Following the excellent success of the preliminary section of its youth empowerment flagship initiative, MTN Uganda’s company social duty arm, MTN Foundation, has launched the second section of the MTN ACE program to proceed equipping youths with digital expertise. This initiative underpins the corporate’s ambition of main digital options for Uganda’s progress based mostly on the idea that everybody deserves the advantages of a contemporary related life.
The three-year initiative, with an funding price UGX 4.5 billion, goals to equip 8,000 youths and
create 150 startups, reworking Uganda’s inhabitants right into a digitally expert workforce because the nation
positions itself to reap its dividend from the continuing Fourth Industrial revolution.
MTN Uganda is collaborating with key companions together with the Ministry of ICT & National Guidance, the
National ICT Innovation Hub, Centenary Technology Services, MUBS Entrepreneurship Innovation
and Incubation Centre, and Engage Consult. These partnerships are instrumental in making certain the
program’s success and sustainability. Speaking on the program launch occasion held on the Nakawa Innovation hub in Kampala in the present day, Sylvia Mulinge the MTN Uganda Chief Executive officer mentioned that:
Advertisement – Continue studying beneath
“At MTN Uganda, we consider that everybody deserves the advantages of a contemporary related world, and
entry to digital expertise is a essential avenue to attaining that aspiration. As the second section of the
MTN ACE program takes form, MTN Uganda is extra dedicated than ever to empowering the
nation’s youth to grow to be innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders within the digital age.”
Mulinge additional famous that this system seamlessly aligns with MTN’s Ambition 2025 of main digital
options for Uganda’s progress and supporting the federal government’s growth targets within the National
Development Plan III and Vision 2040, particularly in addressing the excessive youth unemployment price—a
problem projected to develop because the inhabitants expands.
The first section of the MTN ACE program, which has been operating since December 2022, noticed 185
youths graduate throughout three distinct packages: 51 from MTN ACE Tech, 47 from the MTN ACE Career program, and 87 from the MTN ACE Skills program. Additionally, 20 enterprises have been chosen
for ACE Tech acceleration, and 15 enterprises for incubation, demonstrating this system’s important
influence on nurturing youth expertise and enterprises. MTN sank UGX 1.5 billion within the first section of the
program.
Now, with UGX 4.5 billion earmarked for the second section of this system, there’s a promise of a
larger attain. MTN will arrange 4 regional ICT and innovation hubs in principal nationwide public
universities throughout the nation particularly; Makerere University in Kampala, Gulu University in Northern
Uganda, Kabale University within the Western, and Busitema University within the Eastern a part of the nation.
These hubs will probably be established in shut collaboration with this system companions.
“As we embark on Phase Two, we’re extra dedicated than ever to empowering our youth to grow to be
innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders within the digital age. We deeply respect the efforts of our
companions whose marvelous effort in growing a digitally skilled and empowered era is
invaluable. Together, we’re encouraging innovation and productiveness throughout individuals, organizations,
companies, and authorities,” Minister of State for Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
and National Guidance, Hon. Joyce Nabbosa Ssebugwawo mentioned on the launch.
The MTN ACE program focuses on three key areas stay the identical they usually embrace; the MTN ACE
Tech that focuses on upskilling youth keen on tech-related improvements, the MTN ACE Career
which empowers contemporary graduates with office expertise and internship placements and lastly the MTN
ACE Skills which is tailor-made for teenagers in or out of faculty, equipping them with entrepreneurial expertise to
begin companies.
Advertisement – Continue studying beneath
Beyond the MTN ACE program, MTN Foundation is concerned in a number of different youth empowerment
initiatives. These embrace the MTN Skills Academy and MTN Internet Bus, which give younger individuals
with important digital expertise, enhancing their employability and entrepreneurial capabilities in Uganda
and past. MTN Uganda stays devoted to fostering digital literacy and innovation as a way to drive financial progress and growth. The second section of the MTN ACE program is a testomony to
MTN’s dedication to empowering the youth and remodeling Uganda’s digital and subsequently,
financial panorama.
