10 things/ apps/ ideas I think will redefine the future in Uganda as we know it

It’s that time of the year again when you have to take stock, to be thankful and most of all to be hopeful.  Has it been an amazing year? Yes!! Does it leave any doubt in my mind that the future is bright where we are going? NO. Not so much with all the things happening around us. I have however had the privilege to write about the people, ideas and projects I personally came into contact with this year that I think have what it takes to make this country and even the world a better place. Sometime we think that we know  what will make it through the next decade, and they don’t. But other times we actually don’t see them coming. I think these ideas point a new light to where the future of technology, the start-up industry and development will be headed; convergence, or at least, ideas that will make that destination a more desirable one.

  

        CU@SKOOL: Last year I wrote here about an OpenXdata solution that was being tested for trial in rural primary schools as part of a pilot to see if school absenteeism would reduce if school attendance was digitized. The pilot was in 100 schools in Kiboga and Mbale. The trials were completed the application was being prepared for national roll out to 16,000 schools. I think this app could reduce the numbers of absent teachers and students. First there are a few problems to solve: 

a) The $18 Million in aid which was pulled last week because of the level of corruption in government and the lip service that was being given to the Netherlands government. Another case involved the chairman of the board of the National Information Technology Authority NITA, Ken Lubega, acquiring an UGX 11 Billion contract to supply e-learning software for both private and government aided schools through his company, CyberSchool Technology solutions here. Some heads need to roll.

b) Rolling out the application in more than 50% of all schools at primary level. At that scale one can measure efficiency or the lack of it. 

c) At that scale the application can be channeled to query for more specific delivery, attendance and progress metrics. 

The application is built to run on low end devices and will allow the headmaster to send the District Education Officer a weekly report on attendance. It also automatically shares the results with members of the community and/or the PTA. If we can get the foundations of the education system right, then we can give the younger children a fighting chance against the monster that is USE.

Garage 48: Out of a town called Tanill in Estonia hails a group of 6 people who started something called Garage 48 where developers, coders, IT enthusiasts, and designers sit for 48 hours, are divided into teams and work to turn ideas into working prototypes. They have events that help foster startup communities across the world. Uganda had her first Garage48 event this September. One of the 11 complete apps that came out of there was Mafutago – an application that uses the GPS location of your phone to tell you the cheapest and nearest fuelling station near you. Would I like that? Yes!! Would a boda boda rider like that? Definitely! The truth still remains that with low access, and a price ceiling for internet accessible devices, the application will remain a preserve of the middle class. And yet, the stats show rising mobile internet usage and access every day. So there is reason to hope not just because of one app but because of what the spirit of start-ups represents; the "Silicon Valleyism" if you want. Code-a-thons, Techfests, Hackathons, its all just people who want to contribute and need to be given a chance. We’ll just have to start here.

3.   Crimex: Crimex: Speaking of geo-spatial mapping brings to mind a discussion I had with a friend of mine. @jkaizzi who escorted the Makerere University team to the regional Microsoft Imagine Challenge Cup (Microsoft’s own search for talent) where he himself has been going since 2008, when I first met him. Anyway, as a mentor he was taking his team to present an interesting application they called “Crimex”. Their argument was peace, stability, and rule of law were essential to the achievement of the MDGs. On a capricious, vastly volatile continent, they seemed to have found the link between keeping the peace, and making the piece. The application is built on a vast amount of data collected and inputted on maps which allows law enforcement to chart out trouble spots, plan resource distribution, map out recurrence, and anticipate future offenses. The challenges here lie in:

a) the massive amount of data collection

b) Resource training and analysis

c) Political will to see this through

d) With predictive intelligence as @JonGos said here, the positive disruptive potential is so huge that we would see a shift in the way crime fighting and approaches are done.

Will the face of crime fighting change? We don’t know, but what I know is that being able to map out where the prevalence of child molesters or domestic violence hot spots will give our mothers and sisters a better chance at justice.

