agenda (that’s actually obvious to everyone).

Be upfront with them and start off on the right foot.

•

Tell them why you chose them. Sure, funders have money. That’s why everyone wants to talk to them. But why do you want to talk to this particular funder? Make them feel special. Show them you’ve done your homework and explain why you believe there’s a unique connection here. Tell them you’re aware of their funding criteria and patterns (if they have any) and that you fall in those criteria.

•

Show, don’t tell. The single best way to predispose a funder to saying yes to you is to let them experience your work first hand. For example, we just received a large grant from a foundation.

The reason they were willing to give us this grant is that they came to the Unreasonable

Institute, participated in our Investor Days and Unreasonable Climax events, got to meet our entrepreneurs, connected with mentors in our network, began working with our lawyer to help make deals, visited the work of several of our ventures, funded four of them, and got to know our entire team on a 2-day retreat in the mountains.

By the time we asked them for funding, they were already huge fans of Unreasonable Institute. If you can’t get a prospective investor to come see your work, get them as close as you can with videos, testimonials, and traction.

Be of service to your prospect. Funders are always looking for connections to people they can co-invest/co-fund with, well-aligned deals, lawyers to help them disperse cash well, chances to learn about new funding models, etc. In your initial conversations with a prospect, get to know what you could do to help them. Then make sure that you do it.

De-risk the idea of funding your venture by showing “social proof.” Funders are often herd animals. They have to make high-stakes bets (worth thousands or millions of dollars) on stuff they know very little about, surrounded by uncertainty (startups/early-stage organizations).

So they rely heavily on the opinions of other people who have investigated your venture. When you share what you’re doing with a funder, give them some insight into who else is supporting you. For instance, we just got a $256,000 grant from Rockefeller Foundation. You better believe we are sharing this with prospects! We also share a few examples of our mentors, press we’ve received, and results to date.

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Key #3: Just ask If you have connected with the right person and effectively predisposed them toward you, all you have to do is ask. This is where a lot of people struggle.

But, if you’ve predisposed properly and declared your intentions form the start, all you have to do now is be direct. Here’s how to do it: •

•

•

Show them the levels they can come in at. You may not know what capacity a funder has. So present various levels they could come in to fund you (e.g. $50,000, $100,000, $500,000).

Show them what they get for their money: return or impact. Explain to a funder exactly what she’s going to get for giving you her capital. If that’s financial return, walk her through your projects and your strategy for how you’ll provide liquidity for investors. If that’s impact, show a funder what their dollars will do. For example, 2013 Unreasonable Venture MANA Nutrition showed prospective funders that every $60 invested in MANA could forever cure a child of severe acute malnutrition. A $60,000 investment, therefore, would cure 1,000 kids!

•

A visual of what you do.

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Your traction to date.

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The strategy you need to funding to make happen (ideally visually).

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Use of funds and high level budget (ideally visually).

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Timeline for implementation.

•

Follow up with them regularly. They are going to take time to get back to you—they get a lot of requests, and it takes time to do diligence. Make sure that you stay in touch regularly. Typically, funders move more quickly if you impose a deadline and create a sense of urgency. Even as a nonprofit, you can establish a final date for raising your “round.”

•

Know your budget cold. Be able to justify your amounts. One of the first questions that funders asked me is, “Why do you need this much? How do you know it costs this much?” I was once discussing a grant of several hundred thousand dollars with a prospective funder, and as we were going through the funds needed, I couldn’t account for $40,000.

She still gave me the money, but she subtracted $40,000 from the amount I requested. I learned the hard way to make sure I do my homework. Now, we include examples of past initiatives we’ve run that have similar costs as evidence, or we cite how much other organizations spend to do something analogous.

•

Give them an easy out so you can get clarity. My good friend Ross Baird, Executive Director of Village Capital, uses the line, “No is my second favorite answer” to show prospective funders they should be honest about their interest. You want clarity so you can focus your time on the prospects most likely to fund you.

Give them a 2-pager. For our raise, I started by sending funders a 27-page document to read.

Guess how many read it? Zero. Funders get tons of requests for money, so respect their time and start by sending them a two-pager. They’ll ask for more detail if they want it. We have raised the bulk of our funds to date nothing more than having funders visit Unreasonable, a 2-pager, a budget, and a few phone calls and in-person meetings.

It should include the following elements: •

Your mission and company description in 1-3 sentences.

