The Startup Ecosystem of Uganda

There are several government initiatives that nurture the growth of the startup ecosystem in Uganda. For instance, The National ICT Initiatives Support Program is a cornerstone initiative, providing grant support to startups in the country. Similarly, the National Social Security Fund’s Hi-Innovator is a highly regarded public sector initiative providing early-stage funding to scaleable, impactful, and sustainable startups. In addition to funding support, the government has built the National ICT Innovation Hub to create an environment with stable internet connection and workspace to support ICT innovators.

Apart from the government initiatives, there are several other non-governmental ecosystem enablers that deserve mention due to their contributions to Uganda’s startup ecosystem, such as the telecommunications company MTN Uganda for its generous grants as well as startup accelerators/incubators like the Stanbic Business Incubator, Innovation Village, Hive Collab, and Outbox Hub for creating an entrepreneurial environment in the country.

Great work is also being done by international organizations that are funding and initiating excellent programs to boost the local ecosystem. Among those organizations are the UNDP, which accelerates the growth of Uganda’s startup ecosystem with activities such as the assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the ecosystem, as well as the strategy roadmap based on the outputs identified in the assessment.

UNDP also supports Uganda’s startup ecosystem with the UNDP Accelerator Lab, and has partnered with Makerere University to develop an innovation hub.

The majority of the initiatives mentioned above are focused on the leading startup hub Kampala, as is expected from the capital. However, if ecosystem developers initiate seed activity in other ecosystems, that would help Uganda gain momentum. Also, introducing a regulatory framework for startups and incentivizing investments can help Uganda’s startup ecosystem grow faster.

Given the seed stage of Uganda’s startup ecosystem, what we have seen so far is promising, and we look forward to seeing how the startup scene will evolve in the future to become a regional hub.