Entrepreneurship Institute of Applied & Appropriate Technology
Kampala, Uganda

FALL 2010 - Report received from Director Charles Mulamata.

Based in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, the Entrepreneurship Institute of Applied and Appropriate Technology is a vocational institute which serves men and women who, for many reasons, could not continue their formal schooling. Our mission is to prepare them for a working life and a bright future. We offer courses in, among other things, tailoring, welding, metal fabrication, bicycle repair, and computer literacy.

In our country, private institutions are among the most important providers of vocational training, accounting for almost half of all such education. A population of skilled workers is essential for any country seeking to reduce poverty and develop an economy strong enough to provide the hope for a better future for its citizens. Vocational schools help establish, sustain, and expand the industries necessary to do this.
But in Uganda there are not enough opportunities for youth to attend quality schools. There are widely differing standards of education. Poor administration and insufficient communication between institutions and the government mean many schools have failed to gain official recognition or attention from the people whom they should be helping. And student payments are the primary means of finance for vocational schools—resulting in high fees that the majority of Ugandans cannot afford.

EIAAT was established by directors Charles Mulamata and Joyce Kayongo, a married couple who are also involved in other businesses. Their work in metal fabrication, solar and other renewable energies, and energy-efficient stoves helps them afford to run their institute differently than other Ugandan schools.
Another difference is that EIAAT receives donated containers of second-hand bicycles and sewing machines from Pedals for Progress. The used bicycles are sold at low cost locally. Most of the income is then used to finance the importation of more P4P containers. The surplus money is used to finance the vocational school’s administrative costs and its other development activities.

The sewing machines EIAAT receives from P4P are used in our school’s tailoring program. A student starts on a machine and learns how to use and maintain it. Students, if interested in their particular machines, have the option to pay for them in small installments as their studies progress. Then, if at the end of the course the sewing machine is fully paid, students can take them away for their future work. In this way students not only learn tailoring but are encouraged to plan and budget for the future, and motivated to care for their sewing machines. Students are introduced, in a practical way, to entrepreneurship.

In addition to our vocational programs, the distribution of bicycles is very important for us. They are more than a means of funding for our school. The benefits to purchasers of our bikes are enormous. The bikes are sold at low price and are very useful in Uganda, as we have very poor road conditions which are sometimes impossible to navigate by car. Some of these unreachable areas are left undeveloped because the local population do not have easy means of mobility to go where services are provided, and those services cannot come to them. The increasing cost of fossil fuels also contributes to the demand for alternative means of transport. The bicycle offers easy, low cost, all-weather, all-road, on-demand transportation and is clearly one of the most appropriate technologies for a developing country.
EIAAT is P4P’s largest East African program and the second largest in all of Africa. The container due to arrive in October will put us at over 1,800 bicycles and 150 sewing machines imported so far, and supplied to Ugandans, since our project started. For P4P, EIAAT is one of the most expensive projects to support because we are in Uganda, a land-locked country. The cost of freight to Kampala is about $10,000 per container [note: this is nearly double the rate for shipping like-sized containers to locations in Latin America or the Caribbean]. And this doesn’t include their collection costs and import duties.
P4P has re-awakened our project. We are grateful.

We look forward to the next container [note: due October, 2010], not only because of its contents but mainly because it has opened a way to achieve our target of six containers every year. Of late we had failed to raise necessary money and our project had come to a halt. The setback nearly wiped out our program, but the assistance received from P4P, for whom we are very grateful, will awaken our project. With the proceeds from this container we will be sustainable and be able to take in three to six containers every year.

It was only through the hard work, persistence, and dedication to our cause that P4P was able to solicit the funds to cover the freight cost of our container. We are indeed grateful to David, the Clif Bar Family Foundation and the Helen & William Mazer Foundation for awakening this project. Now, we expect to import approximately 2,700 bikes and 300 sewing machines every year. This, coupled with the number of trained students in our school finding work or starting their own enterprises will make an enormous difference in our area.

Our project is based in Kampala, but we have received requests and plan to expand our distribution network by setting up programs throughout the country. We are indeed lucky that EIAAT in Uganda is one of P4P’s active participants.