Kampala, Uganda | ENTEBBENEWS.NET | Europe is increasingly looking up to African countries like Uganda to fill the human capital gap left by the aging population, presenting opportunities for Ugandan IT entrepreneurs.
However, to access these opportunities effectively, Uganda’s IT sector has to be ready to compete with its peers by raising the standards of its IT services and products, according to the International Trade Centre (ITC).
Frederieke Quispel, the Ambassador of the Netherlands to Uganda, says there are a lot of similarities between Uganda and the Netherlands, including the two being agricultural countries.
However, there is a major difference in that while Uganda’s population is among the youngest and fastest growing in the world, the Dutch numbers are stagnating, and the population is getting older.
This, according to Quispel, is an opportunity that Ugandan young IT professionals can take. She, however, says that the IT sector in Uganda seems to be a bit slower than in other countries, including Kenya.
She was speaking at the handover of the Netherlands Trust Fund for Viable Trade (NTFV), a 5-year Dutch government-supported programme that ended on Friday, to the Alliance for Trade in Information Services (ATIS) and the ICT Association of Uganda (ICTAU).
Quispel says the programme is aimed at supporting the Ugandan ICT sector in partnership with other Ugandan agencies to make the start-ups and micro, small and medium-scale enterprises access the export market.
The ambassador says that since its launch in 2021, the project created at least 1,596 direct jobs, led to an increase of 14.5 Million Dollars (about 52 Billion Shillings), and 12.3 million dollars (44.6 Billion Shillings) in investments attributed to the programme, which she calls great achievements.
She implored the organizations that are taking over the programme to ensure its sustainability, as donations cannot be relied on forever.
Grace Achire, the vice chairperson of ATIS, also noted the importance of the programme in helping Ugandans export their services, saying that they have enough potential and advantages like the English language.
However, recent reports say Uganda has fallen from the top of African speaking languages to fifth place behind South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana, which could affect such opportunities.
However, Achire says there is a big gap in the west where they require younger persons to support their economic growth, with German alone presenting an employment gap of 140,000 people.
She said they will concentrate on positioning Uganda as a go-to place for those searching for young, tech-savvy individuals.
The event under the theme “Unlocking IT Potential: Standards and Certifications for Uganda’s ITES/BPO Sector” also revealed that at least 15 IT companies received the international standardization recognition (ISO Certification), meaning that they can now be contacted by clients anywhere in the world.
The IT standards and international certifications, such as ISO 30105, should propel Uganda’s Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector to new heights.
John Ndabarasa, the Startup Growth Lead on the NTFV and FastTrackTech Africa Projects at the UN International Trade Centre, says the programme involved building the capacity of the companies, basically start-ups, to be able to access the markets abroad, as well as attract capital for scaling.
Patrick Kagenda is the chairman of ATIS and a proprietor of one of the partner companies, Data Care, which was involved in the identification of the beneficiaries and training.
He said some of the beneficiaries have graduated into accessing markets in the region, but also as far as Japan in Asia, stressing the potential that Ugandans have.
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