Fundi Bots' Nigel-5

4.     Fundi Bots: When I first met him, he was the calm and collected half of the now famous blogger duo: Two weak dudes: a witty, slightly satirized look at society. When I got to know him, I found him to be a technology enthusiast, a lover of robots, an ethical businessman with the work ethic of a beaver. Solomon King Benge, is the Resident Fundi at Fundi Bots, a collective that is going around secondary schools in Uganda both rural and urban teaching young people about robots and robotics, starting robotics clubs, and generating interest in the topic. The fascinating thing about this story is that everything he knows, he self taught from tutorials on the internet. But what blows your mind and I guess every kid’s mind, is his story. He was told it was a dream he was never to pursue, never to chase, never to dream. He refused to stop. He pressed on. And when the time came, he dreamed again. Today, he is testament that those amongst us who continue to dream will be the ones we will choose to lead us.   I think that Fundi Bots deserves its spot here because of the spirited and inspirational stories behind the team who all volunteer their time to design, make, and speak on robots across the country. Gathering stories, teaching young minds, planting seeds of desire. For to get great technology, there must great inspiration.

Solomon King on a Fundi Bots tour at Kiira SS

5.     SatNav East Africa: Last week on BBC Click, they were talking about the trends that are emerging to take over the future and Tom said “ There are the devices that are going to shape the future are going to be Mobile. Location. Social.” SatNav, a company that is into location based devices is perhaps for me one of the closest places we have come to answering the question of where are you? The company that installs TomToms or location devices has just completed a mapping system where they have mapped out the whole of Kampala on a grid map and will be expanding out to the rest of the country over the next year, giving precise GPS addresses to places, locations and sites. For small fee, members of the public can get their own address which becomes their address where mail, deliveries, messages can be physically delivered. Now most people might ask what is strange about people delivering things to your address until you understand that you no longer have to have the conversation about “turn right at the mango tree, take a left, and keep going until you reach the trading centre and then stop at the Grey gate” Four years ago I wrote here that Uganda had leap frogged from the postal service to the mobile phone. Without the physical infrastructure of the landline of which the west had over 100 years, the idea of location and DSL internet connection at home as and still remains a largely unknown element. Skipping from the mailbox to the mobile phone was a coup for development and indeed the technocrats congratulate Africa and have called the Mobile the Panacea of all our evils. But the  universe must have balance. What would this mean you ask?

a) your mail would come to your place directly

b) in case of emergencies, police ambulances and rescue services would know exactly where to help you out from with improved rescue times

c)if you needed  health care, you’d know the nearest clinic/hospital/health centre

d) real estate brokerage would all go online as available house would simply just showed with pictures and viewing times 

SATNAV helping you find your way home

 e) sending loved one gifts parcels and love would be personal.

f) ordering pizza to your doorstep

g) the flourishing of a whole new service sector and attendant jobs as delivery companies start to set up shop

h) philandering will now have an address.

i) cabs will know exactly where to pick you up from

j) visiting your in-laws will be much easier.

k)”There was jam” and “I got lost” will no longer be a valid excuse for late coming. All in all, I think that by pioneering this service SatNav has a real shot at steering a future with real options for Uganda.

These solutions are not going to answer Uganda’s electricity or pothole problems (the answer to that is by adopting a pothole as the Urban legend guys suggest here) but represent the glimmer of hope of efforts and of people who are around us making a difference every day. These advancements possess the immense ability to prepare us to catapult to the next stage but also carry the grave warning that all technology does; one that can be abused to hurt a great many people. Either way, we have to make a choice and act now because the time to sit on the fence no longer exists.

cu@school: A school attendance tracking system for rural schools

 About a year ago I was working for the Faculty of Computing & IT [CIT] at Makerere University where I spent my days poring over tomes of data analyzing the University's fastest growing faculty. Almost a marvel in Engineering and administration. It had grown from an institute to a faculty in just two years; which was a university record on its own. I have since moved on from there but from time to time I go back to see what they are on about...


When I passed there last, I discovered a very interesting project they were working for rural primary schools that can't afford the heavy overheads of stationary for attendance rolls and teacher rosters. something called "cu@school"

"CIT launched its OpenXdata software to 50 schools in Mbale and 50 schools in Kiboga district on 28^th Jan 2010. The OpenXdata platform will be used by these schools in recording data on pupil attendance using mobile phones. The Netherlands Development Organization, SNV, in collaboration with Makerere University Faculty of Computing and IT (CIT) availed the schools with Nokia phones to kick start the process, under the ‘CU@school project’...."

Guided by the motto, "any data, any device, anywhere, anytime"  the software development team at the Department of Software and Innovations Development seeks to help head teachers to track down teachers who absentee themselves from schools. The technology is lightly engineered to carry on Nokia phones so it becomes an almost accessible and mass application tool. Mostly because Nokia phones are more accessible and also because of their almost ubiquitous availability.

