Uganda university unveils 25 software projects

A Ugandan university has unveiled 25 software projects that were developed by the first group of developers working at the National Software Incubation Centre (NSIC), sparking hopes that locally produced applications will make their way into regional and international markets.

The incubation center, which was set up in April last year with a US$300,000 seed grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, is part of Makerere University's Faculty of Computing and Information Technology (FCIT).

Having started the process as software novices with backgrounds in different computing disciplines, the 100 developers spent six months working on the 25 projects. The debut of the projects, which have been tailored to the specific software needs of local companies, means that for the first time, locally developed software is available on the market.

"The opportunities for software development in Uganda are huge and you can look at them sector by sector," Michael Niyitegeka from the CIT faculty said. "But the success of this initial group of incubatees should open up a lot of doors and bring software outsourcing work here."

According to Niyitegeka, even the regional market for new applications -- for Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and the emerging markets of Burundi and southern Sudan -- is huge.

"The incubation center has been a whole new and learning experience for me," Halim Chongomweru, one of the 100 developers, said.

"As a fresh graduate in computer science, with no working experience, this should lead me to greater opportunities as I have attained insight into client's experiences," Chongomweru said.

The idea behind NSIC was driven by the realization that there were very few software developers in Uganda, yet the faculty was churning out young computing graduates in different fields every year.

Another 100 software novices are set to be recruited into the program. The incubation center is the first of its kind at any university campus in East Africa.

Ugandan companies looking for custom-designed software have been looking to India, where they have been buying the software at relatively high prices. Those who cannot afford custom-made tools make do with expensive licenses for U.S. and European software.

The 25 applications the students developed included a hotel reservation system; a centralized procurement system; a real estate management and maintenance system; a Bluetooth social network tool; an asset management system; and a human resource/payroll system.

The students also developed a university electronic directory, an inventory management tool, a mobile instant messenger and an e-government implementation tool for local governments; and translated the Mozilla Firefox browser into a local language.

The university will not be working in isolation at the NSIC, as it will depend on the private sector to source software ideas. The center will offer the government an opportunity to tap into it to develop local software in indigenous languages and push development projects, according to Niyitegeka.

Already, a number of big companies in the technology sector such as Google and IBM have expressed interest in working with the faculty and its incubation center.

Niyitegeka said the country requires a policy that will enable the development and growth of a software industry, as has been the case in India.

But India is also becoming expensive, which according to Niyitegeka opens up a window of opportunity for aspiring software-developing countries like Uganda.

The challenge ahead is a lack of investors willing to put their money into the business of developing software, as has been the case in the U.S. and India.