•

Amount of funding you’re raising and deadline for raising it.

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Make sure you commit to getting them what they want out of the relationship. Funding is not a one-way relationship. Funders want benefit from the funding they provide. It’s imperative you ask them why they’d consider funding you and what they want out of the relationship, whether that’s return, recognition, learning, a chance to be on your board, or a chance to be associated with your inspiring work. Discuss this early with the funder and devise a plan to fulfill their expectations.

A few other considerations: •

•

•

Fundraising is really, really hard. To an entrepreneur, funders are erratic, random, and slow to move. It’s important for entrepreneurs to understand that their job is to predict the success of ventures without evidence. They are frequently wrong, and when they’re gambling their hard-earned personal funds or hard-raised funds from others, they have a tough job. So expect that funders will be erratic, random, and slow to move.

Fundraising is at least 50 percent of a CEO’s time.

That’s 2.5 days out of every week focused on only fundraising. If you have to choose between building your company and fundraising, prioritize building your company (because a better company is more likely to attract funding). But, ideally, entrust building your company to your team and make fundraising your focus (source: Paul Graham).

You can’t do it alone. Fundraising is emotionally grinding. It takes a long time, you don’t usually know where you stand, you put in a lot of effort for a delayed payoff, and it’s harder than you expect—much harder. Therefore, you are unlikely to progress without support from a “fundraising committee” or a “fundraising mentor” checking in with you once every week. The role of this

fundraising committee/mentor is to go through your list of targets with you and ask you where each relationship stands, what progress you’ve made since last week, and ask you what next steps you’re going to take. Their job is really to serve as a mirror of your progress and hold you accountable.

If you leave it to yourself to fundraise, you’ll put off making asks, drop key next steps, and focus on smaller urgent tasks that pop up. (Many thanks to Unreasonable Mentor Scott Leonard for being my fundraising committee and believing in me through our raise!)

In summary, as you prepare set forth and raise the capital you require, remember: 1. Be with the right person.

2. Predispose them in your favor.

3. Just ask.

You just may surprise yourself…

Teju is co-founder and CEO of Uncharted (formerly the Unreasonable Institute). He is driven by the desire to live in a world where every human being can be the master of their own fate, unbound by the chains of poverty, oppression, or injustice. This article was first featured on www.Unreasonable.is and has been republished here with permission.

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Poem We The Young Trees Irene Mutuzo & Wake When a young tree matures, it disperses seed so that the continuity of its kind of breed is ensured.

Without these young trees the forest’s day are collectively numbered like 1 23 Now these young trees are actually him, her, you and me When I look at him I see a dreamer Wake-When I see her I see a believer When I look at you I see a pioneer A young achiever Growing- sprouting Into a young tree Surrounded by its elders See these our elders Are the reason We the young trees are inspired These our elders They let us taste a glimpse of the sun While protecting us from too much sunshine That could have mercilessly scorched our branches dry.

These our elders Let us taste those gentle droplets from the rain While protecting us from those ravaging storms that could have uprooted us.

Our elders knew They knew what we were made of That one day We too, would be the life of our generation

That some day When the world would look at us They would remember our names Our works They will see us, They will hear us Even after we are gone.

I Am the future The new breath of life for my generation And this- today, right here right now Is my time To start dreaming Innovating, and living This is our chance- our time to Take over...

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EBN Feature

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frica is on the rise and emerging brands are championing and inspiring new ways of supporting huge strides of growth. This year Excel Business Networks (EBN) a parent brand to D9 Investment club is proud to be a partner with Reach a hand in making the Young Achievers Awards a worthwhile experience.

EBN is a Ugandan company with international roots which has attracted a number of skilled, energetic and entrepreneurial members into its ranks with its main objective of fostering broadbase economic empowerment through participation in developmental opportunities like its projects and other business linkages including creation and enforcement of small and medium enterprise (SME) for the local communities.

D9 clube is a multinational company with presence in over 60 countries globally but has her headquarters at the International Trade Center in Recife, Brazil. The company is legally registered in Hong Kong.

“D9 clube is a group of people of broad vision, focused on digital entrepreneurshipD9clube, which simply means making money online. It leverages the power of the internet to reach individuals globally,” Says Protus.

The Company is pursuing the establishment of LAKEVILLE RESORT - a tourism, recreation and agri-business destination, creating sustainable and meaningful life opportunities.

