By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
NATIONAL
In July this year, a tech company started by ELP Alumnus Eliud Njogu and Julius Njuguna Co-Founder unveiled the Innovation Hub rollout in Kampala for university students under the Equity Leaders Program (ELP). This partnership between Equity Bank and E&M.
Technology seeks to equip students with the necessary skills in technology and innovation required as part of the Bank’s focus for the Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan, where technology and innovation skills are essential.
The 50 ELP Scholars are now set to meet 400 of their counterparts in Nairobi, Kenya, for a six-month technology and innovation training to uplift their skills as they shape their creative and critical thinking abilities to drive positive change.
As Equity Group Holdings, we set focus on the Africa Resilience and Recovery Plan which requires technologically able young minds to develop tools that address banking sector challenges and solve problems for the future of Africa.
The program aims at equipping young people with the skills and knowledge to lead Africa towards a more innovative and resilient future. Equity Group Holdings invests in the continent’s ability to nurture the next generation of African innovators that overcome challenges and thrive in adversity by investing in the youth.
Through the program, Equity Group shows its commitment to fostering innovation that leads to new ideas, solutions, and technologies that increase impact and scale. The 2030 Strategy Framework, where Strategy 1 is the Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan with Pillar 6, which focuses on technology and enabled ecosystems, aims to digitally connect 100 million customers.
Nicole Mukyala, an ELP scholar from Uganda and part of the recent ELP Innovation Hub rollout training program, reveals that the innovation hub has helped her attain an understanding of innovation and technology in Uganda.
‘’Our project is the Staff Circle Digital Loan Application. We developed it to solve the problem of the current loan application process, which is quite tedious due to a lot of paperwork. Staff members have problems associated with it as well, but our solution will ease their lives because they’ll be able to apply for loans in a more simplified way right on their phones’’. She recalls
She adds, ‘’At the end of this program, I expect to become a certified developer, as we have learnt how to code and develop programs, so I expect to become good at it, plus expect us to finish our application and hope it will turn out well’’.
Josephat Enanya, an ELP alumnus from Kenya, says his experience has been quite transformative.
‘’I transitioned from a background in business to the tech world. I joined this program out of curiosity and in need to understand how the tech industry works and how I can provide solutions to the problems faced in our community today. My ELP experience has been really good so far. I have transitioned from being a business management professional to a point where I can now call myself a software developer—specifically, a back-end software developer. ”
He adds, ‘’The Innovation Hub has been very impactful. To myself and the broader Kenyan community.” It equipped me with the technical skills I needed to solve real-world problems.
Additionally, the ELPs in Kenya have developed real-life solutions that address the financial challenges faced by our society. These solutions are making a significant difference in people’s lives.
