During the SWARM Summit in Uganda on 25 and 26 April 2024 in Kampala, Hive Colab, a technology incubator, celebrated the graduation of 40 start-ups from the Youth Startup Academy Uganda (YSAU).
The SWARM Summit, themed “The Future is Now: Emerging Trends Shaping Startup Ecosystems”, highlighted Uganda’s young and innovative minds and aimed to foster innovation, collaboration, and growth in Uganda’s start-up community. The programme included keynote addresses from industry leaders on the current state and future direction of the start-up ecosystem and insightful panel discussions. YSA Uganda graduates from previous cohorts were invited as panels to share their business experience and to inspire their alumni.
This year’s graduation of the third cohort of the YSA Uganda, represents diverse industries and the potential to revolutionize Uganda’s entrepreneurial landscape. The start-ups have undergone intensive bootcamps, which brought the needed skills and resources to launch and grow successful ventures and seek potential investments.
Emphasizing the importance of youth-driven innovation, the Korean Embassy to Uganda encouraged the present YSA alumni entrepreneurs in following their goals. Phyllis Kyomuhendo, founder of M-SCAN, said YSA to be different from other projects as she was directly linked to business partners.
The Youth Start Academy Uganda is a project funded by the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) under its Ministry of SMEs and Startups Korea and implemented by the International Trade Centre (ITC), a United Nations agency, and Hive Colab in partnership with the National Information Technology Authority (NITA-U).
YSAU empowers aspiring young entrepreneurs by fostering a thriving start-up ecosystem in Uganda. The current graduating cohort represents over 700 young entrepreneurs who have been empowered to drive innovation and job creation across the country.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Trade Centre.