An agribusiness incubation hub at Bishop Stuart University for innovative and diversified employment opportunities of young graduates

The youth in Uganda comprise up to 70% of unemployed persons in the country. This is because about 400,000 youths are released annually into the job market to compete for only about 9,000 available jobs. At the same time, although there is a growing private sector in the country, about 30% of the youths who are institutionally qualified are unable to find jobs due to academic curricula that do not provide employable, and entrepreneurial skills to start their own enterprises. The overall objective of this project is to establish an agribusiness incubation hub at Bishop Stuart University, that will enhance the development of entrepreneurial skills for innovative employment opportunities of young graduates. Specifically, the project seeks to build capacity of young graduates in smart business skills and enterprise management, nurture and mentor them to develop innovative enterprises that have potential to succeed in an open and competitive market environment. It also seeks to enhance establishment of partnerships with private and public sectors, and facilitate linkages between the innovative enterprises, potential markets, service providers and relevant market information sources. In the initial two years of its establishment, at least 10 innovative agribusiness enterprises supported with ICTs, will be selected from groups of students, and be given a chance for incubation. The business paradigm consists of bringing these stakeholders to work together at every stage of developing the business innovations, and maintaining the partnerships even after the innovations hatch. This will ensure sustained development of the innovations and market for the products. In this way, the project is expected to contribute to employment opportunities and income generation for the young graduates.