By Yasiri J. Kasango
Wilson Wanyama, an alumnus of Uganda Christian University (UCU), has long had a desire to be a social entrepreneur. In 2021, when he learned of an undergraduate program known as Bachelor of Development and Social Entrepreneurship, he saw a chance to bump up his dream.

After Bukede College Kachonga for his Ordinary and Advanced Level, Wilson joined Nkumba University for a degree in Business Administration. When attaining his second degree in Development and Social Entrepreneurship at UCU in July, he not only improved his chances of being a successful entrepreneur,  but he excelled above all faculty/school male graduates.  

Wilson Wanyama is the top male student of more than 1,000 of the July 2023 graduating class – the 24th graduation, part 1, at UCU. 

Wilson was already working to elevate Kabale communities in the Kigezi sub-region where he lived. He participated in organizing communities for development.

“All I have been doing was in development circles, supporting communities to develop, caring for the needy, running and managing organizations, mobilizing communities to better themselves,” said Wanyama.

As a result, he thought that his business administration degree did not equip him with the abilities required in his intended sector of community development, and that what he was doing in his community was unrelated.

Wilson had a passion to serve and make change, but lacked certain skills to better  his community. He said he “needed  specific skills in this area of development.” He found those skills in the UCU curriculum within Development and Social Entrepreneurship in the School of Social Sciences. 

“I always wanted to be a social entrepreneur,” said Wanyama. Social entrepreneurship is the process by which individuals, startups and entrepreneurs develop and fund solutions that directly address social issues.

Wanyama’s Journey of Success at UCU

At the July 28 graduation on the UCU Mukono campus, Wanyama was the only degree recipient from the program of Development and Social Entrepreneurship. In five years, he hopes to have his PhD.  

Employed in a private sector position, he balanced work and studies, never missing a single lecture or even coming late for his lectures.

“It’s a personal effort in preparing for what the university was putting before us, receiving what the university had to give us, being attentive to what we required to listen in and also once required to be available,” said Wanyama.

“I had a portion time for work and studies and avail myself whenever I was needed,” Wanyama said. “Therefore, planning was key in achieving success in both areas.”

Wanyama says UCU lived up to its stellar reputation for quality learning and job marketability. He applauded UCU for the institution’s values and culture, validating his choice to enroll and encouraging others to do the same.

By Kefa Senoga
Yohana Eyob Ghebrekristos always held the notion that her dream would not become a reality through magic, but rather, by sweat, determination and hard work. She has had dreams of a career in dental surgery. 

She is one of nine pioneer students of Bachelor of Dental Surgery at Uganda Christian University (UCU) where she emerged as the overall best student out of 1,006 students at the previous graduation. She had a CGPA of 4.71 of 5.0.

Yohana began university studies from her home country, Eritrea. However, due to some difficulties at her university in 2018, she traveled more than 1,000 miles to relocate to Uganda to cement her dream.

“I studied at the Orotta School of Medicine and Dentistry for a couple of years, but due to some challenges that our school was going through, I decided to relocate to Uganda to continue with my studies,” Yohana said.

Since arriving in Uganda in 2018, Yohana considered herself fortunate to be admitted at UCU. She shared that she has enjoyed the privilege of being taught by highly trained professionals at UCU.

“I’m so excited and extremely honored to be the best performing student,” Yohana said. “UCU has been amazing, and I was very fortunate to join this esteemed institution. Its reputation of producing well-rounded professionals really attracted me to UCU.”

She appreciates the university for equipping her with both academic knowledge and spiritual values that she believes will guide her as she ventures into the working world. Yohana says UCU has also provided an opportunity for her to grow in her faith. 

As a dentist, Yohana notes that it is her role to identify a gap in relation to oral health literacy in the community and then use every opportunity to educate the community about oral hygiene, noting that scholars have affirmed that good oral health leads to good general health.

Looking ahead, Yohana aspires to specialize in orthodontics and dental surgery, with hope of opening up a dental clinic to serve underprivileged communities.

Yohana’s Advice to UCU Aspiring Medical Professionals

To her fellow students in the medical field, Yohana offered valuable advice, emphasizing that the medical profession requires unwavering hard work, determination, and sacrifice.

“Don’t underestimate the course; it’s a journey that demands your best effort. And in the end, the rewards will be worth it,” she urged.

As Yohana eagerly awaits her internship, her father, Eyob Ghebrekristos, expressed immeasurable joy and excitement upon her accomplishment.

