UBA Head Retail Banking, Paul Luyima hands over literature books to students of Fort Portal Secondary School.

By Our Reporter

In a bid to curb the poor reading culture plaguing the youth in Uganda, United Bank for Africa(UBA) has embarked on a project dubbed read ‘Read Africa’ to equip students with literature.

On Friday last week, the UBA Fort Portal team led by the Head of Retail Banking, Paul Luyima donated 100 books to students of Fort Portal Secondary School, in Kabarole district. The title of the book donated was the famous ‘Things Fall Apart’, written by Chinua Achebe.

While addressing the students, Mr. Luyima advised, ‘The more we read, the more we acquire new knowledge, the quicker we get at solving complex problems, the better we understand each other, the more confident we get because we will be able to firmly engage in dialogue. You should never tire of reading, it only makes you a better person.’

The Read Africa project was initiated in 2011 by UBA Foundation, the arm of the bank charged with Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR). Read Africa has been rolled out across Africa with the goal of rekindling the dwindling reading culture amongst African youths.

UBA plans to donate books to schools across Uganda in all towns of operation. This week, Read Africa will be live in Mbale town.

Olive Lumonya (L) exchanges MOU with Andy Wang (M) as StarTimes PRO Christine Nagujja looks on.

By Our Reporter

StarTimes has moved to empower youth at the SOS Children’s Village. The pay TV company on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding with SOS during an event held at the NGO’s national office in Entebbe.

The three-year partnership will see SOS children get internship and job placement for qualified youths from the village, provide digital television and equipment for learning to the SOS villages so that the children can go e-learning and match with the competitive job market. In addition, StarTimes will use its platform to spearhead a campaign to encourage Ugandans to offer support to children’s homes.

Speaking at the event, the CEO of StarTimes Andy Wang said that this partnership is one of the few ways they can give back to Ugandans for the great support they have showed StarTimes in the past 8 years that has turned them into the largest market share holder.

“We believe this partnership will help the youth reach their full potential and contribute positively towards the development of this country,” Andy Wang also noted.

Ms Olive Lumonya, the Country Director SOS Children’s Villages expressed gratitude towards the partnership noting that with this support will go a long way in providing a more comfortable environment for the children.

“With the biggest population at the SOS Children’s Villages being youth, we have been grappling with youth unemployment among other challenges. We are grateful that StarTimes has come on board to help us deal with this.” She said.

“It is a great honor to partner with StarTimes which has committed to support us as we strive to create a comfortable home for our kids.”

SOS Children’s Village have branches in Kakiri, Entebbe, Gulu and Fort portal where they cater for 680 children. They also support over 10,000 more children with in the community.

The UBA Uganda team receiving the Social media award for the Leo- Chat banking Innovation.

By Our Reporter

UBA Uganda has received recognition for its ground breaking Innovation -LEO Chat banking. This was during the annual Digital Impact Awards Africa (DIAA) which were held at Kampala Serena Hotel recently.

The 2018 Digital Impact Awards (DIAA) themed “Include Everyone” recognized and rewarded individuals and organizations that continue to spearhead the use of digital tools to enhance financial and digital inclusion while leading to economic transformation, across Africa.

UBA Uganda flourished in the social banking category, where the bank was recognized for the innovation of the first banking chat bot in Uganda and the World. UBA’s chat bot LEO impressed the judges, for bringing banking services to the apps where consumers didn’t have these services.

“This award is for the teams that have worked so hard to bring LEO to life. We are grateful to the customers that voted for UBA. In line with our ‘Customer First’ philosophy, we shall continue using technology to innovate products and services that empower customers and make banking more convenient.” said Johnson Agoreyo, CEO UBA Uganda.

LEO enables customers perform ordinary banking transactions such as account opening, funds transfer and airtime purchase while providing access to customer service on social media sites such as Facebook and Whatsapp.

Congratulating UBA Uganda on the award, Emeke E. Iweriebor, CEO UBA East and Southern Africa said, “Technology has remained central to United Bank for Africa’s business strategy, as we continue to enhance our product offering beyond brick and mortar locations, deploying lifestyle banking technology, to serve our customers. This accolade, is therefore a testament of our pledge for excellence in line with our vision, to be the undisputed, leading and dominant financial services institution in Africa”.

With the increased demand of convenience by customers and the growth in the use of social media, LEO is a necessary and welcome innovation.