Members of D9 clube make money through sports trading. If you are familiar with forex trading or stock trading then you will appreciate what sports trading is. Forex trading is done using a software called META TRADER. This an interface that gives a trader a graphical representation of price movement.This year D9 clube on its anniversary celebrations hosted its Global Marketing Director Mr. Sergio Cursino and rewarded its members with cars, mobile phones and watches.

In order to contribute directly towards the economic growth of Uganda, Mr. Magara Smart Protus the CEO Excell, introduced a global investment brand on the market D9 Clube through which thousands are already experiencing immeasurable financial growth.

“We continue to serve our members with great diligence, credibility and integrity. D9 clube emphasizes that we maintain good standards of transparency that eliminates any risk of scum and we envisage we shall continue growing and contributing to a better Uganda,” says Protus.

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How to nurture our young entrepreneurs

By Ashish J. Thakkar*

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oth public institutions and private individuals must support young business owners to provide them with the experience, credibility and capital they need.

Africa has a young, vibrant economy full of ideas, energy, innovation and the drive to succeed. If this seems like a refreshing take on things, that is because it is – we see the region characterised far more often as poor and needy from the outside, and as corrupt and dysfunctional from within.

The failure of Africa to characterise itself as a region of inspiration and promise, both within its own borders and to the world outside, is a huge missed opportunity. I am lucky through my work to be face to face with exciting young entrepreneurs every day, so this is the reality I know far more than any other.

Not only do I know it is there, but I also see it as one of the surest paths to economic and social development.

But not only should this be the aspect of Africa that we promote, it should also gain a greater share of our support because for all the ideas, motivation and expertise that young entrepreneurs exhibit, there are three things they simply do not have.

The first of these is experience. There is no shortcut to getting that, but learning from someone who has already walked the journey can drastically accelerate the process.

That is why mentorship is so important. Our existing business leaders need to step in and devote some time in their busy schedules to sharing their vast experience with the young entrepreneurs following in their footsteps.

They also need to be prepared to open their address books for these young people and help them to widen their networks and get business. The second missing link for a young African entrepreneur is credibility. Their target market and their potential clients do not take them seriously or have faith that they can do the job.

Perhaps we have listened to too many stories of cheats and briefcase companies to trust young entrepreneurs easily.

That is where enterprise and incubation centres can fill the gap, giving young businesses not only a physical address but also the backing of a larger and more credible brand.

The third and final gap for a young African entrepreneur – although many people mistakenly put it first – is, of course, capital. There is plenty of access to capital in East Africa in the form of credit, but not for a risky young entrepreneur.

The entrepreneur either has a track record that is too short, no security or their business is just too innovative and unproven for a bank to stomach.

That is where venture capital financing can come in.

Venture capital is a form of financing in which the funder takes an agreed percentage of shares in the business and becomes a partner with a direct stake in seeing the business grow. With this form of financing, many ideas that would never otherwise see the light of day can quickly accelerate into success stories.

So whose role is it to do all of the above things?

Many stakeholders have a part to play. Established entrepreneurs need to take up the mantle of mentorship, both informally and through established mentorship networks. Existing innovation and enterprise centres need to continue to identify and support the most promising young entrepreneurs in Africa.

Private players and governments need to put up the capital to invest money into young businesses through suitably structured funding avenues. For example, Uganda’s Youth Venture Capital Fund which was launched in February 2012 with Ush25bn ($10m), should offer structured risk capital in the form of equity rather than providing further loan financing through the banks.

Ashish is the founder of Mara Group and Mara Foundation, and he is a co-founder of Atlas Mara This article first appeared in The Africa Report

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The Beauty of working with UniTED Vertical and Micro-Gardening (VMG) has been strongly supported by UniTED to get to where it is to date. UniTED has offered us continuous one-onone consultancy sessions and sharing necessary resources for organizational development. This has helped VMG streamline its operations and win several awards, including The Popular Choice award from MIT, the Social Impact Award from UniTED and recently, the Laureate Global Fellowship.

Winning UniTED’s Social Impact award in 2016 was the game changer for VMG. Personally as the team leader, I got the chance to travel to the University of Oxford and present at the Oxford Forum for International Development (OXFID). Additionally, I and the other entrepreneurs from Uganda were on the panel discussion on Global Partnerships.