“We are so excited and proud of Yohana, and we all came from the United States to be here and celebrate Yohana’s graduation,” he said.

He believes this was possible because of Yohana’s nature of hard work and discipline together with support from the family.

By Irene Best Nyapendi
Studying a course for five years is not for the faint hearted. The 23-year-old Beatrice Birungi is one of the 45 tenacious students who pioneered the grueling Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery training at Uganda Christian University (UCU), completing it this year.

Birungi was overjoyed as she graduated at the UCU Mukono campus on July 28. 

Graduating as a doctor was a dream come true for Birungi. Since her childhood, she has always thought doctors were “cool,” and now she is one of them.

However, being a doctor meant more to her as she grew up seeing her uncle save lives during the Ebola pandemic in Bundibugyo (2007-2008), western Uganda. She aspired to be like her uncle and work on the front line to save lives and make a difference.

Birungi narrates her journey as a UCU Medical student

When Birungi had just joined SoM in 2018, everything was new and complicated during that first year. She was encouraged to join discussion groups to help her discuss and process the concepts with her colleagues, which greatly helped her. 

In 2020, Birungi lost a father and a close aunt, increasing difficulties. 

“My father was the breadwinner. He catered for all my tuition and other fees, as well as upkeep. There were struggles along the way after he died,” she said. “It was hard getting over the loss of my father, but my classmates helped me to overcome it.” 

Despite obstacles of finances and grief, she remained focused on her studies. When she finally saw her name on the graduation list, she felt triumphant. She scooped a first-class degree, with a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 4.64 out of 5.0.

“I was more than excited when I saw my name on the graduation list. When I showed my mother, joy continued to flow as she also called other members of the family to inform them that I was graduating,” she said.

Birungi believes the School has made her “a full package doctor” who will give her patients “both physical and spiritual healing.”

“At UCU, I was given a holistic education through some of the foundation studies, such as Understanding World Views,” she said. “They literally made me a full-package doctor—they not only gave me medical knowledge but also knowledge about the real world and the spiritual aspect.”

She sees her profession as an opportunity to preach the gospel during her interactions with patients. She hopes to use the conversations to share the gospel as well.

Birungi, once shy, believes that by helping her patients know Christ, she will have a bigger impact on them because once they believe in Jesus, they will understand that He can heal them.

“I want to make an impact by bringing the spiritual side of medicine to the world,” she said. “I want to help others see Christ in the way I treat, talk, and work with patients.”

It was through chats that she learned that people can smile in the midst of medical healing.

She said she will be “a healer not only for the physical but the spiritual as well.”

Birungi said the first thing she does when she receives a patient is talk to God. 

“Usually when I receive a patient, I say, God, I know I have a lot of knowledge in this brain, please help me organize it so that I can help this person,” she said. “I know it’s you who can actually heal them. Then I start attending to the patient.”

Her memorable moments at UCU SoM, which is based in Kampala, include participating in the sports gala and community worship away from the busy hours in class. She gives attribution to many.

“Above all, I attribute special thanks to God, my family, and my classmate Travor Wasswa, who always took time to discuss with me. This greatly boosted my academic performance,” Birungi said.

By Pauline Luba
Uganda Christian University (UCU) student, Philip Mugume Baitwa, attests to the fact that life is  partly made by the caliber of friends we choose.

At 15 years of age, and while a student of Mbarara High School in western Uganda, Baitwa sought to befriend classmates who he thought would inspire him to social and academic heights. He succeeded in making friends, but did not succeed in gaining positively from the friendships. 

Influenced by substance abuse, pornography addiction and juvenile delinquency, Baitwa says he was violent and a bully by senior four. He led many student strikes at school.  

“I was lost,” said Baitwa, who was raised by a Christian grandfather, a canon in the Anglican Church in Uganda. While engaged in negative life choices, Baitwa said there were times he felt uncomfortable that he had separated himself from the religious teachings that his grandfather emphasized. 

“Every time I was lost, there was a voice in my head telling me I was in the wrong, though I ignored it,” Baitwa said.

How He Discovered His Calling in Divinity at UCU

The 34-year-old eventually listened to the voice that was showing him the right path. He is now a year-three student pursuing a Master of Divinity degree at UCU.

He said his turning point came when he joined Valley College High School in western Uganda for A’level after many people spoke to him about changing his ways for the better. 

In 2010, Baitwa joined UCU to pursue a Bachelor of Laws, a course he says was largely influenced by his father’s desire.

