This hub is located in Ntinda (opposite St. Luke's church) on a busy road that leads to Nakawa-a local industrial center also connecting Bukoto and Kamwokya-probably famous for its NGOs and technology related businesses.
Carry out a search online and you will find other international innovation hubs in Italy, Baltimore, Maryland and also one in California Polytechnic Pomona (a city where I spent a significant amount of my time in the U.S working and learning alongside young people of the faith from varied backgrounds).
My attention was drawn to the innovation hub after some work that i did with the RAN labs in Kololo (mainly social media coverage). These events were covered under what we described as two challenges on two floors. The day was spent designing and creating solutions using GIS on the second floor as well as another competition which took place between high schools and higher education institutions.
While my primary focus has been on some of the original hubs, a chance meeting with a vibrant young mentor at RAN labs helped open my eyes to a host of other innovation hubs in the city.
So here is what I have distilled from that visit and conversation with the PR lead Whitney as well as from some Information gathered from social media.
Innovation village has set itself up as the destination for the NEXT BIG IDEAS. They are therefore focusing on:
Fintech
Climate
Agriculture
Health-health meet-ups
Diversity-a focus on women with coding for girls.
Education
Media
The thing you notice most when you arrive is the amount of work that has gone into creating a space that makes you comfortable. There is snack center with coffee, tea and a host of other drinks. There are well designed paintings that cover the walls as well as some very well designed articles of furniture. The lady at the front desk was bubbling with life.
The focus areas were good because they personally represented some of the major themes in most competitions and so they should form the core of the basic hub at least if it wishes to engage with international players with the view of participating and winning these events. While we recognize that organizations ought to be created to function beyond competitions, these challenges are often useful in testing and evaluating design skills of students.
The recognition of the various stages that small businesses go through is also appreciated. The seed stage, the growth stage and harvest. A place where businesses can be evaluated and built is therefore quite welcome.
To this end, there are accelerator clinics and mentorship packages that are designed depending on where the business stands.
The existence of a complete TV (IDEA TV) channel for the benefit of innovators is also great. There are often a large number of events that take place in the city. Being there for all of them is now a possibility at least it is here. There was an idea cafe on the 16th of September-videos about the Internet of things and other discussion that were held are available on the innovation village uganda Facebook site. A health meet-up is planned for the 24th of September.
The closest I ever got to this was with Mara (located at Ham Towers opposite the main gate of Makerere University). They provided a link to a live stream for people to view an event that was held a few years back.
I was also glad to hear that the people here were working on making sure that young people that had previously participated in competitions were being absorbed or at least given a chance to stay in the mix. This was a major concern of mine after the exit of orange from the Ugandan market even if MTN to some extent has attempted to fill the gap. To to end I am working towards creating a database of local application solution providers similar to what ThoughtWorks does with its TechRadar.
I also got a chance to some insights into business practice, and the importance of values for growth and sustainability of local businesses.
An intense and very well spent day.
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