From July 14th to 18th, 2025, MUST IUC–UCoBS Sub-Project 5 will conduct an Entrepreneurship Bootcamp in Rubirizi District. This five-day residential program is designed to equip young people with essential entrepreneurial skills, innovative thinking, and practical experience that fosters employability and business creation.
Rubirizi was strategically selected as one of the key operational areas for MUST/IUC UCoBS Sub-Project 5, given its unique potential and existing engagement with local communities. The bootcamp is being organized in close collaboration with the Community Volunteer Initiative for Development (COVOID),a local NGO that was identified as a potential partner right from the inception phase of the UCoBS project. COVOID’s deep community roots and proven experience in youth mobilization and development made it an ideal partner for this initiative.
The program will focus on six core areas: Entrepreneurial Fundamentals, Idea Generation, a 50,000 UGX Business Challenge, Design Thinking, Prototyping, and Pitch Preparation. Participants will engage in interactive sessions and hands-on challenges that encourage them to identify community problems, develop viable solutions, and build market-ready products. A highlight of the bootcamp is the 50,000 UGX Challenge, where youth teams receive small seed capital to create and test real business ideas within just a few days.
This initiative aligns with the broader mission of MUST/IUC-UCoBS subproject 5 and its partners to increase youth employability across Southwestern Uganda through skilling, innovation, experiential learning, and technology transfer. By bringing this program directly to Rubirizi, the project aims to reduce access barriers and provide rural youth with the same quality of training often reserved for urban centers.
The bootcamp is implemented under the MUST/IUC-UCoBS project with support from VLIR-UOS, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Howest University of Applied Sciences, StartHub Africa, and Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI). Kreative Digital Media, will provide live media coverage to amplify the voices and stories of the youth participants.
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