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Over 200 participants on Sunday morning participated in the Tooro Kingdom MTN-sponsored empaka z’obugaali bwa Masaza in Fort Portal city.

The bicycle races that were launched as a precursor to the Kingdom’s 200th anniversary will be undertaken by all 9 counties of the Tooro kingdom. The final race shall be held during the Empango celebrations week and shall be provided over by the King of Tooro.

Michael Wandera, the Tooro kingdom sports minister who presided over the Sunday bicycle racing event in Fort Portal said that the city had registered the highest number of participants since they started.

“Am happy that we are progressing on very well I appreciate everyone who is participating in these exciting challenges. I urge more and more people to turn up for the rest of the races,” Wandera said.

Wandera also commended MTN for supporting the bicycle racing competitions in Tooro kingdom.

“As a kingdom, we are very happy with MTN because it has supported a lot of activities in the kingdom and we shall always work with them,” Wandera noted.

Steven Ayebale who participated and came first in the ordinary bike category could not hide his excitement after receiving his cash prize of 500,000 shillings.

“Am happy that I have finally won and MTN has given me cash I’m going to buy another bicycle and am encouraging other people to also participate because it’s a very good event and well organized,” Ayebale said.

The other ordinary bike category winners were; Musa Kavuma in the second, Godfrey Ngozi came third, Moses Nabasa was the fourth and Robert Isingoma was the fifth.

In the sports bike category the winners, from first to fifth were: David Semu, Robert Tugume, Peter Asiimwe, Frank Tusiime, and Wilbert Tusiime

MTN Uganda in partnership with Ker Alur Kingdom has today launched the MTN sponsored inter county bicycle racing competitions. The race is a build-up to the 12th coronation anniversary of the King of Ker Alur, His Royal Majesty Ubimu Phillip Rauni III, in October. This sports activity is part of other social-cultural activities supported by MTN, as part of the partnership agreement signed with the Ker Alur Kingdom in 2019.

The bicycle race event is the first ever MTN-sponsored activity in Ker Alur Kingdom. It will be implemented under the theme “Ending Child Pregnancies and Marriage in Alur land”. 

The launch of Nwech Gari mipyem ma Ker Alur Oyobo MTN (Ker Alur MTN bicycle races) was held at Nebbi primary school in Nebbi Municipality, were the race kit was unveiled to the public and members of the press. Representing MTN Uganda at the launch, Phillip Odoi, MTN Uganda’s Northern and West Nile Region Business Manager affirmed that the Ker Alur MTN bicycle races, reinforce the objective of the partnership between MTN Uganda and Ker Alur, which is uplifting the socio-economic wellbeing of the people of Ker Alur Kingdom through sports, education, and health initiatives.

“As MTN, we are strongly grounded in the belief that we are good together. We only succeed if the communities in which we operate succeed. We are therefore happy to join hands with the Kingdom of Ker Alur to champion the fight against teenage pregnancies and early marriages through awareness amplified by the Ker Alur MTN bicycle races,” said Odoi. 

Registration for the MTN Uganda sponsored bicycle races will start tomorrow 7th to 15th August 2022. The preliminary races to select the riders that will represent the Alur sub-regions of Jonam, Padyere & Okoro, will be held between 18th and 22nd August in each of the regions. The grand finale shall be held on 27th August 2022 in Nebbi Municipality. Registration for the races is free. All registration will be conducted in the chiefdoms within the sub-regions. 

Vincent Ochaya, the Executive Director of Ker Alur Kingdom thanked MTN Uganda for supporting this social activity in the kingdom and for recognizing the value that cultural institutions have in the community.

“These bicycle races will offer us a platform to sensitize the people in Alur land about the dangers of teenage pregnancies and marriage as we strive to address the issue of poor maternal health in our region,” Ochaya said 

According to the Ker Alur kingdom officials, there is a current need to address insufficient maternity facilities in Alwi Health Centre III in Pakwach District, Pawong Health Centre III in Nebbi District, and Zeu Health Centre III Zombo District. To that end, MTN Uganda is set to officially launch a maternity ward at Pakwach Health Center IV that it refurbished and re-equipped to extend improved maternal services in the area.

