East African Business Week

KAMPALA UGANDA - Uganda's single biggest private education donor, the Madhvani Foundation has set aside over shs 550 million ($230607) to be used for university scholarships for science students in this academic year.
The launch was at  a press conference in Kampala that saw the foundation launch the largest scholarship scheme ever.
Commenting on the number of the applicants from previous years, Mr. Henry Kyemba, the chairman of the scholarships committee, said there was need to cross to the 550 million mark since there were a growing number of brilliant yet underprivileged students at various universities in the country.
"Since the quality and quantity of applicants appears to improve which is encouraging, this and other factors has allowed us to dedicate an increasing amount of funds each year therefore giving chance to these students to realize their full potential," Kyemba said.
Some of the science courses to be sponsored are in the field of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Engineering.
The foundation which was established in 1962 has educated over 1,000 university students and provided scholarships worth almost USh2 b (about $838,571).
Since then, the trust has educated over 1,000 university students and provided scholarships worth almost 2 Billion Uganda shillings.
Ms. Susan Nabukeera, a former beneficiary and now a Business Development Officer with Uganda Air Cargo asserts that the scholarships make you work harder since an individual has it in mind that the provided tuition fees is from someone else's pockets. In order for the country to continue developing, Kyemba added that there was a continuous need for investment in scientific and technical education in order to boost the Country's economy.
Undergraduate and post graduate students who have finished their first year of study without retakes are the most beneficiaries of the scholarship programme.
The application forms are available on the madhvani website and are expected to be submitted in by the end of next month.