Falling Walls Lab is coming to Kampala, Uganda.

Which wall will your research break? Pitch your innovative idea in just three minutes, showcasing a breakthrough that positively impacts science and society.
 

Where
Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

When
14 September 2026

Local Organiser & Partners
Alliance for African Partnership Africa Office (AAP), Makerere University, Astria Learning, Makerere University Research and Innovation Fund (Mak-RIF); Makerere University Writing Center; Institute of Gender and Development Studies (IGDS); Makerere University Technology and Innovations Center (MUTIC)

Deadline
25 August 2026

Apply Now

Contact
aap@mak.ac.ug
rachealddungu@gmail.com

Beyond the technology and value addition work at the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES), the Minister’s first day at Makerere University carried him to two additional stops. Each offered a different picture of how deep the University’s research base runs, before day two shifted the conversation from laboratories to a national action plan built jointly with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

Appreciating the Foundation of Applied and other Sciences

At the College of Natural Sciences, the Minister was taken through a set of platforms that rarely attract public attention but underpin much of the University’s scientific output. Chief among them was the site and development plan for a proposed Nuclear Magnetic Resonance facility, a piece of equipment that, once built, would give Makerere researchers and students the ability to analyse molecular structures in ways currently only possible by sending samples abroad. Facility leads explained what such a facility would mean for chemistry, pharmaceutical research and materials science on campus, and the Minister engaged closely on what it would take, in funding and partnership terms, to move the project from plan to construction.

The College also presented selected materials, chemistry and biotechnology platforms already in active use, work that quietly feeds into much of the applied research showcased earlier in the day at CEDAT and CAES. Alongside this, researchers walked the Minister through ongoing work in space science, earth observation and geospatial technologies, fields that Makerere has been building up steadily and that carry obvious relevance for agriculture, environmental monitoring, disaster response and urban planning nationally. It was, in many ways, the most understated stop of the day, but also one of the clearest reminders that the flashier innovations seen elsewhere on campus rest on a foundation of basic scientific capability that the College of Natural Sciences exists to nurture.

The Innovation and Commercialisation Ecosystem

The day’s programme reached its final stop at UniPod and the Makerere University Technology Innovation Centre, and for many in the delegation, this was where the argument the University had been building all day came together most clearly. Student innovators, research teams and incubated start ups had prepared demonstrations that walked the Minister through the full pipeline his hosts had been describing since morning, from digital fabrication and makerspace tools that let a student turn a sketch into a working part, through to businesses that had already found their first paying customers.

The Minister was shown concrete evidence of innovations that had made the journey from prototype to certification, from certification to investment, and in a handful of cases, from investment to production and market entry. He spent time speaking directly with several young innovators, asking not the polite questions of a formal tour but the practical ones an investor might ask, about the origins of their ideas, the setbacks they had run into moving from a working model to something reliable enough to sell, and what exactly stood between where they were and where they wanted to be. Several of the students described spending months, sometimes years, refining a single component or feature before it was ready to show anyone outside their research group, work that rarely appears in the polished demonstrations visitors eventually see but that accounts for most of the actual effort behind them.

Discussion at this final stop centred on intellectual property protection, licensing arrangements, incubation support, venture financing and industry linkage, the unglamorous scaffolding that determines whether a good idea becomes a company or simply stays a good idea. University officials noted that UniPod’s role has increasingly become less about the physical fabrication tools it houses, though those remain heavily used, and more about walking student innovators through exactly this scaffolding, connecting them to legal support for patent filings, to potential investors, and to industry partners willing to pilot an unproven technology. It was a fitting note to close on, tying together the strategic remarks made that morning about commercialisation with the tangible, sometimes unfinished work of the students trying to achieve it.

Day One Ends on a High

With the day’s tours complete, University leadership and the Science, Technology and Innovation Office in the Office of the President used the closing hour to take stock, confirming which issues raised across the day, funding gaps, equipment needs, regulatory bottlenecks and partnership opportunities among them, would be carried forward for deeper attention on day two.

Feeling the Pulse of Health Sciences

Day two of the visit on 22^nd July 2026 turned the delegation’s attention from engineering workshops and computing laboratories to the University’s health and life sciences base, a cluster of research capacity that Makerere has built up over decades and that carries some of the clearest examples of research shaping national policy and practice. At the College of Health Sciences, the Minister was taken through the Makerere University Biomedical Research Centre, along with genomics, molecular and immunology laboratories whose biobanks and associated bioinformatics capacity now support research well beyond the College’s own walls. Researchers presented work on medical devices, diagnostics and biomarkers moving through clinical research and translation pathways, and the conversation turned, as it had the day before at CEDAT, to the practicalities of getting this work certified, accredited and eventually linked to local manufacturing rather than leaving finished designs to be produced elsewhere.

