Imagine being a student with a personal assistant who can do research for you, prepare notes and even remind you of your to-do coursework. Well, it has been made digitally possible. Some innovative young Ugandans have come up with the Academic Personal Assistant (AIDA) platform which helps students to get all the required information from […]
Gloria Okwakunda is a very happy and contented woman. She is happy because of her reliable companion. “My companion is PayLater. Ever since I joined this amazing service, my life has been smooth,” she says with a smile. PayLater is an online hire purchase platform where people acquire products or travel and pay in equal […]
Kampala, Uganda: Different reports indicate that Africa’s population is evenly distributed on sex and gender lines. Country Meters puts it at 50 percent for both women and men respectively while a 2021 World Bank report for Sub-Saharan Africa puts it at 50.2 percent in favor of Women and 49.8 percent for Men. That said, there […]
Public transport operators in Uganda struggle to balance books because of the disorganization in this sector. There is no clear monitoring of either taxi conductors, bus, or train wardens. In the end, the business owners are affected by accountability issues which leads to losses in terms of ticketing collections. Even on the side of passengers, […]
In Uganda, the word survival makes a lot of meaning because many people live on a hand-to-mouth income cycle. So, every working day matters. If you don’t work, you don’t eat! The same applies to utilities. It is very common to find households paying daily electricity bills or weekly pay-tv subscriptions. So, the cost of […]
For any businessman, anyone who can provide them with quick and cheap credit will definitely be their friend. So, when Edward Mubangizi was introduced to Social Lend Africa, he saw it as a good opportunity to improve his supermarket business in Kisaasi. “My friend told me that their financial services are friendly. I checked them […]
In March 2020, Uganda was placed under a total lockdown following the outbreak of the deadly Covid-19. Only essential workers such as security personnel, market vendors, and construction workers were allowed to continue working. One such essential worker was Sarah Naluwagga Lubambula, a vendor at Kalerwe Market in Kampala. But Naluwagga says despite this allowance, […]
Vincent Kizito is living with his grandmother in Kabanyi village of Luwero district. The only property they own is a huge piece of land that is lying idle because they lack the resource to develop it. But about a year ago, Kizito heard his friends talking about AgriShare APP, an online platform that can help […]
The global migration from paper-work to digital systems over the past two decades has received both support and resistance almost in equal measure. The critics have fronted the jobs worry of replacing humans with machines in the employment world while the proponents cite efficiency, convenience, and cost-effectiveness. All said and done, digital migration has made […]
We cannot overemphasize the power of digital media. Whether your interest is in sports, fashion, politics, or business, there is something for you in the digital marketplace. So, when Mayimuna Nalumu started her business in beddings, she utilized digital marketing to supplement her physical shop in Kinawataka. And when things got tough following the Covid-19 […]
In many parts of rural Uganda, accessing a bank is almost impossible. Even when you chance on one, the red tape involved in accessing credit is unbelievable, especially in agricultural financing. So, farmers usually rely on SACCOs and money lenders to survive. Most of these however come with high interest rates and they never supplement […]
When the world was invaded by Covid-19 in 2020, global economies were brought to their knees. At a personal level, many individuals were left in survival mode, barely managing to feed their families. Education was not saved too. Learners were forced to study remotely in bits and when schools were re-opened parents were required to […]
Market access is one of the biggest challenges for businesses in Uganda, especially in the informal sector. Many highly depend on word-of-mouth references because they lack resources for proper marketing. Some fail to breakeven and close shop while others stagnate at a small-scale level. It is estimated that Uganda has more than 2.5 million formal […]
A quick scan through the daily newspapers will show you how many people are losing their businesses to financial services providers for failure to service a loan. Financial services providers usually don’t care if you made a profit or a loss on the money they gave you; they just want their money back plus the […]
One of the biggest business challenges is accountability. For instance, it is almost impossible for any organization to determine how much airtime or fuel was used by a field staff in a given month. This is because the field staff usually pay out of pocket and claim the money later without proper proof. But this […]