This exchange trip helped me mobilize a team of volunteers at Oxford University. Attending daily brainstorming sessions allowed me to dive deep into VMG and learn more by sharing with the Oxford students, in a way broadening horizons.

It was an opportunity for me to teach others, learn with them, and accomplish goals together. It was a career boost for me and has helped me stand out.

Working with the Oxford student team and meeting

Oxford professionals was an opportunity to share skills with them and gain a better understanding of different cultures and socio-economic values around the world that may be unfamiliar to Uganda’s.

UniTED also makes recommendations and shares necessary resources with member enterprises and VMG is one of the beneficiaries. It identifies resources that will help the project leaders with personal development and growth, such as recommending fellowships, or other learning tools, networking organizations and make introductions to new contacts Moving forward, since winning the award, VMG has Redesigned VMG’s operational structure has been named Winner of Laureate Global Fellowship and currently in partnership with Multitech Business School to teach Micro Gardening as a vocational course. Student lessons start next semester.

If you are considering bettering your pitch and continued mentorship, UniTED is the right partner to work with.

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WILL YOU BE PART OF OUR 2018 PEER EDUCATORS ACADEMY

/reachahand

@reachahand

DON’T MISS OUT ON A LIFE CHANGING OPPORTUNITY TO BE A CHANGE AGENT AND AN INSPIRATION TO FELLOW YOUNG PEOPLE. APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2018 CLASS OPEN IN NOVEMBER 2017

/reach_a_hand

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Nominees for the 2017 Young Achievers Awards

Nominees for the Young Achievers Award for Business This category recognizes

Dr. Richard Kalungi, Founder, Home Doctors Uganda

Maxima Nsimenta, Founder of Livara Shea Butter Cosmetics

achievers in the business sector. Those involved in merchandise, trading, procurement or retail business. E.g. Import,

Kasozi Charles Ras, President SEED Uganda

Export, Distribution, Wholesale, Retail, Transportation, wedding planners, decorators, Airtime distributors, Cleaning services, Consultants, Advertising,

Muhammed Sekatawa, Founder, Responsible Suppliers (U) Ltd

Security services, Event management, etc The nominees are;

Ricky Rapa Thompson, Co-Founder of SafeBoda

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elow are the nominees of the 2017 Young Achievers Awards in no specific order. Meet the finalists carefully selected by distinguished panels of judges from a pool of over 300 applicants for this years’ awards.

Nominees for the Young Achievers Award for Outstanding Sports Personality The category seeks to

Farouk Miya, Uganda Cranes Midfielder

Jacob Kiplimo, Athlete

recognize youth that have been involved in sports and have been positive ambassadors for our great nation in this field.

Marvin Odongo, Rugby Cranes

The nominees are; Christine Wanyana, Former Uganda Crested Cranes Captain

Simon Tumukunde Cheza

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Nominees for the 2017 Young Achievers Awards

Nominees for the Young Achievers Award for Media and Journalism Excellence

Samuel Songa Stone, Creative Director STORYTELD

Ronald Wandera, Founder ugextra. com

This category includes young journalists in print and electronic media who cover the news stories. It is aimed at encouraging, promoting and recognizing excellence in African

Raymond Kataha, Journalist with NTV Uganda

journalism as well as reinforcing the importance of the journalists’ role in

Abaas Mpindi, Founder,

Uganda’s development.

The Media Challenge Initiative

The nominees are;

Martha Tukahirwa, Editor, The Uganda Tourism Directory

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elow are the nominees of the 2017 Young Achievers Awards in no specific order. Meet the finalists carefully selected by distinguished panels of judges from a pool of over 300 applicants for this years’ awards.

Nominees for the Young Achievers Award for Innovations & ICT

Gerald Otim, Chief Operation Officer & Co-Founder of Ensibuko

The category recognizes information, communication and technology innovations that serve the needs of our community.

Michael Kazoora, Founder of Quick Tap Solutions

Young achievers for ICT should provide a full rage of technological solutions from private

Zilla Mary Arach, Co-Founder of

PC sales right through

Lacel Technologies

to development of corporate and education softwares solutions and communication networks. These individuals and

Kevin Lubega, Co-Founder of EasyTicket Limited

businesses have knowledge and experience with software,hardware, networking, server technologies and security.