In addition to Ker Alur Kingdom, MTN Uganda has partnered with other cultural institutions like Bunyoro, Tooro, Ker Kwaro (Acholi), and Busoga Kingdom, to support efforts to uplift the socio-economic, and cultural wellbeing of these communities in the areas of health, education, and sports. 

Before the thousands of fans that had come to grace this year’s MTN Busoga Masaza Cup competition, it had to be defending champions Kigulu and Bukhooli-Namayingo that sailed through to book a place in this year’s final.

This follows their respective victories in the tournament’s semi-finals that were held yesterday at Bugembe stadium, following a postponement from Monday due to the heavy rains in Jinja town that hampered the matches.

Bugabula is a two-time Busoga Masaza Cup winner and will be playing against Bukhooli- Namayingo in the upcoming final match that is set to be held on the 13th of this month in a yet-to-be-disclosed venue.

Goals from Andrew Wandera and Arshraf Sanyu gave Bukhooli-Namayingo a comfortable 2-0 victory against 2017 champions Butembe.

Bukooli-Namayingo’s Captain, Douglas Soita credited the team’s win to thorough preparation by the team.

In the second semi-finals of the day, Kigulu had to dig deep to get a result that took them to their third consecutive finals.

Kigulu’s Wilberforce Bikupe scored the first goal 36 minutes into the spirited game. Fifteen minutes later, Bugabula’s Magidu Kazindula leveled the score at 1-1 till 90 minutes, calling for penalties that saw Kigulu book a slot in the Final match with its score of 5 penalty shots against Bugabula’s 4 shots.

“We fought so hard for today’s win and that showed us that our players still have that hunger to play in another final. We just need to be so efficient this time”, said the Kigulu coach, Yusuf Bagalaliwo after the match.

Busoga kingdom deputy sports minister Daniel Musota clarified that the finals will be held in a neutral venue on August 13.

“We thank our sponsors, MTN and Mayuge sugar Limited for the support towards the Busoga Masaza Cup,” Musota said.

The Busoga Masaza Cup was flagged off in May by the King of Busoga, His Majesty, Wilberforce Gabula Nadiope IV, and the then MTN Chief Executive Officer Wim Vanhelleputte alongside other high-level personalities in Busoga. MTN is the lead sponsor of the 5th edition of the Busoga Masaza Cup following a two-year partnership between the Kingdom and Telecom.

The tournament was partaken by all the 14 counties of Busoga under the theme “Talent Identification, Development and Promotion”.

According to Musota, new talent has been identified throughout the two-month-long tournament, a good sign for an even better season next year.

Saying good bye is never easy. Bidding farewell to a great leader, friend, business partners and colleague is even harder. This was the mood at the Kampala Sheraton gardens last Friday evening as Wim Vanhelleputte’s friends and colleagues gathered to bid him farewell.

The colorful farewell cocktail party was graced by a cross section of Vanhelleputte’s friends, colleagues and business partners of MTN Uganda who came to bid him farewell on what had been his last day as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Uganda, a position he had held for six years, making him the longest serving MTN Uganda CEO.

In their remarks, his friends, regulators, stakeholders and business partners referred to him as an amiable gentleman who sought win-win situations at all times.

Vanhelleputte who was the MTN Uganda Chief Executive officer from July 2016 to July 2022 was described as a tenacious leader who saw the company through some of the most challenging times yet managed to set a track record of success for the company year after year.

While recapping Vanhelleputte’s six years at the helm of MTN Uganda, the company Chairman, Charles Mbire, in an emotional speech, described Vanhellleputte as a perfect, honest gentleman. Mbire summed up Vanhelleputte’s leadership in three simple words; “Numbers don’t lie”.

In her farewell remarks to Vanhelleputte, Yolanda Cuba, the MTN Vice President for Southern and East African MTN Markets praised him for the great leadership to MTN Uganda and congratulated him upon his promotion.

