From theory to practice: MUBS makes student businesses mandatory
Third year Entrepreneurship students display some of the products that they have made at the MUBS campus on April 5, 2024. PHOTO | STEPHEN OTAGE
What you need to know:
- According to Ms Remmy Kirunda Namutangula, the manager Innovations and Incubation activities at the MUBS incubation center, this is the kind of breeding ground for business ideas that they have been looking for so as to help students with the practical components of business as they graduate.
Makerere University Business School (MUBS) says it is now mandatory for all students studying entrepreneurship to start a business or a service as they enroll for the course in first year.
Speaking at the inaugural students’ exhibition at the Makerere University Business School campus in Nakawa, Kampala on Friday, Dr Edith Mwebasa Basalirwa, the Dean at the Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Small Businesses, said since the programme was launched in 2002, they have been grappling with how to make the programme practical.
She noted that parents complained about the cost since they could not hardly pay tuition but when they started the programme last year, the students have appreciated the value of opening up a business when still at the university.
“It is now compulsory for all the students studying entrepreneurship to start a business when they enroll for the programme so that we teach them practically to start a business and look for funding so that we are sure that they are going with the businesses instead of looking for jobs,” she said.
She added that they have partnered with the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) to teach the students how to register their companies and ensure that they are able to survive.
According to Ms Remmy Kirunda Namutangula, the manager Innovations and Incubation activities at the MUBS incubation center, this is the kind of breeding ground for business ideas that they have been looking for so as to help students with the practical components of business as they graduate.
“We keep churning students every year. Our role is to nurture business startups from ideation and make them investor-ready. Some need start up kits to be sustainable. We continue minimal interaction with the students but ensure that there is a direct link between the faculty and mentor,” she said.
She explained that when the students are enrolled at the incubator, they are able to link them with institutions such as the Uganda Industrial Research Institute, to improve on their products and they are also able to team up the entrepreneurs with professionals like the procurement graduates or those who have done computer studies or advertising so they employ them and they can also advise them how to open other company branches around the country where the services or goods are needed instead of having only one branch or shop.
