Girls Against the World! A Tech story from Uganda.

#WomenInTech

In November 2013, I was redeployed from the News and Current affairs team at Urban TV to the Business and Technology Desk.  I quickly realised that the story of women in technology was a hot topic and 6 months later it still is a trending subject. 

At a Girl Geek dinner held at the Piato restaurant in February this year, I learnt of the sorority clubs like GirlGeekKampala and Afchix which were closing the gender gap in Tech by teaching girls how to code. Here, it was agreed that every IT woman should belong to an IT group believing that great things will happen when girls and women come together under one room. One of the girls that attended this Thought Works powered dinner is Bonita Nanziri whose story is a bright shining light in the women in Tech movement.

Designing for Women Hackathon

12 hours after the GirlGeek dinner, I am sitting in a room full of girls and women in a brainstorming session at the Designing for Women Hackathon hosted by the WITU Hub and facilitated by Barbara Natali. In this room, I listened as woman after woman narrated ordeals of being sexually discriminated against in the Tech world. The women here concluded that one of the biggest challenges facing women in Tech is the patriarchal nature of Ugandan society. I remember thinking how it would be interesting to see what solutions these Tech women would code to solve this problem. A database and site where women could report violence which would then be visualised and used for advocacy was the most viable application that came out of the workshop held over two week-ends.

Bonita Nanziri

Irritated by the usual, "let’s have one girl on team for gender balance", Bonita Nanziri, a student at the College of Computing and Information Sciences at Makerere University, put together a team of girl developers who would be designing an application for the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2014.  While the organisers of the conference and media types like myself were highlighting the significance of having an all-girl tech team, the AfriGal Tech team was focusing on winning the grand prize. They pitched their sickle cell diagnosis app so well that one person remarked on twitter that "these girls mean business, they are playing hard-ball." And win they did, taking the Innovation Challenge category and also emerging overall winner of the Microsoft Imagine Cup National finals. These girls together with Team Project 1 that designed a Tuberculosis diagnosis app will represent Uganda in the online global semifinals of the lucrative competition.

Team AfriGal Tech posing with Mictosoft's Roy Paul Owino after
winning the Imagine Cup Nationals. Photo by Robert Tuhaise.

WITU Hub

The WITU hub was by far been the biggest development in the Women in Tech narrative here in Uganda with Barbara Birungi, a leading female technologist and co-founder of the Hive Colab championing efforts to teach every girl in Uganda how to code.

“We believe that the gender gap in the Tech space can be greatly reduced by equipping as many girls as possible with coding skills in an environment where they do not have to compete with the boys” Victoria Mbabazi, coordinator of the CodeGirls session at WITU Hub

The Basic Computing class and the Code Girls session are the early initiatives of the women only hub and at this year’s GirlsInICT celebrations which will be held at the WITU Hub, we look forward to the unveiling of the application developed by the girls who attended the 7 week Code Girls course.

Trailblazers

Mariemme Jamme is also called Mama Africa for her role in telling the technology story on the African continent. Mariemme was here in Uganda for a week guiding Ugandan developers as they hacked and built a fisheries app and the Africa Progress Panel app. The latter was developed by the SyncHub team led by female CEO, Brenda Katwesigye.

Mariemme Jamme posing with the SyncHub that
developed the Africa Progress Panel app.

Mariemme’s story has one lesson; if a Senegalese girl who did not go to school till the age of 16 can run her own Tech firm in the UK, Spot One Global Solutions and be named among the top 10 African Voices in Tech by CNN among many other enviable accomplishments, surely there is hope for every Ugandan girl.

"When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you're from, your dreams are valid." Lupita Nyong'o, Oscar winning actress

In Uganda, we are not short of stories that can inspire women in Tech. From Dr. Dorothy Okello, founder of Women of Uganda Network,(WOUGNET) and winner of the first ever African Digital Woman of the year award, to Terry Karungi, award winning co-founder of Kola studios, the developers of the Matatu game app. Others to note are Eunice Namirembe, winner of Google’s Africa Connected competition, Christine Ampaire, co-founder of GirlGeek Kampala and winner of the MTN Women Business award. These are the ones that have won accolades. There are probably hundreds more that are coding and creating tech whose stories are yet to be told.

