Last year, Startup Uganda officially launched the new and improved Uganda Innovation Week, an event still geared towards bringing together all actors within the startup ecosystem but now with a focus on the country as opposed to the capital city. More inclusive, wider reach, a country-wide movement.

The re-brand to UIW represented an active effort to include startup ecosystem stakeholders from across the country in conversations on the future of entrepreneurship in Uganda. The context for such discussions improved to include factors specific to entrepreneurs in some of the more rural areas, such as internet connectivity, access to infrastructure and more.

The three-day event was held under the theme, Uganda’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: Unlocking the Missing Links. Despite the growth of the startup ecosystem in Uganda, there are still several gaps to bridge in order to augment the development of viable, market-ready enterprises and the ability of relevant stakeholders to support said enterprises adequately. The event identified some of these missing links and facilitated conversations on possible ways to eradicate these issues. One track focused on links between academia and industry and highlighted how a strong connection between the two has enabled startup ecosystems worldwide to thrive and progress. Another track highlighted some of the current gaps in women’s entrepreneurship, such as the fact that despite recent statistics highlighting women as the larger percentage of entrepreneurs in the country, the number of women-owned businesses that scale up or attract funding remains significantly low. The final track explored the missing links in investment and financing for entrepreneurs.