Influencing Public Health Outcomes beyond Academia

At the Makerere University School of Public Health, the focus shifted from laboratory bench work to population level research, surveillance systems and the health data platforms the School has built to support implementation research and policy translation. The Minister was walked through examples of School research that had gone on to shape national health programmes or been scaled into solutions used well beyond the University, a reminder that not all of Makerere‘s most consequential work happens inside a laboratory. Much of this research, staff noted, had been carried out with heavy involvement from graduate students working on theses tied directly to live public health problems.

Scaling-up Impact through Global Partnerships

The Infectious Diseases Institute offered a further layer to the health sciences picture, with its flagship laboratories, diagnostics platforms and biotechnology capacity, alongside compute and artificial intelligence infrastructure supporting clinical and infectious disease research. The Institute’s global research partnerships came up repeatedly in discussion, framed less as prestige collaborations and more as pathways through which locally developed technology could reach international markets and support, in turn, further enterprise creation at home. It was a fitting point at which to close out the health sciences segment of the visit, the Institute’s work drawing together the biomedical research, public health data and diagnostic capacity the Minister had been shown across the cluster, and pointing, as much of the previous day had, toward the same underlying question of how to move strong research further and faster toward practical, sellable outcomes.

Unpacking an Eventful Two Days

The second day’s centrepiece, however, was not another laboratory tour but a strategic dialogue on translating research into products, enterprises and national impact, a session that brought researchers and innovators face to face with the barriers that keep good science from becoming a good business. Presenters spoke candidly about the practical obstacles to technology translation and scale, touching on intellectual property protection, regulation, certification, procurement processes, industry partnerships, venture financing and the basic commercial management skills that many research teams simply do not have. The session deliberately widened beyond the science and technology colleges themselves, drawing in defined contributions from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the School of Law, the College of Business and Management Sciences, and the College of Education and External Studies, each speaking to a piece of the puzzle that pure science cannot solve alone, innovation culture, technology law, business development, communication, STEM human capital and the harder question of how new technologies actually get adopted by ordinary people and institutions.

That dialogue fed directly into a curated session of innovation and enterprise pitches, in which a select group of the University’s most promising technologies, spin off companies and student enterprises were given a short, structured window to make their case. Each pitch followed the same disciplined format, a brief statement of the problem being addressed, how far the technology had matured, its intellectual property position, whatever evidence of validation existed, the target market, the financing needed to move forward, and the single next milestone that would matter most. It was a deliberately commercial exercise, closer in spirit to an investment pitch than an academic presentation, and it gave the Minister a compressed but vivid sense of the University’s innovation pipeline at its most advanced and most investment ready.

Forging a National Action Plan

The two-day visit closed with an exit session built around adopting an agreed action matrix, the practical outcome the Ministry and University leadership had been working toward from the very first courtesy call. The Minister offered his observations and strategic guidance on what he had seen across both days, and University leadership joined Ministry officials in setting out agreed actions, the institutions and officers responsible for each, the timelines attached to them, and the mechanism by which progress would be measured. A joint press briefing and closing remarks brought the Minister’s maiden visit to Makerere University to an end, with both sides describing the two days as a starting point rather than a conclusion, the first working step in a relationship University leadership expects to deepen considerably as the agreed actions begin to move from paper into practice.

On the whole, the Minister’s maiden visit offered Makerere University an unusually direct platform to make its case, not through published statistics or polished brochures but through its own researchers, its own facilities and, most persistently throughout both days, its own students, standing at their benches and workstations, explaining in their own words what they had built and what it would take to take it further.

_{By Acom Mercy}

For decades, access to formal financial services in Uganda was limited by geography, high banking costs, and rigid lending requirements. Millions of Ugandans, particularly those in rural communities, women, youth, and micro-enterprises relied on informal savings groups, cash transactions, and unregulated lenders to meet their financial needs.

Today, fintech is changing that narrative.

By leveraging mobile technology, digital payments, artificial intelligence, and alternative lending models, Uganda’s fintech ecosystem is expanding access to financial services faster than ever before. More importantly, fintech is making financial inclusion not just a policy aspiration, but a practical reality for millions of Ugandans.

Uganda’s Financial Inclusion Journey

Uganda has made remarkable progress in expanding financial access over the last decade. According to the FinScope Uganda 2023 Survey, overall financial inclusion increased from 77% in 2018 to 81% in 2023, while formal financial inclusion grew even more significantly from 58% to 68% over the same period.

This progress has been largely driven by digital financial services. Mobile money alone is now used by 64% of Ugandan adults, making it the country’s most widely used formal financial service. SACCO usage has also grown considerably, rising from 5% in 2018 to 14% in 2023, demonstrating the increasing demand for accessible and community-based financial solutions.

The Government of Uganda’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy (2023–2028) aims to increase financial inclusion to at least 85% by 2028, reflecting the country’s commitment to ensuring that every Ugandan can access affordable, quality, and sustainable financial services.

