Winners of the 2019 Startupper of the Year, an innovation challenge organized by French oil and gas company Total in Uganda, have been announced.
At a grand dinner held at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala this past Friday, three winners were unveiled after beating 12 other competitors.
The competition sought startups with ideas that can provide educational opportunities, reduce child mortality, improve public health, develop access to electricity in rural areas, improve road safety on the roads or help in building houses with eco-friendly materials or anything else that can contribute to better living.
The Winners of the 2019 Startupper of the Year by Total in Uganda were Arnold Mugaga, the founder of SeatPack, an ed-tech; Sylvia Kyomuhendo came in the second position with her startup, Infants’ Health Foundation; and Vicent Nemeyimana’s startup SWAPafrica was the third.
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A total of Shs150 million was given to these winners, with Mugaga taking Shs75 million, Kyomuhendo (Shs45 million) and Nemeyimana (Shs30 million).
Aside from the cash prize, they will undergo training from business experts based at Makerere University Business School, Innovation village and Uganda Industrial Research Institute.
Global competition
This was the second of this event. In the first edition, 34 countries participated from across the globe and this time 55 were involved.
According to Obi Ibemba, the managing director for Total Uganda, the top two winners of the 2019 Startupper of the Year in Uganda will travel to Paris, France for training.
Mugaga will also compete with the top winners from the other fifty-five countries from which the judges will pick the six best startups.
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