I was born in Bukomansimbi to a family of two peasant farmers and grew up together with my 3 siblings in Butenga, a rural subcounty in Bukomansimbi district in Uganda. Given the subsistence scale of our farming operations, my parents struggled to afford basic needs including school fees and medical expenses.

Thus I only managed to go through school because I was fortunate to qualify for a Kabaka Education Fund scholarship after emerging among the best ten top performing primary leaving examinations students in 2012.

Growing up in a remote, off-grid rural area helped me appreciate the challenge that communities face in accessing a balanced diet, as well as avoiding indoor pollution. Therefore, I have witnessed families losing infants to malnutrition due to a limited diet, as well as losing loved ones to preventable cancers and respiratory tract conditions caused by chronic indoor pollution.

These first-hand experiences sparked my interest in impact-focused innovation and entrepreneurship that responds directly to these major health issues in my community, in Uganda, and Africa as a whole, because research indicates that the continent’s rural communities are afflicted by similar issues.

Based on this background, I have a lifelong commitment to being an entrepreneur and change-maker, working to eliminate unnecessary suffering and death in Africa’s rural areas.