The youth need to change their mindset about life - Joy Nissi Mutamba

PASSION. Joy Nissi Mutamba is an entrepreneur at Uptown Group of companies. Mutamba is also a founding member of Mzee Home Care Foundation, an organisation that takes care of the elderly in Uganda. She talked to Dorcus Murungi about her career.

What did you study?
I did a Bachelors of Public Administration and Communication Facilitation at Cape Town University in South Africa.

You have been instrumental in Meet the boss, what is this campaign about?
Meet the Boss is a networking platform that offers young, up and coming entrepreneurs an opportunity to interface with established entrepreneurs and professionals.
We believe in giving mentoring and empowering through profiling and celebrating entrepreneurs.

How does this campaign work?
It is a product of Uptown Group. It offers services aimed at giving solutions to companies to position their products to their consumers in a modified way.

You have been trying to connect different youth to influential people; has this created any impact?
Yes, inspiration is taken for granted; however we pride in giving inspiration to fellow young entrepreneurs through this platform.
We have also created database of young innovators and we link them to support on financial literacy and also investment opportunities from our partners.

What are your future plans for the youth?
We want to make our camapign a forum that is regional.
We plan to go to the grassroot to inspire and empower young entrepreneurs on a national level in all regions in Uganda.

Why carry out youth-oriented programmes?
As a young woman in business, challenges of doing business should be shared for positive unity. The situation around me has always inspired me to carry out youth programmes. I believe we need to hold each other’s hands to reach a common goal.

Why do you think most Ugandan youth are lagging behind in terms of development?
Ugandan youth need to seek knowledge; the lack of knowledge is misleading their decision making. Some of them are not innovative, they duplicate businesses.
We lack unity as young people and this limits our ability to create positive change. They also need to change the mentality of always wanting to be provided for.