On June 10th, 2021, ATBN and Outbox, co-organized a virtual roundtable under the title “Building Resilient African Digital Economies post-COVID – Focus on Uganda”. Based on the model of the previous AfriConEU virtual roundtables focused on Ghana and Nigeria, the event engaged various stakeholders to interact, discuss and share ideas for the needs of Digital Innovation Hubs in Uganda.

During the first part, an insightful panel discussion took place, during which our panelists: Allan Lule, Startup Manager, Makerere Innovation and Incubation Center, Michael Niyitegeka, Director, Refactory, and Apiyo Perez Masinde, Programme Lead, Outbox Uganda, talked more about the challenges and opportunities for the Ugandan digital ecosystem and how hubs are copying in the post-COVID era.

During the second part, the participants joined break-out rooms to discuss and reflect on: “How might we support African Digital innovation hubs to become more effective catalysts for innovation?”, “How might we build mutually beneficial partnerships between Europe and African digital ecosystem actors?” and “How can the barriers to the effective partnership between EU and Africa digital ecosystems be addressed?”

It was an interactive event, during which the participants generated ideas for building the capacity of Ugandan digital innovation hubs and enabling effective partnerships with European partners. Then, all groups returned to the plenary session, where they presented their results and further discussed their topics with the other groups. AfriConEU had live coverage of the event through Twitter.