“My father did not study his dream course — law — unlike his brothers,” Baitwa said. “And that saddened him. Someone, however, told him that if he got a son one day, he could live his dream in his son.” Baitwa’s father, Enoch Tumusiime Baitwa, instead studied a certificate course in veterinary medicine. 

Upon admission in 2010, Baitwa already had it in his mind to contest for the position of Guild President at UCU. He had been a student leader before. While in Kitwe Town Primary School in western Uganda, Baitwa was a time-keeper, health leader and eventually became the school’s top leader. 

In 2013, he was successful in the guild elections. One memorable thing about Baitwa’s leadership was changing the semester for voting for student leaders at UCU from January–May to September–December. And to justify the change, the Baitwas reasoned that in the January-May semester, many of the students are either on holiday or in internships so they would not participate in the voting of their leaders. They, thus, preferred the September-December semester, that had every student at school.  

After graduating from his law course in 2014, it did not take Baitwa long to realize that despite the law degree, his heart was elsewhere. “I didn’t like sitting behind a computer for long. I’m an outgoing person and I like to socialize,” Baitwa said.

In 2020, Baitwa said he experienced what many describe as the “call to Christ.” He began to have constant communication within himself, directing himself towards Christ and the service of God. Finally, in 2021, he returned to UCU to study divinity. 

Many friends and family members, however, rebuked him for the decision, with some calling it “foolish.” Even some of his church leaders, he said, could not readily believe the decision he had taken. 

“Theology is the queen of all subjects,” Baitwa said of the reason for the switch.  “We see it in all other courses. The legal framework is from the Bible.”

Baitwa hopes to combine his knowledge of the law with that of divinity once he graduates, to be able to “fill the legal gaps in church.” The father of three children — three years, one year and a three-month old baby — says his ultimate life goal is to see people live for God’s purpose, regardless of what career they are pursuing.

To give his family a livelihood during the time he is in school, Baitwa trained his wife — Peace Mugume — on how to handle investments and how to run the family farm.

By Kefa Senoga
When 33 student athletes from 10 Ugandan universities met in July to flag off participants to a global sports competition, one of the items on the agenda was to select the team captain. The athletes were heading to China’s Chengdu city to compete with students from more than 150 countries in the World University Games. 

Santos Okabo, a Uganda Christian University (UCU) student in the School of Business, was chosen as team captain. Okabo, who had never been to a world competition, competed and guided others at the July 27-August 8 event in China.

Okabo says his duties as captain included representing the team and country in meetings and other leadership engagements during the games. He also was expected to report to the organizers any challenges that Ugandan team members faced during the competition.

As expected, the second-year diploma student of business administration says one of the benefits he got as team captain was the opportunity to interact and share experiences with other team leaders, including sharing contacts with some of the leading athletes from other countries.

At the games, Okabo participated in three races – sprint race of 100 meters and two relay races of 4×100 meters. In the sprint race, where he emerged 6th out of 8, Okabo says he had hoped to perform better, but that two days before the race, he got sick, largely because he was not accustomed to the food being served in China. 

He is, however, grateful that they were able to reach the finals in the 4×400 meter relay race, which he participated in with Chan-wengo Godfrey from Makerere University’s Business School, Akemkwene Peter from Ndejje University and Eyit Justine of Makerere University. In that race, the team broke the university national record for Uganda. 

Other UCU students at the competition

Okabo was not the only UCU student at the competition. Olipa Sharif competed in two races of 200 meters and the 4×100 meter relays. However, he and his relay teammates did not make it to the next round. 

The third UCU student at the competition was Nyamahunge Jacent, who got eliminated in the semifinals. In the preliminaries, Nyamahunge had emerged third in the 100 meter race for women. The athletes said UCU supported them by financing their requirements while in the camp, including paying for their air tickets.  

According to Timothy Kabuye, the coach of the student athletes and one of 20 officials who went to China with the Ugandan athletes, the team could have performed better. 

“Nyamahunge Jacent made it to the semifinals in her category even with a foot injury, Okabo ran a personal best while Olipa ran the second fastest best time in the 200 meters that he participated in,” Kabuye explained.

Next on the calendar of the UCU athletes is the Uganda inter-university competitions set for December.

At the Special Olympics World Games held in Abu Dhabi in 2019, Nyamahunge won Uganda its first gold medal in the 200 meters race, beating her closest challenger, Mayak Kimura of Japan, by more than four seconds in a lopsided race. 

She is also a double gold medalist in the 200 meters and 100 meters at the 2015 Special Olympics World Games. 

