Who will be speaking at the Pakasa Forum tomorrow?

On Saturday April 9, Vision Group in association with AIESEC in Uganda, a youth-based organization that operates in universities, will host its 7th Pakasa Youth Forum. The function, which is free-of-charge and will be televised live on Urban, is slated to take place on Saturday April 9 at Kampala Parents School off Lugogo Bypass in Naguru from 9:00am to 2:00pm.

Fireworks Group chief executive officer, Caleb Owino, will moderate the forum whose theme is "Service, not profit, as a basis for venturing into business."  Below SEBIDDE KIRYOWA profiles the speakers at the forum - the keynote and panelists.

Keynote speaker

Capt. Abhay Agarwal, Chairman, SCIUG Group

In 1991, Abhay Agarwal quit a corporate job in India to come to Africa solely on a whim as a tourist. He was not looking for better opportunities; he just wanted to experience the land he had fallen in love with earlier as a young man visiting on college holidays from India.

He is also the Honorary Consul of Philippines in Uganda as well as the President of American Chamber of Commerce in Uganda.

Panelists

Dr. Barbara Ofwono Buyondo, Principal, Victorious Education Services Limited

In 1999, out of sheer passion for teaching and child welfare, Barbara Ofwono Buyondo sought to make a difference in early childhood learning. She mobilized sh1m and started a kindergarten in an old three - bedroom house in Old Kampala with 30 pupils.

Barbara Ofwono Buyondo

 
With the help of funds from a cooperative saving scheme and major banks, she has slowly built her dream into an empire - Victorious Education Services, a multi-billion shilling business offering quality education from early childhood through to primary school. She has over 4,000 pupils to date.  She was recently awarded an honorary doctorate in Business Administration from Baytown University.

Rachael Naijuka, MD, Ramo Ushers

She lost both her parents in car accidents at an early stage. Growing up without parents meant that she had to get creative to survive. Compelled by a need to raise upkeep money while at university, she decided to take advantage of her cordial nature to make money since she had no capital to start business.

Rachael Naijuka

 
She mobilized her fellow girls at university and started a small company called Ramo Ushers that hired out ushers to event organisers. Today, Rachael Naijuka, 24, employs about 80 young women and men.
 
Erisa Nkoyoyo, MD Stone Roofing (U) Ltd

He has broken the tradition of using iron sheets and tiles to roof houses. Nkoyoyo uses stones to roof houses. Being the first and only one of its kind in Africa, Erisa is so hopeful that his innovation will make him a millionaire soon.

Erisa Nkoyoyo

 
He began with sh120, 000 with which he bought full uniform and then walked the streets in search of clients. Although his idea was first rejected by pretty much everyone he approached, Nkoyoyo was resilient. Today he this 28-year-old runs construction projects worth sh100m at any given time and employees up to a staggering 198 young people.  

Abubaker Musuuza, Co-Founder and CEO, Village Energy

A former Ashoka East Africa program manager, Abu co-founded Village Energy in 2009. Originally focused on manufacturing and distributing solar systems, he pivoted to this new model in late 2014, for which he has been selected as an Ashoka fellow and Echoing Green fellow.

According to the model, Village Energy boosts access, affordability, and trust in solar energy by building a solar technician and retail shop network to fix and sell solar products in rural Uganda. They recruit and train young men and women as technicians and entrepreneurs, setting them up as franchisees with their own branded repair & sales shop.

These shops are supplemented by a network of phone-charging micro-entrepreneurs equipped with PayGo systems who will also act as referral sales agents. Abu is an Acumen East Africa and Unreasonable Institute alumnus, and a graduate of Makerere University.