“To say you have been a remarkable leader is an understatement. I know you will achieve the kind of success that you have achieved here,” Cuba said.

In his parting remarks, Vanhelleputte thanked all his friends, colleagues and MTN staff for the great support that they rendered his during his tenure as the MTN Uganda CEO. He thanked his chairman, Mr. Mbire for his professionalism and described him as a remarkable business leader.

“I thank you all for your support over my tenure in Uganda. As I move on to my next role, I am confident that Sylvia (New MTN Uganda CEO appointee) will take us to the next level,” Vanhelleputte said.

Vanhelleputte was promoted to a regional role as Operating Executive for the WECA Markets of Liberia, Guinea-Conakry, Guinea-Bissau, and Congo-Brazzaville within the MTN Group effective today, August 1, 2022.

YOTV Channels has today launched a new state of the art video streaming app. The new app expands its current offering from a few options to a large variety of live and video-on-demand content covering live TV channels, live radio stations, comedy, music, movies and so much more. As YOTV evolves into a super entertainment app, it has unveiled several new products including; Bolingo Extra that is all about Ugandan Music, Comedy & Reality Shows. Muto, a product designed for Kids’ edutainment (a creative mix of education and entertainment). Kibanda Express a Ugandan movies platform has been redesigned and given a better user interface and user experience. A new channel eMikolo (that showcases captivating events for the Ugandan audience) has also been introduced. Customers can now also access Kibanda Express without a running YOTV subscription to enable them to enjoy Ugandan Movies on the platform.

The launch of the new YOTV Channels app follows many months of hard work and considerable investment that has gone into development of new products and improved customer experience. This has involved setup of a dedicated data center which has boosted capacity for our customers to rewind and catch-up on missed live content up to 4 days in the past and while being able to record unlimited future content. The data center has also expanded concurrent usage capacity on the app that creates a smoother experience for users.

“YOTV app now has the largest collection of content that includes movies, live TV, live Radio, Music, Comedy, Motivational podcasts, Kids entertainment and much more.  Our local video-on-demand options are unrivalled. We couldn’t have done all this without our great partner MTN and of course our brilliant content creators. We are thus excited to engage with more content creators to walk with us this journey including musicians, filmmakers, comedians, and others” – said YOTV Channels Chief Executive Officer-Aggrey Mugisha.

As YOTV Channels continues to make new changes to improve the quality of offering, it has been deemed necessary to adjust the pricing structure upwards with immediate effect. The increase helps YOTV to sustain the commitment to providing the very best products and services to it’s customers. One hour of access has changed from UGX. 500 to UGX. 800. One day of access has changed from UGX. 1000 to UGX. 1500. One week of access has changed from UGX. 5000 to UGX. 7500. One month of access has changed from UGX. 10,000 to UGX. 20000. Please be assured that YOTV Channels has made every effort to keep this increase to a minimum.

YOTV Channels App was launched in February 2020 right at the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic phenomenon. While many companies collapsed due to the pandemic challenges, YOTV Channels weathered that storm has grown from strength to strength. Today is therefore also about celebrating loyal customers that have walked the journey so far and still going strong.

Susan Kayemba, the MTN Uganda Senior Manager for Digital services said that MTN’s partnership with YoTV is hinged on MTN’s mission to champion local content consumption by offering clients a seamless yet convenient and affordable platform.

“The potential of YOTV channels to take local content to the world is absolutely undebatable. With the newly unveiled products, we are optimistic that more people will enjoy more Ugandan content. As MTN, we are here to support Ugandan Innovations and YOTV is the epitome of this” said Kayemba.

Kayemba further noted that the YoTV subscription comes with data so customers enjoy more tv anytime, anywhere.

The MTN and YoTV partnership is underpinned by MTN’s commitment to leading digital innovations for Africa’s progress as enshrined in its Ambition 2025.

