Founders Lounge Uganda is the largest community of startup founders in Uganda. We aim to grow the Ugandan startup ecosystem through building vibrant networks, mentorship and access to funding. Started in 2022, Founders Lounge Uganda now has over 600 members, has hosted 15 startup founder meetups, and has helped to launch 2 Venture Capital funds focused on supporting Ugandan startups.

background

Uganda ranks among the most entrepreneurial countries globally, with more than a million small businesses, which contribute significantly to the economy through job creation, tax revenue and provision of goods and services. Among these enterprises are fast-growing and tech-enabled startups, which owing to their innovativeness, benefit from greater economies of scale and have a higher potential for revenue generation. Over the last decade, entrepreneur support organisations, such as tech and innovation hubs, have emerged to support the creation and growth of these startups, but many of these hubs suffer from financial constraints and operate top-down models that are out of touch with the actual needs of the startups they aim to support. It is with this background in mind that Founders Lounge Uganda, a community of startup founders in Uganda, was established as a platform for active founders to support each other, based on the challenges, opportunities and lessons gained from their own experiences running and growing their startups

Our activities

As part of our objectives, Founders Lounge UG conducts the following activities; - Monthly Founders Meetup, held every last Friday of the month, featuring an established startup founder as Guest Speaker. -Monthly Founders’ Happy Hour, held every 2nd Friday of the month, aimed at creating an informal networking platform for founders, investors and other ecosystem players. -The Founders Lounge Podcast, recorded twice a month, an audio-visual production that seeks to showcase young Ugandan startup founders and their ventures. -Pitch Thursdays, hosted every other Thursday, an opportunity for startup founders to pitch before a select group of investors, including Marge Ntambi, Fellow at Rarebreed VC and Venture Partner at Benue Capital; and Jasiel Martin-Odoom, Africa Investment Lead at Accion Venture Lab. -Founders’ Market, held every last Friday of the month, an opportunity for startup founders to exhibit their products and services to the rest of the Founders Lounge Community. -Founders’ Back, a founders-for-founders Relief Fund to help founders solve their most pressing day-to-day challenges so they can focus on growing their startups, providing micro-grants between 30 to 100 US$, based on founders' needs and availability of funds. - The Founders Lounge Uganda Accelerator Programme (Level-Up), a 3-month programme designed to support Ugandan startups to scale rapidly by providing capital, mentorship from established startup founders and access to regional and international investors.