Kampala Impact Day 2022

 

The Rationale

The event is an annual celebration of impactful social enterprises organized by Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs (OVO) 

https://ondernemersvoorondernemers.be/en/projects  and Einstein Rising https://einsteinrising.net

The key word for this event is social impact. 

From the literature that accompanied the event there was a record of some progress after a few years where there was a sense that in the past each of the key players was pursuing their own end (disjointed effort) and that ther3 was little or no coordination. The key players in the sector were identifioed as business development hubs, education institutions, NGOs, government initiaitives, incubators and accelerators. 

The event has four objectives the first is to showcase the growth journey of social enterprise development in Uganda in the past five years. 

The second objective is to promote collaboration and co-creation among social enterprises in Uganda and those across Africa. 

The third objective is to explore avenues of partnerships between OVO, Einstein Rising and other NGOs, Business Support Organizations that have the same interest in social enterprise growth.

The fourth objective is to promote lcoal and cross border investment into social enterprises that have excelled in building sustainable impactful social businesses. 

There were several activities that those who are part of the event can be part of. Business Conference, Social Business Exhibitions, High Profile Key Note Speeches, Co-Creation Gatherings and Panel Discussions. 

A new trend? 

The event seems to be heavily skewed and understandably so towards the country of Belgium and investment groups from Belgium and that’s fine. The event we covered a few days ago, Uganda Innovation Week was focused on local investors (NSSF, DFCU and Uganda Development Bank) and well as foreign ones such as JICA. What we see is a trend that seems to be driving foreign countries and their investment arms towards a direct approach that has them funding the respective ecosystems direclty. 

The event started with talks that were delivered online by Mr. T. Deflandre, Mr. Reginald Vossen, Alexis Losseau and Eric Pol. 

There was a talk by the CEO of Einstein Rising who talked about how the Covid season brought blessings to his organization in the form of partnerships such as those with OVO. 

There were two sessions that matched those that were at the Uganda Innovation Week. The speakers of those sessions were Mr. Kenneth Legesi of KAIN and ORTUS and Jonathan Ntege Lubwama of Digest Africa. What is notable in Mr. Legesi’s talk was the importance that he placed in partnershipd between Government and Private Sector. He called this Blended Finance. He called for a greater convergence in financing. He talked some of the types of funding like technical assistance with debt and equity funding, insurance with debt and equity financing as well as preparatory fund before debt and equity funding. He talked about some of the collaboration that took place between the investment network in Uganda and the Flemish government. Mr. Legesi mentioned some of the needs that exist in the sector such as limited financial reporting and insufficient legal expertise. Some of these needs are being dealt with by a startup act that is being written and there is on going consultation with the policy arm of the startup association (which Keneth Twesigye of TechBuzz Hub addressed). Currently the group is at the stage where they are addressing Regulatory Impact Assessement. 

On the lack of connections between local groups and international finance, there was a suggestions from Mr. Legesi that we engage more with Response Innovation Lab. 

There was a great session or address with David Tusubirs of Innovex. He is building technology solutions for solar devices. He has benefitted from grant that were provided by OVO. He stated that the money that comes in is often tied to money that has come in before and those who invest in you do so often because of your track record with others. People fund you and have faith in you because you have been invested in your before. 

Panel Session on how to position Uganda as an impact investment destination. 

This panel was led by Arthur Mukembo. The panelists were Daniel Opio of Shona, Aga Sekalala Jr. Of Ugachick and Richard Okuti of the Business Process Outsourcing Council. On the question of what is missing in the Ecosystem, it was noted that the numbers are adequate but that the major players in the Ecosystem are not doing enough to support innovators. Those that have had a feel of the international space said that our founders would struggle on the international scene (which is why it was great to hear of a success story-Innovex and the founder David Tusubira who has not only raised the funds but has already repaid his loans to the Belgians!). It was suggested that there was a need for more platforms that allow for founders and funders to meet. If was also suggested that there were gaps in soft skills and business skills that need to be met in a comprehensive manner. Companies were encouraged to go beyond initial stages and to pursue larger goals.