The Madhvani foundation scholarship scheme has birthed 650 students since it’s initiation in 2003.

The programme supports the bright but less privileged students from across the country, to achieve university education in various disciplines. Out of 650 supported students, 540 have since graduated in Agriculture, Business Administration, Law, Hotel management, Actuarial Science, Human medicine among others.

For the 2009/10 academic year, the foundation has set aside Shs 2.1 billion. This was revealed at the first ever Madhvani foundation alumni dinner at Hotel Africana last week. The scholarship programme covers tuition fees for undergraduates from their second year up to the end of the course whereas post-graduate students are covered for the entire course.

H.E Nimisha Madhvani (Uganda’s ambassador to India) and granddaughter to Muljibhai Madhvani (founder of the first local commercial college in 1950), said that the foundation wants to build Uganda as a centre of academic excellence in the region and the globe.

“The foundation is going to try and link up with other international scholarship programmes and foundations like the Rockefeller Foundation, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Clinton Foundation, so as to create research springboards and create a strong alumni base,” she said.

Maria Kiwanuka, Managing Director of Radio One, who delivered a speech to the graduates about starting and managing a successful business in modern day Uganda, cautioned students against waiting for jobs.

“A good business person does not complain that the supplied bread is rotten, or the milk is watered down or ‘my pharmacy closes before 8’. That is a gap and a business opportunity to exploit,” she said.

Kiwanuka urged students to come out of their comfort zones and use the skills they have acquired.
The dinner also saw Kokasi Roland Odinga elected as alumni chairman and Jonathan Muwaganya as his secretary. They both promised to create a strong alumni group that will help expand the Madhvani Foundation resource base and enable even more students benefit from the scheme.

“This is a personal opportunity for me to give back to the foundation because by the time it came to my rescue, I could hardly raise the needed tuition,” said Muwaganya who is currently the Resident state Attorney in Iganga district.