Kyambogo University has launched its Climate Finance Catalyst Hub, a new platform aimed at connecting climate-focused student and youth innovations with the financing needed to turn them into viable investments.
The launch took place at the Kyambogo University Climate Finance Symposium for Youth and Women, held under the theme “Unlocking Green Capital: Empowering Uganda’s Green Transition through Innovation, Partnerships and Investment.”
In his welcoming remarks, Mr. Thomas Kawere of Environment Hub Uganda said establishing the hub at Kyambogo would help unlock investment potential and increase the flow of finance into the wider economy, noting that the symposium’s theme directly reflects the hub’s core mission of unlocking capital.
Youth, climate and development practitioner Mr. Emmanuel Mulisa told participants that unlocking green capital requires moving beyond ideas to concrete investments and projects, stressing that innovation alone is not enough without a pathway to funding.
Keynote: Inclusion Must Run Through Every Stage
Delivering the keynote address, Mrs. Ritah Rukundo, who heads Climate and Environment Carbon Markets at GIZ Uganda and East Africa, commended Kyambogo for linking academic research directly to climate finance and stressed the need to make climate finance genuinely accessible.
She said Uganda’s youth are central to the country’s climate future, pointing to the solutions young innovators are already developing in waste management, agriculture and natural resource management. A key lesson she offered was that inclusion should not be treated as a single chapter in a funding proposal but woven through a project from its executive summary onward.
Rukundo said university platforms like Kyambogo’s create a foundation for sustainability, and that GIZ looks forward to working with innovators emerging from the hub. She cautioned, however, that a climate priority does not automatically qualify as an investment opportunity — though with the right support, a good idea can be developed into a bankable project.
Innovation Pitches
The symposium featured innovation pitches led by Mr. Kawere, covering projects in agriculture for food security, soil and waste management at scale, affordable housing, and climate change mitigation through waste management.
Among the pitches:
Deployable climate-resilient structures — Isaac Musitwa, a fifth-year Bachelor of Architecture student, presented a design for foldable panels made from agro-waste residuals that can provide temporary shelter in climate emergencies. He noted that 37 percent of global carbon emissions come from construction, with a further 11 percent from material extraction, underscoring the need for lower-carbon building alternatives.
Electronic waste recycling facility — A second pitch addressed Uganda’s growing e-waste problem, noting that roughly 50 percent of e-waste is currently simply stored by households rather than processed. The proposed recycling facility would produce 60 percent less carbon dioxide than conventional methods for the same output. Presenters put the facility’s projected operating cost at UGX 199 million against gross profit of UGX 957 million and net profit of UGX 758 million per year, with an initial investment of UGX 3.8 billion and a payback period of five years.
Vice Chancellor: Connecting Knowledge, Financing and Innovation
In his remarks, Kyambogo University Vice Chancellor Prof. Eli Katunguka said the event brought together three critical forces — knowledge, financing and innovation — with universities generating knowledge and innovators generating solutions.
He urged stakeholders to interrogate every proposed innovation with three questions: Who needs this innovation? How does it work? What does it cost? Katunguka said the new hub should prioritise implementation over simply generating new ideas, and outlined a division of roles going forward: financial institutions provide capital, government provides policy, and partners provide catalytic support, with the university’s task being to connect all three.
Government Officially Launches the Hub
Government was represented by Hon. Kahinda Otafire, Minister of Water and Environment, who urged continued government support for youth-led climate innovations. He said the hub would need strong leadership to translate ideas into investments that benefit both government and the wider economy.
Minister Otafire officially launched the Kyambogo University Climate Finance Catalyst Hub, marking the platform’s formal entry into Uganda’s green innovation and climate finance landscape.
