MAK Graduate Awarded by The Queen Of England at The Buckingham Palace

Former seasoned Guild President and a graduate of Bachelors in Education from Makerere University, Bazil Biddemu Mwotta was yesterday awarded by The Queen of England for The Queen’s Young Leader Award at the Buckingham Palace. He received it gracefully clad in a Kanzu. This award recognizes and celebrates exceptional people aged 18-29 from across the Commonwealth countries, who are taking the lead in their communities and using their skills to transform lives. He was one of 3 Ugandans that were awarded at this glamorous event that had numerous notable people in attendance like The Duchess of Sussex Megan Markle, Prince Harry and David Beckham among others. Other Ugandans were Elizabeth Kasujja and Stephen Katende.

Bazil is dedicated to helping farmers in his community thrive. He is the founder of AgroDuuka, which helps farmers in Uganda access information about market prices for produce in their region. It is designed to act as a low-cost SMS platform to connect smallholder rural farmers directly to buyers, before and after their harvest. To date, Bazil and his team have helped more than 800 farmers from 36 villages in Western and Central Uganda to gain a fair price for their produce. AgroDuuka recently partnered with the Uganda National Farmers Federation, which is enabling almost five million farmers to have access to AgroDuuka. It should be noted that this isn’t the first time this enthusiastic young man has been recognized. Earlier this year, he was awarded by the International Franchise Association as one of the youths making an impact in Society in Africa.

The winners of The Queen’s Young Leader Award received a unique package of training, mentoring and networking, including a one-week residential programme in the UK. With this support, Award winners are expected to continue and develop the amazing work they are already doing in their communities.

On being awarded, he remarked, “I’m so delighted to be made part of this great cohort of young enterprising leaders. This recognition of the work I do for my community will always serve as a motivation for me to continue helping in making the world a much better place than I found it, as well as inspiring my fellow youth to take on the lead to address the challenges in their communities.”