On Monday October 8, Airtel Uganda joined the rest of Uganda to celebrate 56th Independence at a Breakfast meeting held at their Bugolobi offices as officiated by the principle of Makerere University Business School (MUBS), Professor Waswa Balunywa.
Also in attendance was the Chairman Board of Directors Airtel Uganda Mr Hannington Karuhanga.
In his speech Prof. Balunywa hailed Airtel Uganda for exhibiting patriotism and leading technological advancement in the country.
‘‘I would like to thank Airtel Uganda for exhibiting patriotism and spear heading the development agenda of our country through digital and financial inclusion,” he said adding that the government should work towards scrapping the Mobile Money and social media taxes citing his opinion from years back when he was a board member at Bank of Uganda.
“Our challenge was how to grow financial inclusion in Uganda. The launch of Mobile Money was a great response to our challenge. But with the introduction of Mobile Money, we are moving steps backward as the tax is regressive in nature,” he said.
The Professor urged students to shift mind set from brick and motor to technologically led entrepreneurship.
The event was kicked off with singing of anthems, hoisting of the flag with a band procession and a parade significant to Independence day celebrations as a tradition.
During the annual event, staff that work over and above and beyond their roles are recognized with cash and certificates. This year, 16 staff sourced across the business functions.
The event culminated into the ‘’Airtel Together We Can Awards’’ where three special carefully chosen categories of individuals and teams were chosen with a reflection of commitment, resilience and hard work and phenomenal results on both local and international arenas.
The categories included: Sports Category, Film Category and Employment in the Airtel Value Chain – Ranmal Keshwala.
She Cranes was recognized for its unmatched performance at the global arena. They recently won the 2018 Africa Netball Championship to qualify for the Netball World Cup scheduled for Liverpool, England, in July 2019.
Mathew and Eleanor Nabwiso were recognized under the Film Category for their movie Rain which has won several awards at the global arena for its educative and informative theme.
Mr Keshwala was recognized under the job creation category for his tremendous effort towards solving unemployment in Uganda. Keshwala employs over 500 Ugandans in his business value chain.
Each of the winning external categories walked away with Shs5 million.
