Students innovating farming in Uganda through tech & entrepreneurship | UNESCO

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“Mechanization is the future of agriculture, and as engineers, we are well placed to realize this,” says Peter Okoci Samuel, a final year Bachelor student in Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) in Uganda.

“We are motivated to come up with the ‘Smart Kuku Brooder system’, a device to solve one of the biggest problems facing the farmers, high chick mortality due to poor regulation of temperature,” explained Peter. Their ingenious brainchild, Smart Kuku Brooder, redefines poultry farming in local households by automatically regulating temperature to provide optimal conditions for chick rearing.

Winning the 1st prize at the Agro-Entrepreneurship Challenge at MUST, the five young engineering minds set out to introduce cutting-edge innovations to the agriculture landscape and foster job opportunities for youth in Uganda and beyond.

The Smart Kuku Brooder team is empowered by skills development initiatives at MUST in partnership with China Funds-in-Trust Phase III: Higher technical education in Africa for a technical and innovative workforce (CFIT III). Through entrepreneurship-based curriculum and hands-on training, the university equips its graduates to become change-makers driving national development.

Agriculture is the backbone of Uganda’s economy, employing over 70% of its population. Yet, grappling with primitive farming methods, the sector needs a technological leap forward to unlock its full growth potential. The youth population holds promise to lead this modernization.

At MUST, Peter Okoci, Maureen Nayebare, Aaron Etyang, Peter Beinamaani, and Frank Magezi Rubandamayonza met and later co-founded the Smart Kuku Brooder startup. Raised in peasant families, they see the day-to-day rural challenges. “Our parents conduct farming activities manually with rudimentary techniques. So, we wanted to automate some of the activities to ease their tasks”, explains Aaron, currently running as the Team Leader of the Smart Kuku Brooder startup.

“We share the same vision, that is to solve community problems with the knowledge we gain from university,” Aaron adds. Their mission is clear: To innovate the agricultural sector, leverage technology for mechanization, drive sustainability and create job opportunities.

The team’s passion found solid ground with the support of their university. In partnership with the UNESCO-CFIT III project, MUST developed and implemented three innovative short courses, using a positive deviance approach to generate a pool of young entrepreneurs to address the youth employability challenge and drive national growth. “These courses are practical and entrepreneurship-based, with a focus on green skills and emerging labour market needs through a see, learn and do model,” says Dr. Medard Twinamatsiko, Director of Innovations and Technology Transfer and the CFIT III institutional project coordinator at MUST.

The Smart Kuku team gained entrepreneurship skills through these trainings. “The training has tremendously improved my skills,” says Frank Magezi Rubandamayonza, Chief Finance Officer of the Smart Kuku Brooder. “I can now confidently pitch for funding and convince investors how great my ideas are. I feel prepared to make great changes.” Maureen Nayebare echoes the idea: “Thanks to the training in financial planning, management and prototyping, we have brought our prototype to the market.”

In addition to the short courses, MUST hosts an annual Agri-biotechnology Entrepreneurship Challenge, providing hands-on training and supporting young innovators in turning ideas into tangible projects. This year, 15 teams showcased their projects designed to address local challenges and create positive change in communities. It was on this occasion that the Smart Kuku Brooder emerged as the top project for launching as a micro-business. So far, 10 gender-sensitive innovative business start-ups have been supported using this model.

Smart Kuku Brooder is a game-changer for poultry farmers, as it replaces manual monitoring of chicken rearing with cutting-edge technology that regulates poultry house temperature. It also promotes sustainable development by “working on solar and electricity to regulate the heating, lighting, and the humidity of the brooder room,” explains Maureen.

Since November 2023, with extensive testing conducted to ensure suitability for diverse poultry farmers, their product is now market-ready. “We have sold 20 units to poultry farmers in Mbarara, significantly enhancing local poultry farming operations. This initial market adoption validates our project’s potential impact”, Frank highlights. “And we have been able to win other competitive seed grants such as the AYuTe Africa Challenge second edition and an internal competition youth award under the MUST-IUC UCoBS Project”.

“The Smart Kuku Brooder is one of our premier potential startups using the agro-entrepreneurship challenge model. We look forward to its full life of scale-up in Uganda and beyond,” says Dr. Twinamatsiko who is mentoring this team.

Looking forward, the Smart Kuku team is confident in their potential to make an impact beyond borders. They aim to further develop their enterprise to attract funding, serve farmers, create employment opportunities, and shape the future of agriculture in Africa. As Frank says, “We have the ambition of becoming a world-class company that employs people in Africa and addresses community challenges through our technological expertise”.

“We look forward to the future developments of the Smart Kuku project, transforming poultry farming like never before,” Peter Beinamaani adds.

In collaboration with the CFIT III project, Mbarara University of Science and Technology continues its mission in fostering skilled human capital through youth skills development to support sustainable growth, as envisioned by the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 2016-2025) and the African Union 2063 Agenda. More students, inspired by the Smart Kuku team, will follow suit in embracing the spirit of entrepreneurship, contributing to community well-being, enhanced youth employability, and socio-economic development in the country and beyond.