In this article where they say the government loses up to UGX 12 Billion a year [USD $12 Million], I'm caused to wonder whether the government would lose any less money by actually investing a subsidized amount of money for every head teacher, through an agreement with Nokia or another handset maker and therefore improving the service delivery at the grassroots level and then working from there upwards to streamline the rot that is the education sector in Uganda.

The application which runs on an OpenXdata, an easy-to-use, easy-to-adapt platform is one of the many "legs" that technology enthusiasts keep talking about that Mobile phone technology has and can use to bring an improvement in service delivery and a new edge to the development discussion.

I also ask whether such incubation centre and software development labs are not supposed to be engines and drivers of trial technology and the front runners of the nation's advance towards a more tech-savvy populace. Why aren't they more funded? Why isn't there a conscious effort to have them as the number one reference point for all local software needs and solutions? Skeptics have often come back to this question with the assertion that foreign software developers are more accountable and their reputation is more reliable than local solution providers. I ask, if the local solution providers are not given a chance, how do they build credibility? 

In the final analysis, the fact is that these technologies and start ups need to be supported and given the local confidence necessary to build credible, dependable solutions for the market.

Nokia reaching out to developers in Uganda; Part 1 of a loaded story.

Yesterday, in a room packed full of journalists and the able members of the Kampala blogsphere, the able, beautiful Dorthy Ooko presented and unveiled Nokia's latest product; NOKIA OVI; for publishers.

Journalists being who they are sat quietly  through her talk but the bloggers and techies were clearly in a state. The guy from the Google Technology User Group Uganda [who looks like Matt Damon but is actually called Kyle] was wondering about licensing and technology compatibility while Revence was worried about control, content and how long a developer's application takes to go through the verification, certification and validation processes in order to star earning his developer's cash!

The journalists wondered whether this was not going to trigger another war in a market where Nokia is a dominant player and neither Apple nor Google have the set up structures to compete in User generated content management and application development. The latter two have made hundreds of developers worldwide wealthy by providing platforms on which they could develop applications for their different products and be remunerated by royalties paid from usage/purchase or downloads. 

This in many markets has meant that applications virtually for everything have been developed to assist users in their day to day lives; from the ovulation calendar to shazam; an app that will tell you the name, album, artiste, year  and number of any song  just by listening to the beats in that song. Obviously creating millionaires out of the truly brilliant designers. 

Another truth is that a lot of these products were either not designed for the African market [now often referred to as the Middle East and Africa market], therefore resulting in:

a) A lot of African designers not being able to design the apps they need to find  bags, shoes, cheap beer, and cheap affordable food  or housing for the communities in which they live.

b) They have inadvertently missed out on the billions  of shillings that are there to be made from worldwide consumption of their applications.

And in the new world of marketing  where you flex  your muscles where it hurts Nokia has flexed its biceps. Every day, more than 1.2 billion people connect to one another with a Nokia device – from mobile phones to advanced smartphones and high-performance mobile computers. you imagine that kind of power, usage subscription and loyalty and you tell me its not going to hurt. the naysayers will argue that people in Africa don't have the money to sustain the Apple and Google market sizes but these guys at Makerere will say different, or the guys at Appfrica, or the guys at Node Six.

Their argument is that if you continue to go where the money is, you miss the bigger "share of heart" that stands to be gained from the masses. this is mainly because these masses, eat, they work, they clothe, they dream and live; therefore they communicate; which is why new market analysis will tell you that the people are where you go, not the money.

Whether this is Nokia's objective or not is yet to be ascertained but one thing is for sure, the support that Nokia has now committed to offer developers is an almost unprecedented first; offering the OVI platform as a place for all consumers to be able to get their email, music,  share work, games, mapping and navigation capabilities. This will undoubtedly lead to an increase in the amount of local content online; the god of which i have discussed before in previous posts here. check it more out here.

And of course open up the possibility of having the first Ugandan billionaire software developer whose software will probably be published and sold online.

Download the statement/ news release here

Some Days, and things only happen in Uganda

Uganda Lays wrong ICT cable ­- Experts. was the headline in Uganda's leading daily Newspaper, "The New Vision" a few days ago. so when does it grow old to have all this drama happening in your country?

Is it amusing to anyone elsewhere in the world that my country is laying the wrong fibre optic cable and despite the Government's instructions, the contractor continuously digs on and lays more cable irrespective?

