Imuka Pitchfest: A chance for Innovators to Meet Local Investors in Uganda

In Africa today, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are ranked as the backbone of any country. In Uganda, the figures shoot high every year with close to 90% of businesses in the country falling in this category. This makes the demand for capital or local investors critical and on the other side of the industry lies local investors interested in empowering these businesses, but lack the proper channels to find the right idea to support.

Now, a Ugandan-based startup Imuka Access has made supporting SMEs its primary objective by helping them raise money and link interested investors to them. To steadily achieve this, they have a regional event dubbed Pitchfest which is organized across the country for businesses to pitch to a panel of potential local investors.

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Occasionally, Imuka Access organizes capacity building workshops and events (Business Plan Master Classes) to equip these local businesses with knowledge of what investors are looking for before putting their money in a venture. They make sure these businesses have done due-deligience and have the necessary documents and are fully registered business with the Uganda Registry Services Bureau (URSB), and Uganda Revenue Authority (URA). 

A Look at Imuka’s Pitchfest Western Uganda Edition

The very first Regional Pitchfest was the Western Edition that was held at the New Fort View Resort in Fort portal, Uganda in the middle of February 2021.

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Last year, the Pitchfest held in Kampala recorded a success rate of 75%, which aroused interests from entrepreneurs in the whole country and thus the current plan to hold Regional Pitchfests to cater to the entrepreneurs in all regions of Uganda.

Pitchfest Western edition was for entrepreneurs in the Western Region of Uganda and it attracted entrepreneurs from Kabarole, Fort Portal, and those in Kampala but based in fort portal attended online.

The event was successfully attended by Uganda Investment Authority(UIA), Banks like Finance Trust, Centenary Bank, Stanbic Bank, Private Sector Foundation, among other notable institutional financiers and investor organizations. Imuka Access partnered with Kabarole Research Centre (KRC) to set up a regional accelerator and business incubation hub to sustainably continue supporting the entrepreneurs of western Uganda.

To make the experience more worthwhile for the locals, Imuka Access partnered with regional Radio stations to provide business packages for entrepreneurs to market their products and services. For clarity, Euraka Radio helped live-streamed the Pitchfest Western Edition.  

Life FM hosted the business experts on a Business Round Table talk show to advise entrepreneurs on how to run their businesses after the COVID-19 wave and KRC Radio hosted Imuka on regular basis to communicate and inform the locals about the available activities of the Pitchfest including Grant Proposal and Business Plan Master Classes to enable them to have the necessary documents for financing.

The Pitchfest Western Edition was a success with 12 out of the 17 entrepreneurs that pitched getting funding interests from more than one investor/financier, and others offering to work with them to offer skills training. 

A few highlights from pitchfest include Umoja Farm, a mechanized modern demo farm getting 4 funding interests from UIA, Mercicorps Ventures, Centenary Bank, and KRC Biorefinery Project. Honey Chocolate got sponsorship from Uganda Investment Authority to standardize his product for export and Solar Water Pump innovator from Devine Empowerment Development Skills got two banks offering to finance the project and UIA to train more youth under the Youth Entrepreneurship Program. 

The next pitchfest series is scheduled for 24th June 2021 in Eastern Uganda, to be hosted at Wash and Wills Hotel in Mbale City. Below are the details of the next pitchfest activities:

The Imuka Pitchfest Regional Calendar

RegionDateLocation
Fortportal (Western Edition)Thursday, 29th April 2021New Fort View Resort
Mbale (Eastern Edition)Thursday, 24th June 2021Wash and Wills
Lira (Northern Edition)Thursday, 26th August 2021Hotel Margarita
Kampala (National Edition)Tue-Friday 23rd-26th Nov 2021TBD (To be Determined)
Entrepreneurs can apply to participate on this link: https://imuka.co/pitchfest/

How to Participate

  1. To participate at the Imuka Pitchfest as an entrepreneur, you can apply online from Imuka access website, applications are free, but you will be required to contribute a small participation fee. 
  2. To participate as an investor or a financier. You can confirm your participation as well on Imuka’s website
  3. You can recommend potential participants, sponsors, or partners for sponsoring a series of Pitchfest 2021 activities. Imuka Access offices are found in Makerere University,  Food Technology Business Incubation Center Kampala, Uganda or reach them via phone at 0393 243 215 and 0788 320 403

EDITOR’s NOTE: Part of this story is from an official press release shared with the Tech Point Magazine team.

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