KAMPALA – For seven months, students at Busitema University have been working inside a technology hub equipped with the kind of digital infrastructure more commonly associated with the capital, Kampala. On an ordinary weekday, the measure of its success is not a launch ceremony but whether students actually occupy the room.
That, according to Peter Kahiigi, chief technology officer at Centenary Technology Services, is precisely the point.
“What we handed over today is not a new lab. It is a working one,” Kahiigi said as the MTN ACE Spark Innovation Hub was formally handed over at Busitema University this week. “The equipment arrived in February, and students have been on it since. That is the test of a project like this: not the ribbon, but whether the room is full on an ordinary weekday.”
The Busitema facility is the second in a planned network of regional digital innovation hubs intended to give young Ugandans outside Kampala access to technology, training and mentorship that can translate classroom knowledge into jobs, businesses and practical solutions.
MTN Foundation Uganda is developing the programme with the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance and Centenary Technology Services. The initiative is part of a Shs4 billion, three-year investment covering four regional centres at public universities and the refurbishment of the National ICT Innovation Hub in Nakawa, Kampala.
For students in eastern Uganda, the significance lies in what happens inside the facility.
The hub will offer training in data science and analytics, software development and coding, artificial intelligence and machine learning, cybersecurity and cloud computing through the MTN Skills Academy, supported by Anischolar. It will also provide collaborative workspaces and mentorship. Similar hubs are planned for Gulu and Soroti universities, following an earlier facility at Kabale University.
That regional spread addresses a persistent question in Uganda’s growing digital economy: whether young people outside the capital can obtain the same tools and opportunities as their counterparts in Kampala.
“Our job was to create an environment where a learner or a young entrepreneur from this community can do serious work with the same tools they would find in Kampala,” Kahiigi said. “The environment is our part. What the students and the community build in it is the point.”
MTN Foundation trustee Francis Gimara said more than 20,000 students and community members are expected to gain access to digital skills training and mentorship through the initiative.
“By providing tools, mentorship, and opportunities, we are giving young people the platform to create practical solutions, start businesses, and contribute to the economic growth of Uganda,” he said.
The ambition goes beyond teaching people how to use computers. Uganda has a predominantly young population, and the programme is betting that greater access to advanced digital skills can turn some of those young people from job seekers into developers, entrepreneurs and problem-solvers.
Dr Aminah Zawedde, permanent secretary at the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, framed the investment in those terms.
“Investing in Uganda’s youth is investing in the country’s future. These hubs equip young people with the skills and support needed to innovate, create jobs, and contribute meaningfully to the digital economy,” she said.
Busitema University Vice Chancellor Prof Paul Waako said the hub should help bridge the gap between classroom instruction and practical application, preparing students to become problem-solvers, entrepreneurs and innovators.
There are already examples of what the broader innovation programme hopes to produce. According to the MTN media release, the Nakawa ICT Innovation Hub has supported innovations including KaCyber, an online public transport ticketing system, and RideLink, an AI-powered logistics platform for import and export services.
The challenge now is turning infrastructure into measurable opportunity. Computers and high-speed connectivity can narrow the geographical technology gap, but their value will ultimately depend on how intensively they are used, what skills students acquire, and whether those skills produce viable businesses, employment or solutions to problems in their communities.
Gimara said the hubs were designed as places for experimentation and collaboration rather than simply computer laboratories.
“We at MTN Foundation Uganda believe that everyone should not only enjoy the benefits of a modern, connected life but also be empowered to drive innovation and entrepreneurship that transforms the communities in which we operate,” he said.
Busitema therefore represents one part of a larger experiment: whether Uganda can decentralise access not merely to the internet, but to the sophisticated digital skills increasingly shaping work and enterprise.
The next facilities are planned for Gulu and Soroti. But Kahiigi’s simpler test may ultimately matter more than the number of hubs opened: whether, months and years after the ceremonies are over, the rooms remain full, and whether something useful emerges from them.