MTN launches UGX4.5 bn project for youth
![MTN launches UGX4.5 bn project for youth](../admin/images/142739240620241.jpg)
PACESETTER: MTN Uganda CEO Sylvia Mulinge speaks at the launch.
In January last year, Brian Tweheyo conceived the idea of a digital solution that would make renting easier for both tenants and landlords in the residential and commercial rental space.
He launched RentBeta, which offers different financial products enabling rent payments in instalments, collection, insurance, lending, savings, etc.
Recently, RentBeta was selected from among 740 applicants in 70 countries for the Top 100 Resilience Challenge 2024, for which the winner would receive the top prize of $150,000 in seed funding.
- Tweheyo credits all the success he has achieved to the MTN ACE programme.
“Through the support and mentorship provided by the MTN ACE programme and Innovation Village, I developed RentBeta, which has been a very transformative initiative for both tenants and landlords,” he says.
RentBeta is only one of the many success stories from the first phase of the MTN ACE programme, which has been running since December 2022. It has seen 185 youth graduate across three distinct programs: 51 from MTN ACE Tech, 47 from the MTN ACE Career program, and 87 from the MTN ACE Skills program.
- Additionally, 20 enterprises were selected for ACE Tech acceleration, and 15 enterprises for incubation, demonstrating the program’s significant impact on nurturing youth skills and enterprises. MTN sank UGX 1.5 billion in the first phase of the program.
Basing on the incredible success of the first phase, the telecommunications company has launched the second phase to continue equipping youth with digital skills.
The new three-year initiative, with an investment worth UGX 4.5 billion, aims to equip 8,000 youths and create 150 start-ups - basically transforming Uganda’s population into a digitally skilled workforce as the country positions itself to reap its dividend from the ongoing Fourth Industrial revolution.
MTN Uganda is collaborating with key partners including the Ministry of ICT & National Guidance, the National ICT Innovation Hub, Centenary Technology Services, MUBS Entrepreneurship Innovation and Incubation Centre, and Engage Consult.
Speaking at the launch event of the new phase at the Nakawa Innovation hub in Kampala recently, Sylvia Mulinge, the MTN Uganda Chief Executive Officer, said; “At MTN Uganda, we believe that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected world, and access to digital skills is a critical avenue to achieving that aspiration. As the second phase of the MTN ACE program takes shape, MTN Uganda is more committed than ever to empowering the country’s youth to become innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders in the digital age.”
- Hon. Joyce Nabbosa Ssebugwawo, the state minister for ICT, commended MTN Uganda for the initiative to empower the country’s young people and develop leaders in the digital space.
- “We deeply appreciate the efforts of our partners whose marvellous effort in developing a digitally experienced and empowered generation is invaluable. Together, we are encouraging innovation and productivity across people, organizations, businesses, and government,” she said.
Under the new phase, MTN will set up four regional ICT and innovation hubs at the main public universities across the country namely; Makerere University, Gulu University, Kabale University, and Busitema University.