What we are and what we do. The Company's vision, mission, objectives and goals.

GUBCCo Concept

Background:

Global University Business Club Limited (GUBCCo) is a public limited Company, incorporated on 22/01/2021. The Company’s founding was informed by a number of academic studies and desk researches (shared in references<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[i]<!--[endif]--> on the next page) but most importantly, it was founded as a permanent living laboratory of Julius Babyetsiza’s action research PhD quest, researching:  “Learning by doing in entrepreneurship clubs and hubs for graduates' gainful self-employment: a study of Makerere University”.

GUBCCo’s Vision - becoming the best avenue for a university in Uganda as well as globally to be entrepreneurial.

GUBCCo’s Mission - to engage students to come up with businesses initiatives, which they replicate into community/commercialize for intervening in improving societal well-being, and thus enhance their (students’ and graduates’) transition to the labour market: entrepreneurship, self-employment and employability.

GUBCCo Objectives

1. To enter into MOU with educational institutions of higher learning to run GUBCCo Clubs in universities and the kindred educational institutions.

2. To engage learners to come up with business initiatives which they replicate in the community.

3. To mentor business initiators, equipping them with entrepreneurial acumen.

4. To market the marshaled  business initiatives to investors using GUBCCo Digital Facility

5. To fund the business initiatives

GUBCCo’s  Values - Critical thinking; Creativity; Collaboration; Communication; Character;  Democracy; Legitimacy; and Citizenship.                             

GUBCCo’s Goal

GUBCCo's goal is increasing and leveraging knowledge utilization for promoting gainful self-employment and entrepreneurship among university students and graduates in Uganda and globally.

GUBCCo’s Partners

GUBCCo’s key partners are universities and other higher education institutions. However, broadly speaking, GUBCCo’s partners are: students in universities and other higher education institutions, lecturers, Universities themselves, Universities’ neighbouring communities, and society at large, especially university and college graduates.

GUBCCo was conceived and first experimented at Ankole Western University. Currently, to start with, aside Bishop Stuart University, GUBCCo is in a number of engagements to enter into MOU with Makerere University, Muni University and Mbarara University of Science Technology.

Value Proposition and mission:

GUBCCo is an avenue for universities in Uganda and globally to be entrepreneurial through its mission of engaging students to come up with business initiatives that they replicate into community to intervene in improving societal well-being, with the purpose of enhancing students’ and graduates’ transition to the labour market. A number of universities have institutional-lead entrepreneurial initiatives - the case of Agribusiness Incubation Hub at Bishop Stuart University. GUBCCo @ Bishop Stuart University will be a student-led entrepreneurial initiative focused on instilling entrepreneurial skills into students to marshal business initiatives that they replicate in community for their smooth transition to the labour market.

The Problem that GUBCCo addresses; and Solution

GUBCCo addresses Uganda's grand problem, the graduates' unemployment, raging at 87?cording to 2020 National Planning Authority report—but which is also a global challenge, especially in LDCs in the light of youth unemployment.

GUBCCo’s Solution is replication into community and commercialization of university-based students’ projects. This makes universities entrepreneurial by directly intervening in improving societal well-being—enhancing students’/graduates’ transition to the labour market: self-employment, entrepreneurship, and hired employment readiness.

What has GUBCCo done?

GUBCCo is a digital Company and its “Operational Plant” is the Digital Facility, www.gubcco.ug. It has four Modules, of which three are completely ready—these are:

One, Accounts and Registration - for capturing the database of GUBCCo partners and clients;

Two, Business development | Incubation programme - for displaying business initiatives to investors through the feature of Shelves.

The feature of Shelves - a subscriber has a Shelf in which he/she can display up five initiatives of other subscribers.  The more one’s initiative appears on other subscribers' shelves, the more it goes up in ranks. At the end of tentatively a month, GUBCCo will be picking the topmost five initiatives and supports them with up to 75% of the technical development financing needs - with GUBCCo becoming a Co-Founder;

Three, the Marketing Module - for displaying business initiatives to investors, including an e-shop; and

 Four, GUBCCo SACCO Scheme - targeting mobilization of savings from university communities [students and staff]—as the financing portal for the university-based students’ projects.  GUBCCo SACCO is he Module which is still being developed, but it will also soon be readied and uploaded.

GUBCCo is in advanced discussion with Capital Market Authority to offer 1,000,000 shares, each share UGX 25,000 in Private Placement – where GUBCCo is looking forward to raising around UGX 25 billion from the sale of the PPM shares, which will be used to capitalise GUBCCo SACCO Scheme as the portal for financing business initiatives. These shares will soon be in the offering, especially targeting university communities—giving university communities a first foothold in GUBCCo, as a public limited Company.

GUBCCo seeks collaboration with Ibanda University, endeavour will see Ibanda University becoming an entrepreneurial university. GUBCCo does this by:

 entering into MOU with universities and the kindred institutions to run GUBCCo Clubs in educational institutions of higher learning;

 GUBCCo clubs engage students to come up with business ideas and projects as business initiatives;

 Entrepreneurial mentoring of business initiators who have come up with business ideas and projects as business initiatives 

 uploading business’s Value Proposition Canvases (VPCs), Business Model Canvases (BMCs), Elevator Pitches and Business Plans to GUBCCo Digital Facility, www.gubcco.ug   

 marketing the business initiatives to investors and customers by way of engaging visitors to GUBCCo Digital Facility to engage with the business initiators 

 GUBCCo SACCO Scheme - targeting mobilization of savings, firstly, from university communities [students and staff]—as the financing portal for the university-based students’ projects.

References