MTN Uganda has handed over Ushs. 50 million to the Uganda National Netball team, ahead of the Commonwealth games that shall commence next week in Birmingham, England between 28th July and 8th August 2022.

This sponsorship is in line with MTN Uganda’s commitment to bolstering sports in Uganda as a major driver for shared value hinged on the company’s Good Together notion.

At a cheque handover ceremony held today at the National Netball team’s training grounds at Maya, Wakiso, Dorcas Batwala Muhwezi, the MTN Uganda General Manager, Customer Experience hailed the Uganda National Netball team for its tremendous efforts towards shining a light on the country by virtue of their incredible performance.

“The National Netball team has always done us proud through their hard work that has given us as a country, immense global recognition, and pride. As MTN, we are incredibly honored to support the Netball fraternity as they embark on their participation in the commonwealth games next week,” Muhwezi said.

Of the sponsorship package, Ushs. 20 million will go towards supporting the Federation’s administration, and the Ushs. 30 million directly to the players and coaching staff travelling for the games in Birmingham. This includes performance bonuses of Ushs. 3m each to the top scorer and best player of the netball team, according to Muhwezi.

Uganda’s She Cranes, proudly rank 6th internationally and second to only South Africa on the African continent, according to the World Netball rankings as of March 2022.

Earlier this year in April, MTN supported Suncity United, a community-based netball team that is leveraging Netball to empower underprivileged girls hailing from slum areas in and around Kampala, with Ushs. 30m to facilitate the team’s travel to Atlanta, to compete in the U.S Open Junior Netball Championships.

Since it started its operations in Uganda over 20 years ago, MTN’s proactive role in sports has positioned the brand as the biggest supporter of local sport through its sponsorships, partnerships and active engagements with the various sports disciplines including football and athletics among others.

Catch all the updates of the National Netball team among other competing Ugandan teams in the commonwealth games, and so much more in the world of Uganda’s sports on the MTN sports Microsite; https://www.mtn.co.ug/sports/

MTN is inviting developers in Uganda to participate in a Hackathon to create an app that can process financial transactions, with added capabilities that go beyond processing payments.

MTN is now looking for companies, entrepreneurs and developers across the continent to innovate and leverage mobile money to accelerate financial inclusion and digitize payments.

The MoMo API Hackathon will enable developers based in Ghana, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Rwanda, eSwatini, Congo Brazzaville, Guinea Conakry, Zambia and Benin to offer financial and transactional applications innovations using the MTN mobile money (MoMo) API platform.

The first prize is USD 5,000, the second prize is USD 3,000, third prize is USD 2,000.

For the overview, themes, prizes, rules, and registration, click here.

 

 

 MTN Foundation has today unveiled a training facility at the Smart Girls foundation aimed at providing vocational and business skills to over 400 girls annually.

The facility which was completed at a cost of over Ugx 300 million, will be fully equipped with a computer laboratory with internet connectivity, a vehicle servicing station and a washing bay.  

To upskill the girls for the required market skills, the facility will focus on vocational and business courses inclusive of; mechanical engineering, electrical installation, construction, house painting, tailoring, carpentry, welding and catering among others.

Speaking at the unveiling event, The MTN General Manager for Wholesale& carrier services, Mrs Juliet Nsubuga said the facility was aimed at providing hands-on training experience that will allow the girls and women to appreciate the intricacies of building a business and thus creating employment amidst market gender biases. 

“MTN believes that the acquired skills will help the Girl child to compete equally with their male counterparts by offering them opportunities to diversify and break the glass ceiling into Jobs or business that have been a preserve for men.” She said.

In addition to training the young women, the vehicle servicing station and washing bay are also expected to ensure sustainability of the project through generating income for the Smart Girls Foundation for services rendered by the trainers to the public. The project is envisaged to give birth to 40 new women-led businesses in the country.

Smart Girls Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation centred on skilling and empowering the girl child with the vision to transform their lives for a brighter future.

In her remarks, the Guest of Honour, The Minister of Gender, Labour and Social, Development, Hon Betty Amongin thanked MTN and Smart Girl foundation for the initiative saying it complements government’s ambitions towards promoting gender equality and empowering the girl child.

