By Silvia Nyambura
Over 30 Ugandan IT companies are set to benefit from a USD 1 million project launched by the Dutch government. The Netherlands Trust Fund (NTF) which is now in its 3rd phase aims at boosting the export of Uganda’s information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services sectors. The three-year project, will benefit from the technical expertise of the International Trade Centre (ITC), which will help Uganda to increase its exports and diversify markets to capitalize on the USD 180 billion global IT and ITES outsourcing market.
This project will also encourage women-led enterprises to benefit from various activities. ITC will collaborate with three local partners namely the National Information Technology Authority Uganda (NITAU), ICT Association of Uganda (ICTAU), and the Uganda Business Process Outsourcing Association (UBPOA).
Speaking at the launch event recently, NITA Uganda Managing Director James Saaka said, “In Uganda, we observe strong political support behind the IT/ITES sector coming apparent for example in tax incentives. The ICT sector has the elements to grow including a large, young dynamic English speaking labor pool and stable growing economy. The NTF III project comes at a time when Uganda as a country has identified Information Technology as one of its national priority areas to propel the country’s economy to a globally competitive level.