Youth in business symposium to focus on innovation

YOUTH    INNOVATION    SYMPOSIUM

Over 200 youth entrepreneurs will converge at the Innovation Village in Ntinda for the first annual Youth in Business Symposium on June 14.

Under the theme Patient Capital for Youth Innovation and Incubation, the symposium is being organized by Innoculous Uganda with support of Vision Group under the Pakasa flagship.

The symposium is in line with the Pakasa objective of promoting youth entrepreneurship as a viable source of livelihood in the face of high levels of unemployment in the country. Pakasa's strategy is to promote entrepreneurship as a viable means of livelihood.

Participants at the symposium will get expert advice on the various aspects of starting and operating various businesses in Uganda including highlighting the mistakes, market intelligence/trends and answer frequently asked questions about operating business in Uganda - from sources of capital to sustaining a business.

According to Mary Samantha Nyabalega, a managing partner at Innoculous Ltd, the goal of the symposium is to encourage the youth to embrace entrepreneurship as an alternative to formal employment.

The symposium will specifically bring together; eminent persons who have practical experience in the areas of long-term financing, innovation, and incubation. It will also include youth drawn from key sectors that are engaged in innovation or incubation and key stakeholders from the government and private sector.

Nyabalega noted that the solution to the high levels of youth unemployment is empowering the youth to become job creators through innovation.

"To help the youth benefit from the symposium, we have come up with three main topics to discuss. These include patient capital, innovation, and incubation.  Emphasis will be put on innovations," Nyabalega explained.

Brenda Kamahoro Bitangaro, another partner at Inoculous revealed that emphasis was put on innovation because it has increasingly become critical to entrepreneurship.

"For innovation to be able to solve societal needs or challenges, it must be responsive, capable of taking into account the peculiarities of the specific society it operates in while drawing on the environment around it. We, therefore, need to help youth especially innovators to understand these and more," Bitangaro said.

Bitangaro said the symposium will empower the youth with knowledge to develop there skills and innovations.  She noted that most startups face several challenges and never live to celebrate there 5th birthday.

"They also face a specific challenge of finding a market for there products. The symposium will seek to address the issue of product marketing," Bitangaro said.

The keynote speakers will tip the innovators on policy, regulation, and management of there intellectual property rights.

A group of four successful innovators will take the participants through how one's potential in innovation can be maximized.

Key speakers
The keynote speakers at the symposium include Dr. Anthony Kakooza, the Dean Faculty of Law at Uganda Christian University, Oscar Kambona from Kampala Associated Advocates, Keith Kalyegira, the CEO of Capital Markets Authority and Stephen Asiimwe, former CEO, Uganda Tourism Board.

Dr. Kakooza who will take the participants through copyrights and a detailed understanding of intellectual property, cyberlaw, and real estate law. Oscar Kambona will discuss the tax considerations for startups while Stephen Asiimwe will take the participants through the available opportunities in the tourism sector.

According to Asiimwe, symposiums like this one are what Uganda and the youth, in particular, need to transform themselves. He says that the youth right now are looking for hope anywhere and there's no better way of giving them hope that through such gatherings. For the forthcoming youth in business symposium, Asiimwe will talk about opportunities in tourism, a sector he believes has got numerous opportunities for young people.

"The world over, tourism is the biggest employer of the youth and women. The problem is that the youth don't know how to tap into the available opportunities in this sector and this is what I look forward to informing them about during the symposium," Asiimwe said.

Who qualifies for the symposium?
The organizers say they are mostly targeting people that are already practicing there innovations. However, to widen the scope of learning, the symposium will also accommodate those youths that have there ideas on paper but are seeking for support to implement them.

"We are specifically targeting youth between the ages of 15 and 35. Anyone who falls within this age bracket and is running a business is welcome for the symposium. Access to the event will be totally free of charge," Nyabalega said.

About Innoculous
Innoculous was started by three partners with expertise in law, security, and education. The company's core objective is empowering youth to embrace entrepreneurship.

"Our key goal is to build a pool of highly qualified and skilled human capital that will easily compete for national, regional and international opportunities as well as have the drive to be job creators," Nyabalega says.

Founding partners of Innoculous
Nyabalega Mary Samantha- LLB, Postgraduate Diploma in Law and currently pursuing a Masters in Law in Oil and Gas Management.  She has received specialized training in the structuring of cross border projects, analysis of various financing options, corporate and project strategy formulation, project planning, and management, among others.       

Brenda Kamahoro Bitangaro; she holds a Masters of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism, a Master of International             Security Studies and a Bachelors of Criminology and Sociology. Innovations in any field that has the potential to improve the state of our communities are of keen interest to her.

Kwesi Kutesa; He holds a Bachelor's degree in Christian Education and has five years of experience in teaching, sales, and marketing, logistics. He has for the last five years working with rural communities in Lyantonde through Kyemamba Farm produce helping farmers add value to agricultural products on the farm and link farmers to regional and international markets