A Chalk Free Class

Mrs. Kandigoma Jean has been teaching Mathematics to for over 25 years. I knew her when I was but a child. She has taught, consulted, coached, examined and is at a point where the Math is where she lives and abides.

Recently I walked over to see Auntie Jean’s son; an age old friend, when I found her relaxing I asked him, a recent graduate what he was up to and he replied quite simply.

“She wants me to type all her work into the laptop”

What? I asked, being curiously tickled.

Then he gave me her card. On it was written:

Jean Kandigoma

School Content Specialist

E-Learnig Software Development

In the years that had passed since I had seen her she had transformed from being a major league examiner and math teacher extraordinaire to a content specialist? I mean what do those people do even do?

And so I asked her.

Her answer blew me away.

She works with the Cyber School Technology Solutions Project which has currently enrolled 100 schools and is planning to recruit another 200 this year into a program that allows access to digitized curriculum content. They have her write out the syllabus and then digitize the whole thing. Then it is voiced for effect and instructions.

And so in a look of amazement I asked her what the future of the classroom would look like and she said from when the next term begun she would just walk into class with a projector and her laptop and start teaching. She teaches across the O’ Level section.

And so where is the project going with its plans to recruit another 200 schools?

Well the plan is to hopefully partner with enough schools to increase the learning capacity for science and demonstrative subjects, and since notes don’t all have to be written in chalk, the course coverage is faster allowing for more teacher-student time and not to mention the aesthetic value it all brings to a chalk-dust-free class.

So now I ask, as the world moves towards faster and better modernization of sectors, technology and information transfer,

Are we on the cusp of another age of technology leapfrog?

For those who find it strange, I have been fondling his theory and I have heard it expressed out loud but mostly expressed in the future Africa will leapfrog and into the next technology era. My theory is that Uganda is one of those strange countries and is a classic microcosm of Africa’s strides in technology adaptation. We jumped literally from the mailbox to the cell phone. As the rest of the world endured the mailbox and what it stood for, and then moved from there to the landline home phone. In Uganda the number of landlines is probably one tenth of the cell phones.

Tottering at an astounding 9 million subscribers today, Uganda finds itself at a time where its 75% population that is under 30 needs constantly to be talking and because of the new age of information where there is just too much information make heads or tails of, there point is to just keep talking. These young people need communication solutions that answer that question everyday.

Only about 15 % of the total population currently resides in urban areas. The rest live in rural areas, where chances of access to electricity, power are very low. Today Telecom companies in Uganda seem to be heading in the right direction: Uganda Telecom’s free face book platform; MTN’s partnership with the Grameen Foundation to produce a farmers’ trade tool that is SMS enabled; Warid Telecom’s “Pakalast” tariff profile which has literally reorganized the Telcom landscape, Orange Telecom which has capitalized on providing fast, unlimited internet access on its dongo; an unrivaled facility by any in the country.

All these innovations by the industry to grab more market share continue to drive prices down in a very price-sensitive market but still do nothing to make innovations in the education sector, or health or housing or food sector substantially relevant to Ugandans. Parliament is in talks to establish a National IT Authority; an industry regulator because clearly the Uganda Communications Commission which is funded by a 1% remission by the Telcos is, and has been bullied by industry leaders into some really un-nationalist positions and decisions.

Yet the star still glimmers in this twilight zone. Maybe we’ll skip the cell phone phase and just move to the i-phone phase? 

Most likely not, but whichever way things go, they can only go up.

Digital Convergence & Innovation Driving Positive Change

In the digital era, access to information and the sharing of knowledge have created a new global currency that is transforming the fundamental economic, educational and social constructs of society, creating unprecedented opportunities for positive change.

Africa’s ICT sector is the fastest growing globally with mobile and broadband penetration rates set to continue to rise with lower cost high speed broadband now a reality companies must prepare and build solid foundations allowing them to take advantage of the opportunities, that this exciting industry and continent has to offer.

The region’s need to capitalize on convergent services and innovations is evident with IPTV, Triple Play and VoIP offerings growing, lower cost of access has created an increasing demand from the customer base. Service providers are locked in a battle to increase ARPU and boost customer loyalty, while maintaining lean and efficient operations. The demand on their networks and ability to deliver value to their customers is constantly growing.

Thus, the challenges to win in this new and dynamic environment are enormous making focus, speed, cooperation and ongoing innovation imperative to its many members.