The other Ugandan institutions that had students at the event in China were Makerere University, YMCA, Bishop Stuart University, Gulu University, Ndejje University, Kyambogo University, ISBAT University, Makerere University Business School and Victoria University.

Okabo says he has been an athlete throughout school. While at Amuda Primary School in northern Uganda Okabo says he emerged the best runner in the Dokolo district, earning scholastic materials and a mattress as a gift. 

“After my primary education, I joined Dr Obote College Boroboro in Lira district on bursary. Upon joining UCU, I was also given a bursary,” Okabo explained.

He says his parents — Otile Oscar and Apollo Milly — were good runners during their youthful years, and so are four of his seven siblings.

By Irene Best Nyapendi

On September 1st, we celebrated the achievements of the students who participated in the Uganda Christian University (UCU) School of Business International Entrepreneurship program.

This unique initiative is a result of UCU’s collaboration with Hanze University in the Netherlands. It was created to nurture a positive business mindset in the students and provide them with the necessary skills and outlook to excel in entrepreneurial endeavors.

The two-week program started on August 21st, under the theme “Innovation for Enterprise Sustainability” with 17 students from various programs. They were divided into five groups, namely: Avo Grow, Ticket Buddy, Tidy Up, Cultural Quest, and Bright Ear.

Each group received certificates and medals for their participation, but the Bright Ear team stood out as the best group after pitching a fundable business proposal. Kristina Nabatanzi, Divine Wabasa, Arthur Ronald Apire comprise the Bright Ear team. Their exceptional ideas demonstrated outstanding innovation, viability, value proposition, market research, and presentation skills, and they were awarded golden medals. They are also gearing up to put their ideas into action this September, marking the beginning of their entrepreneurial journey.

UCU’s Arthur Ronald Apire’s Entrepreneurial Journey

Arthur Ronald Apire, a third-year student pursuing a Bachelor of Human Resource Management and a member of the Bright Ear group notes that their journey was tough yet fulfilling. At the start, their idea faced criticism, which could have discouraged them. However, they chose to learn from their mistakes and the advice of their critics.

“This is the first time in my life I have won a medal. At first, we used to fail; we made a lot of mistakes, but it’s the advice from these critics that we chose to use, and it surely helped us get here.” Apire said.

He says that throughout the program, he gained the ability to adapt and collaborate effectively with individuals who shared a common objective, he acquired the skills of cost reduction and revenue generation. Additionally, Apire learned the importance of flexibility and collaboration, and he also gained insights into managing expenses and increasing revenue.

As a team, they presented an idea for a multimedia library that included audio books, and they developed an audiobook narrating the tale of Nambi and Kintu.

“People often encounter challenges when it comes to reading, so our initiative aims to address this issue by incorporating audio and visual materials, making it easier for students to enhance their academic performance,” Apire explained.

Linda Maat, the Director of Hanze University, who joined the event virtually from the Netherlands, expressed her enthusiasm and urged the students to keep working on their ideas.

“Congratulations to all the students who pitched their business ideas, and especially to the winners; you need to continue working on these ideas,” she said.

She also mentioned that she would come to UCU soon and is curious to see these students at the next level.

“It would be wonderful to see all the students already maybe in the next level. I am really curious where these students will be in four to six weeks from now,” Maat said.

Eva Joselyn Aluka, a third-year student pursuing a Bachelor of Tourism, described the Program as the most productive two weeks of her life. She found it both challenging and enjoyable. “It was both hectic and enjoyable. During the program, we played assimilation games that taught me to think so fast,” Aluka said.

Each group had a mentor, and Aluka expressed gratitude for the valuable knowledge and skills her mentor imparted. Through the presentations, she learned how to effectively pitch a business idea and win support.

Before this program, her knowledge of pitching ideas was limited, but now she feels confident in her presentation skills and understanding of how to prepare for pitching.

Christa Oluka, the Director of Academic Affairs at UCU, appreciated the judges for validating the students’ efforts. She emphasized that entrepreneurship is something that can go from small to big as you refine it.

“Thank you for investing in yourselves as young people. I was happy that you thought about meaningful problems and how you can think together to bring those things out,” Oluka said.

She also encouraged them to put themselves out there and take advantage of this and other opportunities.

This initiative has not only equipped students with essential skills but has also instilled in them the mindset needed for entrepreneurial success.

As these students embark on their entrepreneurial journeys, we look forward to seeing their innovative ideas become impactful realities in the coming months. It’s important to note that the next program is scheduled for July of next year.