How NSSF, NMG career fair has benefitted Mubs students

Makerere University Business School (Mubs) says the annual NSSF, NMG universities career fair has encouraged both parents and students to own a business or a service while at school.

Speaking at the inaugural students’ exhibition at the Mubs campus in Nakawa, Kampala, on Friday, Dr Edith Mwebaza Basalirwa, the Dean of the Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management, said they have been grappling with how to make it practical.

However, she said with the help of the annual NSSF and the NMG universities career fair, students and parents have realised the value and it is now mandatory for students enrolling in the course to own a business.

“We want them to get practical skills of identifying problems in the community and get solutions through trade, business, offering a service or manufacturing so that when they finish their course, they join the Mubs Incubation Centre, register their businesses, and start employing people,” she said.

Dr Mwebaza added that parents who previously complained about the high cost of owning a company are now happy as they see their children produce arts and crafts pieces, croquettes, bags, furniture, soap, vaseline and briquettes, from which they make some money.

Ms Remmy Kirunda Namutangula, the manager of Innovations and Incubation activities at the Mubs Incubation Centre, said the careers fair is the kind of breeding ground for business ideas that they have been looking for.

“As an incubator, we have been looking for a breeding ground. We keep churning students every year. Our role is to nurture business startups from ideation and make them investor-ready,” she said. 

“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 the mentor. These are prototypes it shows that they work,” she added.

Since the launch of the career fair 14 years ago, Mubs has been the launch pad for the career guidance series, including last Wednesday when it was officially launched by Prof Moses Muhwezi, the acting principal. Career fairs usually impart workplace skills to students and lately, are mainly focusing on job creation given the unemployment crisis in the country today.

At Makerere University and Kyambogo University where the fair was held on Thursday and Friday respectively, Mr Mathias Katamba, the former managing director of dfcu Bank, advised the students to purpose their minds to focus on the journey of success as they navigate their academics, especially after the Covid 19 pandemic changed the work place.

“Some jobs will never be the same. The new environment has presented new opportunities. Employees are taking on looking for meaningful lives and this training is helping you to find the purpose of your life,” he said.

He explained that in this golden age of entrepreneurship, young people are looking at themselves as problem solvers offering solutions using technology and Innovations.

Mr Micheal Segwaya, the Chief Finance Officer at Absa Bank, told Kyambogo University students that he has told his children to look at themselves as employers and not employees as they pursue their studies.

He challenged the students to identify their purpose when it comes to money, family, health, the community around them and be solutions to the economy, and agents of change.

Mr Andrew Kyamagero, a news anchor at NTV Uganda, warned the students against the sense of entitlement, and love for money they haven’t worked for.

He noted that when it comes to seeking knowledge, very few students want to attend free lectures but when it comes to attending expensive concerts which they can watch freely on YouTube, most of them are ready to spend money they don’t work for. This he said is breeding laziness, single motherhood among girls, and disease in boys.

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