Tomorrow

With global leaders like Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, it is only a matter of time before the most powerful person in Tech is a woman. But all stakeholders in this debate know that the real battle is at the grassroots; in the hubs, IT classes, primary schools and at the family table when career choices are being discussed. And that’s why Tech reporters like Brenda Kembabazi of Urban TV and myself will be following the progress of the Code Girls sessions and girls sorority classes, the growth of the AfriGal Tech team, and looking out for the little girls who dream of changing the world.

Urban TV's Brenda Kembabazi ( with back to the camera) interviews Victoria Mbabazi,
one of the developers of the Nakazadde app.

Photos tagged INNOVATE are sourced from Urban TV's coverage of the Tech scene in Uganda.

The Presidential Selfie!

Picture by @rkabushenga and @KagutaMuseveni at the celebrations of 100 Years of West Nile.

At the celebrations of 100 years of West Nile held in Arua on April 21, 2014, the president took time to officially launch Urban TV's takeover of Northern Uganda. And he did this in style; taking his first ever selfie to keep with the station's hip and trendy style. The selfie sparked a mini-storm on social media as tweeps and Facebook influencers discussed the validity of the selfie.

There was also the 'small' matter of the parody account @YKMuseveni that had been tagged in instead of the President's reported official account @KagutaMuseveni. While some tweeps faulted Vision Group's Robert Kabushenga and the president's communication aides for the mistake, someone did point out on Twitter that whether or not the genuine or parody account was tagged in would not make a difference since the said official account has never sent out any tweets.

Following the conversation on Twitter, I couldn't help but ponder the significance of the Presidential selfie;  So what , if the president took a selfie or attempted to take a selfie? Does it matter? 

I think it matters. I think it matters because of the 6 million Ugandans that President Museveni believes have smartphones.(refer to Innovation summit in Kigali, 2013). Or perhaps you want to use the more realistic 17 million mobile subscribers in Uganda. Or you can join me and imagine the number of first time voters in 2016. These are 18 - 22 year olds who literally live online. 

The moral of the story; social media and the use of technology is going to be a major medium of communication for the 2016 polls.

Our president has not previously shown himself to be tech savvy or a lover of change for that matter. This is unlike his contemporaries like Rwanda's Paul Kagame, a popular tweep, Uganda's very own prime minister Amama Mbabazi and his #AskThePM sessions, President Barack Obama of the US and his almost daily selfies. 

In light of these realities, I believe that our president's selfie is a sign that the President is willing to come to where we are,  if only for the sake of the 2016 polls. What we do with him while he is in our turf is up to us, but first we need to welcome him to our world and not ridicule him for not being perfect in our ways!

Let's get him to tweet and join the conversations the matter to us. Let's ask @sarahkagingo, the President's social media editor to organise a #AskThePresident session. Let's ask President Museveni to make the 6 million Ugandan smartphone owners claim he made in Kigali a reality by subsidising these vital gadgets. Let's ask him to direct all his subordinates including Generals, ministers, cadres, MPs, historicals et al to join the conversation  on social media. 

Let citizen participation and government accountability be the price for the 2016 polls.

How my biggest career interview with Esther Kalenzi didn't make it to Urban TV...

Esther Kalenzi; a 26 year old young achiever in the Heroes category and Team leader of award winning charity, 40 Days over 40 Smiles Foundation.

Esther's story has been told and retold. It is a story of courage and youth enterprise. It is the story of a woman with a big heart and young people with even bigger hearts. A story that started in February 2012 when Esther opened up a facebook page to mobilise her friends to give and make a difference in the lives of vulnerable children as a way of celebrating Easter. A story that has grown over social media campaigns and creatively implemented events like #buyabrick, #HoopsforGrace, #BeSanta, #5ASide.... 