The nominees are;

Peace Kuteesa, Co-Founder of Zimba Women

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Nominees for the 2017 Young Achievers Awards

Muhammed Kisirisa aka Slum

Nominees for the Young Achievers Award for Social Entrepreneurship

Ambassador, Executive Director of Action for Fundamental Change and Development

Eddy Balina, Founder of the This category recognizes

Community Empowerment Center

individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social challenges.

This category includes consideration for profit and not for profit ventures,

Jamila Mayanja, Organizer of the Annual Father Daughter Dance

youth leaders/activists in the social and political realm. These individuals

Ian Joseph Wabwire,

use entrepreneurial

Founder of Youth

principles to organize,

Connect-Uganda

create, and manage a venture or campaign to cause positive social changes. They work

Ampumuza Dixon Kagurusi,

through non-profits and

Co-Founder of Africa Media

citizen groups.

Education Literacy Limited and TheUgandan.com

Presented by UniTED. The nominees are;

Frank Neil Yiga, Co-Founder and C.E.O of Anuel Energy Uganda

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elow are the nominees of the 2017 Young Achievers Awards in no specific order. Meet the finalists carefully selected by distinguished panels of judges from a pool of over 300 applicants for this years’ awards.

Nominees for the Young Achievers Award for Farming and AgroProcessing

Ronald Katamba, CO-Founder of the Jaguza App

Zilla Mary Arach, Co-Founder of Agriculture is the

the Lacel Technologies

backbone of Uganda’s economy and therefore this category seeks to recognise young people that have become leaders in this sector

James Kyewalabye, Executive Director of RASA Ltd

and have come up with solutions that can be used to advance this field and consequently

Dennis Kasule, C.E.O of Sarmalina

have positive impact on

Beverages International Limited

society around them.

The nominees are; Fiona Rukwanzi, Director of Mwigo holdings limited

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Nominees for the 2017 Young Achievers Awards

Nominees for the Young Achievers Award for Creative Arts (Arts, Music, Fashion, Film and Photography ) Category

Edrisa Musuuza aka Eddy Kenzo

Milege Afrojazz Band

This category incorporates three key areas and three key awards namely Arts, Music, Fashion, Film and

George William Kigozi aka Geosteady

Photography for this year’s awards editions. The award seeks to celebrate outstanding achievement

The Triplets Ghetto Kids

that reflects the powerful convergence of art, fashion and design. It is set to showcase the very best work and provide an unrivalled source of creative inspiration and arts works.

Nominees under the Music category are;

Sheebah Karungi

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elow are the nominees of the 2017 Young Achievers Awards in no specific order. Meet the finalists carefully selected by distinguished panels of judges from a pool of over 300 applicants for this years’ awards.

Nominees under the Fashion category are;

Brian Ahumuza of Abryanz Collection

Anita Beryl of Beryl Quoture

Nominees under the Film and Photography category are;

Haruna Ssebagala, C.E.O of Access Films

Ssekitto Emmanuel kalule, Team Leader, Faces Up Uganda

Zahara Abdul, Freelance Photographer

Ian Akankwasa aka Sasha Vybz, C.E.O Savy Films

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2017 Young Achievers Awards Special Awards

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esides recognizing and rewarding outstanding achievement among young people, the award established special categories where individuals outside the youth bracket are recognized for their contribution to youth empowerment in Uganda and beyond.

These are the Lifetime Achievement Award: reserved for successful and eminent persons who are role models for the young generation, have contributed to growing opportunities and for advancement of Africa, Heroes/Heroine Award: recognizes selfless service of individuals for the good of society and the Star in the Hall OF Fame Award: reserved for individuals who have contributed to the development of the Young Achievers Awards from inception.

Some of the past recipients of the special Awards include; Lifetime Achievement Award (H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, H.E Paul Kagame, Noerine Kaleeba, Dr. Sarah Nyendwoha Ntiro, and the Late Dr. James Mulwana), Hero/Heroine Award (Late Dr. Matthew Lukwiya, Esther Kalenzi, Sr Rachelle Fassera, Gary Skinner and the Late Yvonne Namaganda), and Star Hall of Fame awarded to Mrs. Olive Kigongo.

