Uganda’s oldest and largest private scholarship fund offered Shs 516 million last year in university scholarships to 175 students for 2009/2010. The Muljibhai Madhvani Foundation is Uganda’s oldest and largest private education trust, having been around for almost 60 years.

To date it has sponsored hundreds of students who have gone on to become successful professionals.
The education trust began in the 1950s as a partnership between the Madhvani Group and the Protectorate Government to sponsor brilliant children for secondary education.

Then referred to as the General Scholarship Scheme; it changed its name in 1962 to become the Muljibhai Madhvani Foundation until 1971 when President Idi Amin forced Asians to leave Uganda. The programme was effectively suspended.

The scheme was revived in 2003, under the name; the University Education Trust, with the principal objective of promoting scientific and technical education for the betterment of Ugandans. The Administrator of the Foundation, Beatrice Apoto told Observer School last week that the scholarship has kept to its ideals of growth, consistence and empowerment.

As a consequence, she said, the scholarship benefited 49 students in 2003; 71 in 2004; 93 in 2005; 117 in 2006; 152 in 2007; 159 in 2008 and 175 in 2009. Since its reinstitution in 2003 with Shs 3 million, the fund had by 2009 educated 540 students with Shs 1.3 billion, says the Chairman of Madhvani Scholarship Committee, Henry Kyemba.

...