Promoting Social Entrepreneurship in Uganda – James Otai

A social entrepreneur is a person who pursues an innovative idea with the potential to solve and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. James Otai is among our outstanding social entrepreneurs who is passionate about sharing his expertise, knowledge and broad experience in promoting social development – he has over a decade of experience implementing strategic initiatives to create social entrepreneurs for sustainable change and providing financial services to rural and business communities

He is the founder of Fino+88 Ventures Ltd and the Co-founder and Director of Business Development and Operations at Imagine Her (IH), a Uganda-based local non-profit organization. IH works with rural communities to accelerate the power and potential of women, girls, and youth as active leaders and social entrepreneurs by creating sustainable solutions within their communities. At IH, James oversees programme implementation, leads systems development, spearheads the organisation’s sustainability programming, and manages human resources.He uses his expertise in environmental and business management to support IH’s participants in developing sustainable ventures.

James is a 2019 Commonwealth Shared Scholar from Uganda and graduated with a MSc in Environmental and Business Management from Bangor University, UK. He is also an alumnus of the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) East Africa under the Business and Entrepreneurship track where he honed his business leadership skills. He is passionate about women and youth empowerment, climate change initiatives and financial inclusion.

Upcoming Webinar

Join the next CSC Development in Action webinar on Empowering women and youth in Uganda through social entrepreneurship delivered by James Otai. 

Webinar Details

Title: Empowering women and youth in Uganda through social entrepreneurship 
Date: Monday 29 April 2024
Time: 16:00-17:00 (EAT)

In this webinar, Commonwealth Alumnus James Otai will discuss how green entrepreneurship and innovation can empower women and youth in Uganda’s remote communities to overcome unemployment and other economic challenges. James will highlight the issues of economic dependency and lack of economic resources, including capital, land and employable skills, and how these factors disproportionately affect women, girls, and young people. He will also speak about the ways in which climate change is further reducing employment opportunities for people in these groups.Without adequate support, women and youth remain trapped in a cycle of poverty which leads to the rise of early marriages, gender-based violence, and inequality.  

James will discuss how his organisation, Imagine Her (IH), is addressing these challenges by enabling communities to develop skills in green and gender-inclusive entrepreneurship, equipping them with the tools to create positive change and drive sustainable development. This webinar will address the CSC development themes, Promoting innovation and entrepreneurship.The webinar will last for approximately one hour, including a Q&A session. After the webinar, attendees are invited to stay online and participate in a 30-minute open discussion on the webinar topic to exchange ideas and knowledge, seek out collaborators for their own work, and promote their research in this area.

Webinar Registration

To register for the webinar, please complete the registration form here.. The deadline to register is 23:59 BST on Tuesday 16 April 2024. The link to join the webinar will be shared with those registered to attend on 23 April 2024.

The CSC’s Development in Action webinar series

The CSC’s Development in Action webinar series provides an opportunity for Commonwealth Scholars and Alumni to present on their work and contribution to development across a range of contemporary global challenges and provide insight into ongoing research and action.

Open to all Commonwealth Scholars and Alumni, the monthly webinars will address one of the CSC’s six development themes and provide an opportunity for attendees to engage in real-time Q&A discussion on the topic presented. You can watch previous webinars on the CSC’s YouTube channel.

CSC Alumni Events

Find out about the latest events organised by the CSC community for Commonwealth Scholars and Alumni here

To contact James Otai use jamesotai2013@gmail.com