By Our Reporters
Uganda Development Bank (UDB) has taken its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) obligations more seriously by pioneering a student apprenticeship program in partnership with a leading German institution. For a start, two students (namely Makerere’s Dalton Bakisula and Kyambogo’s Martin Mugisha) were last week flagged off to travel to Germany for three months apprenticeship training that will be fully funded by UDB. According to Strategy and Corporate Affairs Director Joshua Allan Mwesigwa, who presided over the send off ceremony, the undertaking will cost UDB 6,000 Euros (roughly Shs28m). The two students competed and outshone others to become the pioneer/inaugural participants in the apprenticeship program which is a collaborative partnership between UDB and the European Organization for Sustainable Development (EOSD). The beneficiaries are students of Applied Electro-Chemistry (at Kyambogo and Makerere) and while in Germany will undertake a fully-funded internship training for three months at Germany’s prestigious Fraunhofer-Institut fur Chemische Technologie in Karlsruhe. The big name institute is one of the key research and training institutions for the German government and EU. Mwesigwa explains that this funding of the students’ internship and apprenticeship placement is part of the larger scholarship-funding agreement between UDB and EOSD. The aim is to deepen cooperation between the two institutions to enhancing local capacity and human capital development which is one of UDB’s core mandates that are well-aligned to the realization of the national development priorities enshrined in the NDP. Supporting innovation and technology transfers is one intervention through which UDB has chosen to go about this aspect of its mandate-and there isn’t a better way to do it than extending a helping hand to kids at the University. The Shs28m is to cater for the duo’s return air tickets and their monthly stipend of 735 Euros to secure them a decent memorable stay in Karlsruhe. The training-related costs shall be covered by the Fraunhofer-Institut. Mwesigwa told the two students that being pioneers of the apprenticeship program comes with obligations implying that when they excel and behave well, not only will they have strengthened their future but will also have opened doors for future beneficiaries of what is intended to be an annual undertaking by UDB. “I want to urge you both to use this very rare opportunity to learn as much as you can. Remember that while you are in Germany, you are ambassadors of Uganda and of Uganda Development Bank. Make sure you live up to these expectations and let your conduct and behavior lift Uganda high,” he counseled the two youngsters. He added that the resultant exposure won’t leave these young Ugandan scientists the same.
He also expressed optimism that the students will return to Uganda with transformative ideas and new ways of doing things. This is just one of the many CSR initiatives the Patricia Ojangole-led UDB has lately undertaken. Founded in 1972, UDB is a public enterprise 100% owned by the Government of Uganda. It operates as a Development Finance Institution (DFI) and it finances enterprises in key growth sectors of the economy all aimed at contributing to the realization of the development priorities enshrined in National Development Plan (NDP). UDB contributes to national development by availing long term affordable financing to SMEs and large scale development projects in key growth sectors like agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure, tourism and hospitality and human capital development.