“Government has come up with various initiatives including the Presidential Initiative on Skilling Girl Child and equipping the Business and Technical Vocational Skills to enable girls and young women acquire necessary skills to secure jobs or start up their own businesses.  In spite these efforts, government recognizes that there’s still hard work a head and therefore it gives me profound happiness to see entities like MTN Uganda and smart girls foundation supporting the same and sharing in government’s goal to skill the girl child.” She said.

The partnership between MTN Foundation and Smart Girls Foundation is one of many interventions undertaken by the former to empower women and girls in Uganda.

In June 2019, during the 21 days of YelloCare, the annual staff volunteerism initiative, MTN supported the Smart girls Foundation with a donation worth UGX30million with the aim of enhancing the girls’ learning experience. As a result, the organisation increased the number of girls trained at the facility from 30 to 64 in a wide range of programs including mechanical, electrical installations and welding.

In the same year, MTN announced UGX50m sponsorship towards the Kyabazinga Girl Child program aimed at supporting and improving the lives of women and youth in the Busoga region.

Similarly, MTN Foundation in 2016 partnered with the Forum for African Women Educationalists Uganda Chapter (FAWEU) to provide full cover University Education scholarships for ten (10) Ugandan girls across the country.

MTN MoMo Uganda Limited’s highly rewarding promotion, MoMo Nyabo Waaka came to an exciting end with the winners of the last batch of three cars picking them up, amidst cheer and pomp from their loved ones and well-wishers. This was the fourth edition of the promotion. 

Since its launch in May, the 2 months-long MTN MoMo Nyabo Waaka promotion has rewarded active MTN MoMo customers with 24 brand new Toyota succeed cars, and over 2 billion shillings worth of Mobile Money to MTN MoMo Customers and agents. Ugx.1.6 billion shillings was given out to 16000 active MTN MoMo Customers and Ugx.540 million to 5400 agents

Speaking at the grand finale of the MoMo Nyabo Waaka promotion, Richard Yego, the Managing Director of MTN Mobile Money Services Uganda Ltd, said that the winner’s lives have been greatly impacted due to this promotion whose main aim was to give back to MTN MoMo customers and agents, in form of cash, smartphones, and brand-new cars. 

“One of our first winners was Wasswa Muzamiru from Nansana, who had just lost his job of being a special-car driver. With the brand-New Toyota Succeed that he won from the MoMo Nyabo Waaka promotion, he can now earn a living driving his own car that he won by simply depositing 20,000shillings,” Yego said, in reference to the impact of the life-changing promotion.

Before handing over the last three cars, Yego congratulated all the MoMo Nyabo winners and urged them to continue using the service while vigilantly protecting themselves against fraudsters.

The famous Jenifer who featured in the Momo Nyabo Waaka advert also turned up for the grand finale in which three winners; John Barongo, Rasto Butiga, and Geoffrey Mugabi received the last three cars of the promotion.

Jacqueline Ayebare, a resident of Namugongo, who was using an MTN number registered in her husband, John Barongo’s name, with moist eyes said she has been actively sending and receiving money using her MTN Momo account without knowing that this exercise would reward her with a car. She thanked her husband for buying her the MTN Simcard in his name. Now the family has its own family car, courtesy of MTN MoMo Nyabo.

40-year-old Butiga, from Gayaza, said this car had come as a miracle and it is to be of great use in fetching money to his pockets.

 “I got a call telling me that I had won a car but I grilled the callers to the dot, thinking they were conmen. It was after realizing the familiar voice of Zahara Toto a TV presenter and Richard Tuwangye who assured me that the car is real and belonged to me that I agreed. Now here I am,” said an excited Butiga.

In a sideline interview, Mugabi, the third winner and a resident of Entebbe-Kitooro, greatly praised MTN for blessing his family with a new car. 

With a giant smile, Mugabi urged Ugandans to stick to MTN which has a clear network coverage even deep in the villages where people can access mobile money.