The Digital Africa Summit aims to assist African operators by providing information that will aid them in developing a focused, practical strategy moving forward. This will be achieved by orchestrating a debate between:

• Leading regulatory authorities from Africa and the World
• Operators from Africa and the World
• Governments from Africa
• Industry Associations
• Financial Institutions and Investors
• Solution providers
• System integrators

We expect participating executives to leave this debate with greater clarity and understanding about the challenges they will face in developing their networks increasing connectivity efficiency and driving positive social and economical growth.

Find the Summit website at: Digital Africa Summit

The summit blog is at: www.digitalafricasummit.wordpress.com

Follow us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/DASummit2010

Find and discuss up to the minute summit updates on our Face book page

Makerere CIT Trains 150 Women in ICT

As the global race to bridge the digital divide between the North and the South is given impetus and incentive by the growth of southern economies, today this need is nowhere greater than in the emerging sub-Saharan markets. Seemingly trapped by illiteracy, overpopulation, breakdown in infrastructure, lack of access and soaring internet costs, the challenge to harness technology to aid Africa leap frog the divide seems even more daunting. Uganda serves as a microcosm for this African dilemma.

Another part of this complex conundrum is the fact that although women are substantially part of the business environment today, most of them know little or nothing about ICT and its potential to alter/or exponentially increase their access, use and leveraging of information technologies to help their businesses.

The Makerere University Faculty of Computing & IT (CIT) under its Community Outreach program has just finished training 150 women in basic ICT skills. The women are engaged in different business and entrepreneurship ventures but mostly consist of teachers.

The training included skills in use of Microsoft Word, Spreadsheets, Email, Introduction to computers and Power point Presentations.

CIT has done other trainings in the past for the Uganda Police Force, Uganda People's Defence Force, Makerere University Teaching and Non-teaching staff and will continue to train members of the public and private sectors as part of its commitment to increase ICT literacy in Uganda. Currently, 400 staff from Mulago Hospital is under ICT training at the faculty.

My big question is; Is it enough? Is it enough to train our women, and pump them with IT skills when they are still struggling under bad marriages and sexual harassment? As I ponder these thoughts what keeps coming to me is a phrase from a book I love deeply: Jane Eyre; where Rochester as he looks at the plain and yet deeply moving Jane says to himself and almost to God "It will atone." What will atone? The new life blood in this new young girl who he feels deeply about will atone for the trickery that led him to marry a woman with hereditary madness who he now keeps locked up in one of the rooms of his huge mansion. Can all those years of putting our women down be erased by giving them special treatment and advantages? I don't know anything for a fact but this I know: it will ATONE.

The Internet of Things: A Talk with IBM CTO

I caught up with Mr. Clifford Forster at the just concluded Digital Africa Summit at hosted at the beautiful Commonwealth Resort Munyonyo where I spent a few minutes chatting with Mr. Forster about his and IBM's vision for Africa.

Name: Clifford Forster

Position: Chief Technical Officer

Company: IBM Africa

Expertise: Consulting and Engineering.

Q: Where does your career with IBM start?

A: I was born, raised and trained in South Africa after which I worked across Europe in Engineering and Consulting. I joined IBM in 2001 as a partner in the Business and Consulting Division. There, I worked as a consultant for Financial Service Institutions across Europe and China.

Q: What was that like?

A: it was a good time and my time spent consulting and delivering projects led me to be named the "IBM Distinguished Engineer" in 2008.

Q: That sounds cool, what does it mean?

A: It's an internal IBM award that recognizes delivery and distinguished service to customers. It reflects and involves a broad range of deep level engineering and high level consulting.

Q: Returning to IBM, what was going on when IBM decided to switch up and reorganize itself?

A: Well, in 2008 IBM wanted to better focus itself on its markets, and that led to IBM identifying its principal markets. It emerged that there were two major groups: Mature or Developed markets and the Growth or Developing markets. The reorganization meant that markets which previously reported to vendors but were emerging would be given full focus and more attention. And that was how Johannesburg was set up as the sub-Saharan African Center of Operations for IBM.

Q: I understand the need to increase investments in order to stimulate growth [which is IBM's justification for concentrating on the African market] but why would you have given up a career in Europe to come back?

A: I am African, firstly (Laughing and smiling deeply). So there was that. The opportunity to have a positive influence on the growth of Africa is majorly what brought me back. I am very intrigued about the trends in Africa. For example, I have heard a lot from the conferences I have been attending lately that clients no longer want to be serviced remotely. What they want is IBM on the ground delivering services to them. They are buying more than a service; they are buying a brand.

