Makerere set to open public investment centre
observer.ug, December 16, 2022, 01:15AM | Makerere University is preparing to open a public investment management centre that will serve government agencies, the private business sector and communities.
Speaking at the first-ever Entrepreneurs’ Business Breakfast Meeting, held in Yusuf Lule Central Teaching Facility, Makerere University recently, Prof Eria Hisali, the principal of the College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS), said the centre will be officially opened in January 2023.
He added that it will be housed by the college. He said the funding for the centre will come from Uganda government. The centre will support government with training and research-based information and participate in advising and guiding implementation of several government programmes such as the Parish Development Model.
It will also provide leadership training to Saccos, Small and Medium businesses, Non-Governmental Organisations and individual innovators and financiers. At the same function, Dr Cathy Mbidde, the manager of Makerere University Innovation Hub, said Makerere University will soon set up nine design labs for making machines and equipment, among other services, that promote innovation and entrepreneurship.
The design labs will be funded through a partnership of Makerere with the United Nations Development Programme. The above faculty members were reporting on what Makerere is contributing in the national ecosystem of innovation, investment and management of small and medium enterprises.
This was in response to the breakfast meeting’s theme, ‘Makerere University’s role in entrepreneurship ecosystem: How can we help?’ The meeting was organized by the Makerere University Entrepreneurship and Outreach Centre (MakEOC).
Attended by government agencies, Makerere University staff and students and SME practitioners from across the country, the meeting resolved to have such a gathering every six months.
The participants also formed an executive committee of volunteers to dwell on a number of issues raised in the meeting. It will be coordinated by a secretariat headed by Dr Sarah Bimbona, the director of MakEOC.
As the keynote speaker, John Kakungulu Walugembe, the executive director of the Federation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Uganda, dismissed as illusion the belief that economies of great countries are built by big companies and big financiers.
He argued that throughout history, the strongest pillar of countries’ economic growth is SMEs, and urged government and academia to promote SMEs rather than look down upon them. Walugembe called upon SMEs to work together, pull resources and benefit from the accruing economies of scale.
By John Musinguzi
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