The grand finale celebrations of Momo Nyabo Waaka were crowned with the sound of exciting traditional drums as well as entertainment from the popular local artiste, Karole Kasita.

Below is the list of the 24 MTN MoMo Nyabo Waaka car winners for the 8 weeks of the promotion.

Week Winner’s name Occupation Residence Region
Week 1 Twinamatsiko Geofrey Retired Masaka Greater Central
Week 1 Kawagga Robert Special Driver Nansana Kampala
Week 1 Naluwooza Agnes Cook Namagunga Greater Central
Week 2 Kisitu Brasio Driver Bombo Greater Central
Week 2 Odongo Charles Special Driver Lira North
Week 2 Tenywa Rogers Driver Mbale East
Week 3 Ddungu Mary Mid Wife Masaka Greater Central
Week 3 Kansiime Clophous Business Woman Mbarara South West
Week 3 Kabagabu Pamella Resercher Kawempe- Kagoma Kampala
Week 4 Musabi Grace Unemployed Makindye- Kanaaba Kampala
Week 4 Twesige Christopher Shop Owner Hoima West
Week 4 Oroma Joshua Boda Boda Rider Nebbi North
Week 5 Okuonzi Joseph Police Man Jinja East
Week 5 Okello Richard Anthony Police Man Kampala- Naguru Kampala
Week 5 Iroka Enekemia Business Man Soroti East
Week 6 Asiimwe Moses Army Officer Kyengera Greater Central
Week 6 Iyamuremye Gabriel Pastrolist Gomba Greater Central
Week 6 Magezi Charles Mechanic Fortportal West
Week 7 Aturinda Dorothy Student Kabale South West
Week 7 Asiimwe Benedict Health Worker Mbarara South West
Week 7 Lakot Milly Business Woman Gulu North
Week 8 Rasto Butiga Unemployed Gayaza Kampala
Week 8 Mugabi Geofrey Capenter Entebbe Greater Central
Week 8 Barongo John Business Man Namugongo Central

 

The 2nd Round of the 5th Edition of Omupiira Gwa Masaza Ga Busoga resumed last weekend with several matches lined up for Sunday and Monday respectively. 

This year’s competition that is running under the theme “Talent Identification, Development and Promotion”, is proudly sponsored by MTN Uganda with Mayuge Sugar Industries Limited as co-sponsors.

The tournament has so far been full of excitement and surprises as presumed giants surprisingly failed to collect maximum points at home as expected since 14th May 2022 when the opening match was played at St Gonzaga playground in Kagoma. 

On Sunday, Bukooli-Namayingo hosted Busiki at Namayingo P/S in a spirited match that saw Bukooli Namayingo score 3 goals against Busiki that failed to see the back of the net in its 2nd round opening match.

Bukono conceded one goal from Bugabula at Ivukula Subcounty playground in a match that ended 1-0 in favor of Bugabula while Buzaaya beat Budiope 2-0 in a heated match that was held at Buyende P/S Playground 

Early this week on Monday, Luuka hosted Bugweri at Luuka district headquarters playground, Bukooli Bugiri took on Bulamogi at Hindocha playground and Kigulu hosted Bunhole-Bunanumba at Iganga Saza ground.

Six matches have been slated for this weekend. On Saturday, Butembe will take on Budiope at the Budondo Subcounty grounds while Bunha shall face-off with Bukooli-Namayingo at the Buluba Hospital grounds. On the same day, Bugweri will play against Kigulu at the Busesa Mixed p/S pitch.

On Sunday, the action will continue with Bulamogi playing against Bukono at Namwiwa P/S playground while Bunhole-Bunanhumba shall take on Luuka at the Bugadde P/s playground. Bugabula shall host Bukooli-Bugiri at the Kamuli Municipal grounds.

As the 2nd round ensues, the competing teams are targeting the next phase of the knockout stage to brighten their chances of getting to the quarterfinals coupled with the semis and eventually finals to be played on 13th August.