Q: Tell me about the IBM Vision…

A: We realized in reorganizing IBM that in order to achieve our objectives, we were going to have to focus our work. The IBM of the future is looking at a smart planet; boiled down to 3 I's.

Enter Smart Planet:

The smart planet concept was guided by three ideas after realizing that the 21^st century had brought with it a substantial increase in inventions but also a fall in prices of technologies. We believe that the future is:

1. Instrumented: Due to the increase in inventions and innovations, we now see sensors embedded in everything; phones, water networks, water quality, electrical networks, power stations, vehicles, fridges and power meters. Everything is measured. The embedded sensors allow almost all gadgets to take measurements and readings.

2. Interconnected: Everything is being connected i.e. There has been a rollout of interconnected telecoms across the continent. So much that it is "Now no longer the internet of people but the internet of things…" connectivity for cars, appliances, cameras, pipelines, livestock, roadways. This means that more and more you need less gadgets. This is because your iPod talks to your laptop, your car talks to your phone, your phone talks to your banker, etc. Right now Africa has about 300 million mobile phones and projections put it at 400 million by 2010, this means that the continent will get eventually all get connected.

3. Intelligent: The use of this information, to support, enable and guide decisions in real time or near-real time.

Q: And your final word?

A: As technologists, we will be judged by the future by how we used emerging technologies to solve the really big problems facing us.

And so the future will be a safer, more connected place, albeit not without challenges, but Africa is positioning itself to be the fertile ground for the next generation's innovations.

WHO IS THIS MAN?

His Motto:

Give me where to stand, and I will move the earth. Archimedes (287-212 B.C.)

His Profile:

He is a Professor of Computer Science and holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science, and is currently serving as Dean, Faculty of Computing and Information Technology, (CIT) Makerere University. He is a member of Makerere University Senate and Council. Continuously demonstrating competence as a leader driven by the need to serve, respect and strengthen those he serves. He believes in building and strengthening institutions.

Under his leadership, the Institute of Computer Science at Makerere University transformed from a small unit with one academic programme, 28 students and an annual budget of USD $15,000 to a Faculty of Computing and Information Technology with over 22 academic programmes, over 5,000 students undertaking degree programmes and an annual budget of over USD $7 million by September 2005 (within a period of four years only). Today the Faculty of Computing and IT budget is over USD $10 million.

At the national and regional level, he coordinates (multi- million dollar) projects and research programs aimed at building specialized computing and ICT Human Resource Capacity in Africa; its universities and other tertiary institutions plus the private and public sectors

He is a consultant in ICT research, training, advisory services and policy and a recognised expert on e-governance.

He is the Chairman and Managing Director of ICT Consults Ltd, a prestigious ICT consultancy firm in Africa.

He is currently the Executive President of Connect Uganda Foundation, a non profit making organization incorporated in Uganda in 2003 with the overall objective of stimulating new firms and creating jobs in the knowledge-intensive sector, by linking entrepreneurs and innovators with research and development, service providers, venture capitalists and partners.

He is the Executive President of Uganda National Academy of Computing and Internet Technologies, an association that brings together all computing/ ICT faculties/ institutes in all public and private universities to address common objectives and challenges.

A member of the Presidential Investors Roundtable- B.P.O. working group and was also a member of the ICT working committee of the 1^st Presidential Investors Roundtable.

His Education:

• Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of Bergen, Norway 2000
  
• Post Graduate Certificate in Public Relations, University of Minnesota, Minnesota 1999
  
• Post Graduate Certificate in Administration, University of Bergen, Norway 1999
  
• Post Graduate Certificate in Business Management, Sofia University, Bulgaria 1998
  
• Postgraduate Diploma in Mathematical Modelling, University of Trondheim, Norway 1998
  
• Post Graduate Diploma in Economic Modelling, University of Trondheim, Norway 1997
  
• M.Sc. in Computer Science, University of Bergen, Norway 1996
  
• M.Sc. (Mathematics)-Coursework, Makerere University, Uganda 1995
  
• B.Sc. (Mathematics), Makerere University, Uganda 1994
  

  
  

His Expertise:

A distinguished academic, researcher, leader and manager, he lectures courses in Computer Science, Networks, Information Systems and Software Engineering at all levels including Doctoral levels.

