Our Journey

The 2023 edition drew 1,755 participants, 468 startups, 94 speakers and partners, 60 exhibitors, and representation from government, NGOs, academia, and the private sector all under three days at the National ICT Innovation Hub. No other event in Uganda convenes the breadth of the ecosystem, at the scale UIW does, with the national mandate Startup Uganda carries.

In 2022, Startup Uganda officially launched the new and improved Uganda Innovation Week. The re-brand represented an active effort to include startup ecosystem stakeholders from across the country in conversations on the future of entrepreneurship in Uganda, focusing on rural connectivity and infrastructure.

The event identified missing links in the ecosystem, facilitating conversations on bridging academia and industry, highlighting gaps in women’s entrepreneurship scaling, and exploring investment financing for early-stage founders.

KIW 2021 was hosted as a hybrid event over the course of five days. Under the theme “Harnessing the power of Innovation & Entrepreneurship for Uganda’s digital transformation, job creation and economic sustainability” we gathered an online audience across Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and Hubilo.

Startup Uganda hosted KIW 2020 as a hybrid event, the first of its kind given the global circumstances. A small in-house audience were gathered at MOTIV. All sessions were streamed onto Whova, attracting a massive digital footprint of learners and engagers.

Over the course of 3 days at the Kololo Airstrip alongside various partners, we gathered accomplished and aspiring entrepreneurs, local start-up hubs, VC funds, and industry experts. The event also officially launched Startup Uganda.