By Agatha N. Biira
When Elvis Kawumba joined Uganda Christian University (UCU) in 2020, he noticed a challenge that students were facing in accessing grocery shops located outside the university.
He thought about how he could use his information technology skills to create a platform that could link the students to the shops and restaurants. A few months later, an online shopping website was born.
“I wanted to gather many businesses on one platform for the convenience of the students,” said Kawumba, who is pursuing Bachelor of Science in Information Technology. He is grateful to UCU for exposing him to IT skills, which he used to set up the platform.
Kawumba used his classroom knowledge to build the platform. The challenge before him now, though, is how to market the platform to the UCU community. So far, 120 people have subscribed to it.
“The app is active but, still, many students haven’t adjusted to paying for products through it,” Kawumba said, noting that many of the subscribers opt to pay on delivery.
He created the platform under the Google Developer Students Club UCU. With the platform, the UCU community finds it easy to access fast food and drinks, UCU restaurant-takeaway, clothing, crafts and household items.
Once on the platform, students identify the items they need and add to their cart. They then proceed to the checkout section, where payments are made through an inbuilt transaction gateway, where clients can pay through mobile money or debit cards.
Through the Unify WhatsApp live chat, the client provides their location and the items are delivered to them. Deliveries are made to hostels around UCU, halls and on campus premises.
Josephat Juma, a year-two student of Bachelor of Science in Information Technology at UCU, said the platform is user-friendly. “I have previously ordered products and got them on time,” Juma said.
Edgar Okitoi, a year-two student of Bachelor of Laws at UCU, said his friend recommended the platform to him. “I used to order foodstuffs using Unify and just wait for my delivery to be made. It is really easy to use,” Okitoi said.
Marvin Kauta, a second-year student of Bachelor of Computer Science who also helps Kawumba with running Unify, said: “We are working on customizing and making it an app on its own, since it is still using WhatsApp to operate.”
Kawumba was born and raised in Mbarara district, located in western Uganda. He attended Pearl Junior School, in Bushenyi, western Uganda. It is at this school where he said he was first introduced to computers in Primary Five. For secondary education, he attended Namirembe Hillside High School in central Uganda and Plus Two High School in western Uganda.
“I was desperate to figure out how computers work,” Kawumba said, revealing how he spoilt one of the computers they had at home by opening it, “to see how it functions inside.”
He said he draws his inspiration from business magnate and investor Elon Musk because “he is innovative and uses technology to find solutions to the world’s problems.”
“Whenever I get to see his work, it gets me thinking and trying to get out of my comfort zone, so that I can do something that can help society too,” Kawumba said.