He has supervised over 50 masters' students and over 80 postgraduate diploma students to completion and is currently supervising several graduate students both at Masters and PhD level.

As Dean, CIT he has accumulated experience in staff training and retention in an African University setting. He manages today over 200 staff and a student population of over 5000 on degree programmes in Computing and ICT disciplines.

With over sixteen years of teaching experience under his belt, a peerless educator and in many ways the man of his time.

His Awards:

Between Himself, His Company; ICT Consults Ltd., and CIT his most prestigious awards are:

1. In January 2009, Prof. Baryamureeba was considered for inclusion in the ''2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21^st Century'' by the International Biographical Centre, which is scheduled for publication in early 2010.
   
2. The '2008 HP Technology for Teaching Higher Education Grant'' was awarded to CIT the 'in appreciation for its commitment for student success and for seeking innovative ways to transform teaching and learning through the effective use of technology.
   
3. Appointed an honorary member of the International Association of IT Governance Standards (ITGOVS), in November 2008. Honorary Membership to ITGOVS is by invitation only and is extended to the top professionals in this area, both from the corporate world as well as the academic world.
   
4. 2^nd Runner-up, Presidential Science Awards, Science and Technology Excellence Award in September 2008, in recognition of his innovative approach to institutional and human capacity development in computer science by the President of the Republic of Uganda.
   
5. ICT Consults Ltd received 10^th Platinum Technology Award for Quality and Best Trade Name, July 2008.
   
6. 'Top ICT Educator/ Academic' Award in Africa for 2007 under the theme "Making the African Century a Reality", at the 9th Annual African ICT Achievers Awards.
   
7. IBM made a gift in his honor to the United Nations (UN) Foundation in support of Nothing but Nets, a grassroots campaign to save lives by preventing malaria in December 2007.
   
8. "The International Star Award for Quality in the Diamond category" - April 2006 in Paris, France. (http://www.bid-star.com/) The award was in recognition of Excellence in Leadership and Business Management; Quality and Excellence; and Technological Innovations and Expansion.
9. Professional of the Year 2005 – British Council Award. An award mainly for achievers, mentors and inspirational managers who have contributed immensely to the management of their organizations as well as International communities.
10. The 2005 Presidential Science Award Cycle: He was also recognized for his efforts in spearheading ICT training, research and consultancy services in sub-Saharan Africa.
11. International Arch of Europe Award for Quality and Technology in the Diamond Category- February 2005, Frankfurt, Germany.
12. The ICT Quality Summit International Award- New York, USA on 21^st June 2004.
13. The 2003-Century International Quality Era Award- May 2003, Geneva, Switzerland.

1. 1. The Key Milestones of his career:

• In 1996 he finished a two year M.Sc. in Computer Science in a record time of 8 months;
  
• In 2000 he graduated with a PhD and had the best PhD dissertation that year at the University of Bergen;
  
• In 2000 discovered the Barya function;
  
• In 2000 at the age of 30 he was the youngest PhD holder at Makerere University;
  
• In 2000 he became the 1^st Ugandan to obtain a PhD in Computer Science;
  
• In 2001 at the age of 31 he was appointed Director of the Institute of Computer Science and became the youngest Director in the History of Makerere University;
  
• In 2005 at the age of 36 he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Computing and IT and became the youngest Dean in the history of Makerere University;
  
• In 2005, he spearheaded the construction of the largest computing building in Africa with 12,500 sq metres of space worth over USD$ 20 million and was funded from internally generated funds in the Faculty of Computing and IT. Previously he had spearheaded the construction of the Faculty of Computing and IT Building (Block A) worth 2500 sq metres.
  
• In 2006 he was appointed a full Professor at the age of 37 making him the 1^st Professor of Computer Science in Uganda and the youngest Professor in sub-Saharan Africa;
  
• In 2006 he raised from the rank of Associate Professor to Professor in a record time of less than three (3) months;
  
• In 2007 he received the 'Top ICT Educator/ Academic' Award in Africa for 2007;
  
• In November 2008 he was included in the 2009 Edition of Who's Who in the World; a global distribution relied upon by business leaders, journalists, academics, and other professionals for its accuracy and currency of information.
  

The Man:

Professor Venansius Baryamureeba.

Dean, Faculty of Computing and IT, Makerere University.

Website: www.cit.mak.ac.ug

Truly a look at the future.

Cheers!