Liquid Telecom Uganda partners with The Innovation Village to support Ugandan start-ups

Liquid Telecom; a leading communications services and solutions provider across 13 countries in Eastern, central and Southern Africa that serves carrier, enterprise and retail customers with high-speed, reliable connectivity and digital services. Has launched a new partnership that forms part of Liquid Telecom’s African Innovation initiative which is helping African innovation hubs to develop emerging technologies, such as cloud. Felix Boyd reports.

In summary:

– Go Cloud is a programme by Liquid Telecom and supported by Microsoft that offers connectivity and cloud-based services tailored to start-ups at different gestation stages, enabling them to grow and scale. The project is currently being launched across Africa.
– At the i2idatahack competitions in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Rwanda, Liquid Telecom experts will be on-hand to advise entrants on how to make best use of Liquid Telecom products and services to develop and host their products. Free credits for Microsoft Azure will also be made available to participating teams.
-At AfricaCom 2017 in October, Liquid Telecom ran a competition in partnership with Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) during which five start-ups operating in the gaming, entertainment, music and AR/VR sectors pitched in front of an audience and judging panel. The winner received a six-month fixed membership at the MEST Incubator Cape Town, and the opportunity to nurture and grow their start-up in markets across Africa.

Liquid Telecom Uganda, part of the leading pan-African telecoms group Liquid Telecom, has announced a partnership with The Innovation Village, a hub and co-working space in Kampala, to support Ugandan start-ups with high-speed internet and cloud-based services.

Liquid Telecom Uganda, formerly known as Infocom, will work alongside The Innovation Village to provide new opportunities for start-ups operating in Kampala, enabling access to additional resources and expertise that can help them scale and launch locally relevant solutions.

The Innovation Village officially opened in 2015 and has already served over 2,000 entrepreneurs, covering fields as diverse as fintech, edtech, media, climate and agribusiness. Last year, the hub worked with 820 innovators, with 40% of them being young women, helping to connect many with local partners and investors.

The partnership with The Innovation Village will involve technology developmental programmes, including Liquid’s ongoing Go Cloud initiative, which is supported by Microsoft and aims to raise awareness, adoption and usage of Azure Cloud across Africa.

“Uganda is home to one of Africa’s youngest and most exciting start-up ecosystems,” said Hans Haerdtle, CEO, Liquid Telecom Uganda. “Through this new partnership with The Innovation Village, we are delighted to be able to support young entrepreneurs across the country, who will be instrumental in developing solutions to some of society’s largest problems.”

In October 2017, Liquid Telecom announced that it is supporting start-ups entering insight2impact’s (i2i) DataHack4FI innovation competition, which aims to harness the power of data science to develop new evidence-based solutions to improve financial inclusion.
As part of Kampala Innovation Week, which runs from November 27 to December 1, The Innovation Village will be hosting the DataHack4FI competition with Liquid Telecom providing entrants with free high-speed connectivity and credits for Microsoft Azure.

“In Liquid Telecom, we have found what we have always been looking for – a partner with entrepreneurial spirit and a deep appreciation of innovation that can help local start-ups truly connect to the regional marketplace,” said CK Japheth, CEO and co-founder, The Innovation Village. “This partnership with Liquid Telecom will help put Uganda on the regional and global innovation map, which starts with a vibrant start-up ecosystem driven by partnerships and access to a regional footprint. It opens the door for more partners and investors for the Ugandan entrepreneur.”