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ELP Scholars Urged To Drive The Future Through Innovation And Technology
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A week-long transformative training and mentorship programme at the inugural Equity Bank innovation hub has concluded on a high, with 40 exceptional university students showcasing newly acquired skills.
The students delved into the intricacies of app development, solving technology challenges, and exchanging groundbreaking ideas — a first step that qualifies them for further training at the East African level (ELP), and eventually an opportunity to get into the world’s best universities.
Following the initial training, the scholars will join 400 other Equity Leaders Program (ELP) scholars from across the region in Kenya for further incubation training. This phase will expand their knowledge and provide invaluable insights into the tech industry.
“When you succeed, you are going to turn around the lives of millions of people around Africa and around the world,” said Sam Bwaya, the Board Director at Equity Group Foundation (EGF) at a closing ceremony for the 40 exceptional university students who attended the mentorship at the Equity Bank innovation hub Rollout at Eureka Place Hotel in Ntinda on Friday.
The students are expected to come up with solutions which are going to help the bank in the way the bank interacts and deliver solutions to customers.
Bwaya urged the Equity Leaders Program (ELP) Scholars to be innovative and drive the future with the help of technology to create an impact in their lives and communities.
Established in 1998, the Equity Leaders Program (ELP) is a rigorous leadership development initiative for top-performing students and has benefited over 24,000 scholars across the East Africa region. Its goal is to create a community of transformative leaders who work together across borders and various sectors to drive sustainable economic growth and social progress in Africa.
The program also aims to empower young, academically gifted scholars by supporting their access to education in global universities. ELP has sent five (5) scholars from Uganda and over 900 scholars from other Equity Group subsidiaries to prestigious universities such as MIT, Yale, Harvard, and Princeton.
The launch of the Equity Group Innovation Hub is pivotal, as Equity Group spearheads the transformative Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan (ARRP) to digitise value chains for 100 million customers. The initiative requires a pool of skilled technical talent and innovators.
Bwaya lauded the Equity Bank Uganda and Kenya team for organizing the innovation hub, including Eliud Njogu, an ELP alumni and Julius Njuguna the Co-Founder of E&M Technology, a software development company specializing in financial industry innovations across East Africa.
‘’The journey of innovation never ends straight, but as the adage goes, a bend in the road doesn’t mean the end of the road. The world is where it is today because of innovation that has spurred development by people who have seen the bend in the road’’, said Bwaya.