Fintech: Bridging the Gap Left by Traditional Banking

Traditional banking institutions have historically struggled to serve many Ugandans due to high operational costs and limited branch networks, particularly in rural areas.

Fintech companies have addressed these challenges by delivering financial services directly through mobile phones, reducing transaction costs and eliminating the need for physical bank branches.

Whether it is making payments, accessing credit, saving, purchasing insurance, or managing investments, digital platforms now enable millions of Ugandans to participate in the formal financial system with greater convenience than ever before.

According to the Bank of Uganda, mobile money and Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) remain the biggest drivers of financial inclusion, with mobile money accounting for 66% of financial access among adults.

Ugandan Fintech Startups Driving Inclusion

Behind these statistics are innovative Ugandan startups developing practical solutions that address real-world financial challenges across sectors such as education, agriculture, savings, lending, and digital payments;

School pay– EdTech and digital education payments, Zimba Technologies – Banking software for credit unions and microfinances, Jeff Microfinance Uganda Limited – Digital lending and MSME finance

Nurturing Uganda’s Next Generation of Fintech Innovators

Innovation hubs play a critical role in transforming ideas into scalable businesses. The Makerere Innovation and Incubation Center supports emerging entrepreneurs through incubation, mentorship, business development support, strategic partnerships, and investor readiness programs.

Through its innovation support initiatives, MIIC is nurturing fintech startups developing solutions that advance financial inclusion and strengthen Uganda’s digital economy.

Among these innovators are:

Eazy Sacco is digitizing SACCO operations by enabling savings groups and underserved communities to manage savings, loans, and member transactions through digital platforms. The startup has onboarded over 20 savings groups and serves more than 1,000 active users, improving access to transparent and efficient cooperative finance.

Cyanase is a digital investment platform making investment opportunities more accessible by enabling individuals and groups to access treasury bills, government bonds, unit trusts, and other investment products through one platform. It also supports investment clubs and community savings groups with tools to manage contributions, lending, and group finances, reaching over 3,500 users to date.

Ensibuuko . Its cloud-based management platform enables cooperative societies to digitize savings, lending, accounting, and member management, allowing rural financial institutions to serve more customers efficiently while expanding access to affordable financial services. Ensibuuko has onboarded over 150 SACCOs (Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations) and credit unions. They have supported a broader network of over 20,000 community finance institutions

Beyond Payments: Creating Economic Opportunities

Financial inclusion extends far beyond opening bank accounts.

Today’s fintech solutions are helping farmers access affordable credit, enabling women entrepreneurs to secure working capital, supporting micro and small enterprises with digital payment systems, and empowering young entrepreneurs to participate in the digital economy.

Digital lending, embedded finance, merchant payment solutions, and financial management platforms are increasingly giving individuals and businesses tools to save, invest, transact, and grow.

As Uganda’s digital economy expands, fintech is becoming a catalyst for entrepreneurship, job creation, and inclusive economic development.

Despite significant progress, financial inclusion remains uneven.

According to FinScope 2023, affordability, relevance, and limited awareness continue to be the biggest barriers preventing many Ugandans from using formal financial services. Rural populations, women, and low-income households still experience lower levels of formal financial inclusion compared to urban residents.

Trust also remains critical

As digital financial services become more widespread, fintech companies must invest in cybersecurity, consumer protection, data privacy, and regulatory compliance to maintain public confidence.

The government has responded by strengthening regulatory frameworks, including the National Payment Systems Act, Digital Lending Guidelines, and the implementation of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, creating an enabling environment for responsible innovation.

Collaboration Will Define the Next Chapter

Uganda’s fintech success story demonstrates that financial inclusion cannot be achieved by one institution alone.

• The government provides policy direction and regulation.
• Financial institutions contribute infrastructure and customer trust.
• Telecommunication companies enable digital connectivity.
• Innovation hubs nurture entrepreneurs.
• Fintech startups develop customer-centric solutions.
• Development partners provide catalytic funding.

Together, these actors are building a more inclusive financial ecosystem capable of reaching millions who have historically been excluded from formal finance.

Looking Ahead

Fintech is no longer simply transforming how Ugandans make payments—it is redefining how they save, borrow, invest, insure, and build livelihoods.

With financial inclusion already reaching 81% and the national target set at 85% by 2028, Uganda has an opportunity to become one of Africa’s leading examples of digital financial transformation. Achieving that vision will depend on sustained investment, supportive regulation, continued innovation, and strong collaboration across the ecosystem.

As fintech startups continue developing solutions tailored to Uganda’s unique challenges, the future of financial inclusion will not be determined by the number of bank branches built, but by the digital innovations that bring affordable, trusted, and accessible financial services into the hands of every Ugandan.

Article originally posted on LinkedIn/Makerere Innovation and Incubation Center