Let us introduce ourselves: we are Anita Conti and Gaia Virdis, respectively students in the Master’s Degree programs “Markets and Business Strategies” and “Management for Business” at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan.
When our friends and families learned about our desire to undertake an internship in Africa, they expressed quite a few reservations: it is not the first destination that comes to your mind when you think about an university experiences abroad. However, we were ready to embrace this new chapter of our lives offered by the E4Impact Foundation to university students, and we were open to go to any of the proposed destinations.
Thus, on February the 28th, 2024, driven by the right mix of courage, curiosity, and adrenaline, we took a plane for Kampala, the capital of Uganda. The first sensation we experienced once landed on the Ugandan soil was one of awe: we were finally about to discover and explore the African continent firsthand, with all its contrasts, poverty, heart, and intelligence.
Red, unpaved roads, hundreds of Boda Bodas—Uganda’s motorcycle taxis—moving in apparent disarray, vendors selling every imaginable product at the roadside, children in impeccable uniforms with backpacks on their shoulders, slums, and breathtaking sunsets… this is Uganda. A country that, before being made up of scattered voices and dreams, is a vast community driven by love: love for one’s village, for tradition, for nature, for art, for knowledge, and for life.
Adapting and integrating was far from difficult. We started with the goal of discovering ourselves and exploring aspects of the professional world that we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to encounter in our first internship experience in Italy, and that’s exactly what happened. Every day, we interacted with a diverse and fascinating array of actors in the dynamic and thriving Ugandan entrepreneurial ecosystem, developing essential skills in team building, listening, and problem-solving, which are crucial in the complex world we live in.
Additionally, during our internship at the E4Impact Country Office, we had the opportunity to be involved in three international cooperation projects:
The first project we dedicated ourselves to was the FISH project, which aims to transfer technical and entrepreneurial skills to actors in the fish value chain operating on Lake Victoria, with the goal of making it a more sustainable ecosystem for both the environment and people. We also had the opportunity to interview various entrepreneurs in the supply chain in order to collect data for our master’s thesis research.
The second project we dedicated ourselves to was the PIG Project “Business Incubation/Acceleration of Pig Agripreneurs in Uganda”, which offers a training program for pig value chain operators in the districts of Masaka, Mukono, Mpigi, and Wakiso in Uganda. The main goal of this initiative is to provide pig farmers with entrepreneurial skills to improve productivity and profitability.
During the project, we had the opportunity to interact directly with entrepreneurs through on-field coaching sessions, as well as to engage in the design of tailored materials such as advertising banners and pitch decks for each entrepreneur in the targeted districts.
The third project we were involved in during our internship in Uganda was the “Business for Green Impact Project”, which seeks to refine business models, strategies, and guidelines to respond to urban development and climate change challenges in Africa, with a particular focus on green building. Funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the project helped us understand the crucial importance of dialogue between nations and institutions and the growing role that the European Union must have on the global economic and social stage.
Throughout the Program, we conducted a mentoring program for entrepreneurs, which culminated in the creation of pitch decks and the opportunity for entrepreneurs to present their innovations to investors and banks involved with E4Impact.
As our internship in Uganda concludes, we return to Italy feeling emotionally enriched by our interactions with the local people, their ways of life, and their approaches to entrepreneurial challenges. We also feel professionally enriched by our engagements with international stakeholders, the insights gained from understanding the obstacles in a developing country, and, most notably, the innovative approaches to entrepreneurship that we have encountered.
Thank you, Uganda, and thank you, E4Impact.
Anita Conti e Gaia Virdis