Allow me introduce you to Esther and her team on Twitter through their latest caampaign, #Ibuiltadorm that climaxed with the commissioning of a dormitory for 210 kids at the Happy Times school in Luwero disrict. 

I love winners, just like everyone else. So, ever since I heard Esther's story, I've been eagerly looking forward to the day I'll tell her story on TV, the platform God has blessed me with.

So Lady luck smiles upon me this Easter and on Holy Thursday, I get Esther Kalenzi and Nada Andersen of the Star Leo Advertising Agency in studio to talk about social networking for social good.

The interview is amazing; we talk about the power of social media, the motivation for Esther and her crew of philantrophists, and the projects that 40/40 would be tackling next.For me, it's Mission accomplished! 

I will now wait for final touches to be made on the show so I can tell my friends and family that I told one of the biggest Ugandan stories on TV, but alas, it was not to be...

According to the technical team, the recording of my biggest career interview had been distorted by a DW recording that had been going on in the transmission room during our interview. The interview had been damaged beyond repair and would not be airing.

Devastated! It's Saturday and Esther is in Luweero doing what she does best; charity and compassion.

And like my boss told me on Easter Monday; with some stories like the Presidential Selfie in Arua, you get one minute and that's it! Hopefully, this will not turn out to be that kind of story. It is still top on my to-do list; tell the story of the Ugandan youths that dared to give, Team 40/40. Am starting with this blog post.

Luckily for Urban TV's viewers, Raziah Athman, the features correspondent at Urban TV attended the commissioning of the dormitory in Luwero and filed this beautiful piece. #Ibuiltadorm story by Urban TV's Raziah Athman 

To be continued....

Pictures; Sourced from Urban TV's coverage of Esther Kalenzi and 40 days over 40 smiles.

Letter to a 25 year old Ugandan!

In the same year that Uganda's Youth MP, Evelyn Anite launched a campaign to have President Museveni re-elected for a fifth term, I, Daniel Mumbere, turned 25.

I decided to use the quarter of a century connotation of the number 25 to reflect and assess my life. Pondering on what method to use, I settled on writing a letter to myself titled 'A letter to a 25 year old Ugandan' in the hope that the letter would adequately capture the SWOT and Assets/Liabilities models. Here's the letter I wrote;

Dear Daniel, 

Happy Birthday! Congratulations on making 25 years of age. You should be proud. Allow me join the hundereds that  wished you excellent health and good fortune on your social media accounts in celebration of your birthday. I too believe that you are a nice and hardworking guy. You have quite the list of accomplishments; at 25, you are a TV show host with the fastest growing English TV station in Uganda, Urban TV and have earned a directorship with a start up in the billion dollar Speaking industry,allpublispeakers.com. Congratulations! 

Now for the list of things pending in your life; You have really kept everyone waiting for that Grad party!Since 2011 to be exact!..It's almost 3 years of working and we are still waiting for the customary working class milestones; plot of land, car, wife,... in no particular order. One might say you still have time to get those miletones, but that's really up to you. 

But for the following, there's neither time nor excuse for their postponement; A.S.A.P, you need to invest in building/re-building your family relationships.. Pay your debts and start saving/investing.. Kick out your not so nice friend 'Mr. Procrastination'.. Oh, plus,get a house, start paying bills and you'll be amazed at how much you grow!

My name is Daniel Mumbere!

Hello, my name is Daniel Mumbere. I am a Ugandan TV presenter with Urban TV, a local TV station. I have a passion for storytelling. I have zeroed in on telling Ugandan stories in the fields of the youth, Technology and Social Media. I'll also share lessons I learn from conversations on TV, Online and in real life encounters with you. My ultimate satisfaction is telling your story. Am therefore looking forward to hearing your story and retelling it for generations to come.