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The Recipients of the 2017 Special Awards are; Prof. Peter Mugyenyi Hero Award Recipient We present this Award to Professor Peter Mugyenyi, a medical doctor, researcher and promoter of accessible and equitable medical care. He is currently the Executive Director of Joint Clinical Research Centre, and Chancellor of Mbarara University of Science and Technology. He has been recognised for excellence in medical research especially on HIV/AIDS and as a pioneer who introduced institutional use of ART in Africa, as well as development of an effective model for scaling up ARVs to rural areas. Most of all, we recognize you for serving as a role model and an example for the young generation.

Ali Mufuruki Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient This award is presented to Ali Mufuruki, the Chairman & CEO, Infotech Investment Group LTD of Tanzania. Ali is a Tanzanian entrepreneur, philanthropist, public speaker and leadership coach. A Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute Class of 2001, Ali Mufuruki co-founded the Africa Leadership Initiative in 2002 whose mission is to engage the energy and talent of emerging leaders in Africa in order to release their potential to build a good society for their nations. This award is presented to you as a champion of youth empowerment across the East African region.

Amelia Kyambadde Star Hall of Fame Award Recipient

The Star Hall of Fame award is presented to Hon. Amelia Kyambadde who has been instrumental in shaping the future of the Young Achievers Award. Hon. Amelia is currently Cabinet Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives in the Ugandan Cabinet, a position she was appointed to on June 6th, 2016. She has previously served as Cabinet Minister of Trade and Industry between 27 May 2011 and 6 June 2016. Amelia Kyambadde is also the elected Member of Parliament(MP) for Mawokota County North in Mpigi District.

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With Nakyazze’s UgaStove, Clean Indoor Cooking Is Finally A Possibility

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ooking with charcoal can be hard. Lighting the stove is a struggle and the smoke that comes from it could give an onlooker that it can suffocate someone. As such, charcoal stove cooking has been reversed for outdoor

cooking, making it an inconvenience for those that want to cook from within their houses.

On top of that, cooking with charcoal is a necessity.

90% of all the cooking is done through biomass methods, predominantly charcoal. Sadly, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study of 2010 shows that 4 million premature deaths result from open fires and rudimentary cooking methods, like stoves.

This is exactly what Rehema Nakyazze had in mind as she started out with UgaStove- as a problem solver and made her win our Young Achievers Award for Environment in the year of 2011.

The project, feeding off a 2005 pilot under the name Urban Community Development Association of Kampala, Uganda (UCODEA), Ugastove has grown to establish itself as a supplier of various types of “Sigiri” (Local word for stove). These range from charcoal and Rocket wood stoves to institutional and custom design stoves.

The ‘Ugastove-s’ are unique in the sense that they are designed to consume very little charcoal, while at the same time delivering results in about the same time as the ordinary stoves-and sometimes even quicker. This is a very welcome invention for the National Environment Management Authority, as it directly translates into less deforestation. In the same line, users get to spend less purchasing the charcoal. It takes them longer than with ordinary stoves.

Most importantly, the stoves are built to ensure less emissions from the combustion of the charcoal fuel. In so doing, the stove greatly reduces the threats to the lives of many families when cooking is done in doors.

Needless to say, the stoves are affordable, and through them, Rehema is creating plenty of employment for young people. Being a young person herself, she managed to come up with a great invention that saves many families from health risks and offers them varied economic gains as well as clean cooking, thus enabling them kill multiple birds, with just one stone.

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| 2017 YOUNG ACHIEVERS AWARDS

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partners with outstanding organizations improving the well-being of communities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

We are building a community of creative collaborators. We bring together visionary grassroots organizations and progressive donors to implement, refine, and scale the most effective, locally appropriate solutions.

Primary Areas of Focus

Youth Education & Employment Adolescent Sexual & Reproductive Health Our work is achieved through our Active Partnership model. It is rooted in a deep respect for our partners, with whom we build long-term relationships. Led by our team in East Africa, we provide flexible funding, capacity building resources, and opportunities to learn, network, and celebrate with our community of changemakers. “ The relationship with Segal has been instrumental in our growth in terms of financial support, but more importantly in terms of new networks, increased ambitions, and heightened impact in the communities we serve.” –Eric, Foundation for Community Development & Empowerment

www.segalfamilyfoundation.org

200+ partners

(they’re rockstars!)

20+ African countries (focused on East Africa)

73% have budgets under $1 million $50,000 median grant size

| 2017 YOUNG ACHIEVERS AWARDS

REWARDING INNOVATION AND EXCELLENCE, INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION OF WORLD LEADERS

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In partnership with