I co-founded a health-tech startup roughly 5 years ago in Kampala, though I initially wanted Nairobi or Kigali due to the thriving ecosystem, with a medical school classmate who became a brother. We were both dismayed by the state of healthcare we saw firsthand. A slow, inefficient, erroneous, and burned-out healthcare workers, which we believed could all be solved by technology. 5 years down the line, I have come to see the good, the bad, and the ugly of the startup ecosystem in Uganda, Africa, and comparatively, the developed world.

That is why I marveled at the recent Uganda National Science Week 2026 titled “STI Works: Powering Uganda to a USD 500 Billion Economy” hosted by the de facto Startup authority of Uganda, the Science, Technology, and Innovation Secretariat (Office of the President). It was my second time attending; we exhibited last year and even pitched in front of local and international investors. I........

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