Introduction
Global Entrepreneurship Week thrives on collaboration. In 2025, one of the most significant collaborations in Uganda’s GEW history was the partnership between GEN Uganda, Enterprise Uganda, and Vision Group. Together, they created a powerful blend of BDS expertise, ecosystem coordination, and national media reach that elevated GEW Uganda 2025 to a new level of visibility.
The Partners
- GEN Uganda – The national affiliate of the Global Entrepreneurship Network, responsible for coordinating GEW Uganda and connecting local activity to global initiatives.
- Enterprise Uganda – The country’s flagship Business Development Services institution and UNCTAD Empretec Centre, host of the GEW Conference at the National BDS Centre of Excellence in Butabika and host of the Global Entrepreneurship Week Conference.
- Vision Group (Pakasa) – Uganda’s leading multimedia company, whose Pakasa platform focuses on entrepreneurship stories and practical life skills.
Each organisation brought unique capabilities: GEN Uganda convened partners, Enterprise Uganda provided content and hosting, and Vision Group ensured the stories reached households nationwide.
Digital, Print & Broadcast Integration
A defining feature of this partnership was the multi-channel amplification strategy:
- Pakasa pullouts in New Vision profiled entrepreneurs, panels, and key messages from GEW 2025.
- Vision TV and Bukedde programming highlighted sessions, interviews, and reflections from the GEW Conference and Pakasa Forum.
- Online platforms and social media extended reach to younger audiences and the Ugandan diaspora.
This integration allowed GEW Uganda messaging to move beyond event venues into living rooms, workplaces, and classrooms.
Pakasa Forum as a Partnership Showcase
The Pakasa Forum 2025, co-hosted at the Enterprise Uganda Centre of Excellence, was both a GEW closing event and a live demonstration of the partnership’s potential. Vision Group led programme production and on-site media coverage, while Enterprise Uganda curated content and mobilised MSMEs, partners, and exhibitors.
The result was:
- High-quality stage conversations on business opportunities and growth
- Extensive media coverage in news, features, and talk shows
- Visibility for MSMEs who exhibited and spoke at the forum.
Why This Partnership Matters to Entrepreneurs
For entrepreneurs, this collaboration meant:
- More exposure: Businesses featured in Pakasa content reached audiences far beyond the conference hall.
- Better information: Practical discussions on finance, formalisation, tourism, agribusiness and AI were captured, summarised, and broadcast for those who could not attend in person.
- Stronger ecosystem connections: The partnership model signalled to other actors that working together amplifies impact, rather than duplicating efforts.
Lessons for Future Ecosystem Collaborations
GEW Uganda 2025 showed that when BDS providers and media institutions work hand in hand, the ecosystem benefits:
- Stories become assets: Media coverage turns learning moments into long-term reference points for entrepreneurs.
- National conversations deepen: Policy, finance and entrepreneurship topics reach wider audiences in accessible language.
- Partners gain visibility and feedback: Organisations showcasing their initiatives receive public recognition and real-time insights from entrepreneurs.
As Uganda looks beyond GEW 2025, the GEN Uganda–Enterprise Uganda–Vision Group partnership stands as a template for future collaborations focused on showcasing, inspiring, connecting, celebrating and strengthening entrepreneurship nationwide.