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Garage48 startup hackathon returns to Kampala, Uganda

To boost the local startup ecosystem the world renowned hackathon series Garage48 will return to Kampala on the weekend of October 24-26th.

Garage48 is an open 48 hour boot-camp event to develop and launch new web and mobile services and startups over a weekend.

"We created Garage48 to show that it is possible nowadays to create first versions of startup products in just 48 hours," said Jüri Kaljundi, co-founder of Garage48 and mentor in Kampala. "It's a great way to form teams both for people who need to find developers for their innovative business idea as well as for developers and designers to try out startup life for a weekend. Like we have proved, anyone can launch a product in 48 hours."

How Garage48 works is for 100 people from all walks of life to pitch their product ideas and then form teams on Friday evening. Over half of the participants are developers and designers and the rest are marketers, project managers and visionaries with ideas. Over the weekend they create a working product prototype which they present on stage Sunday evening, taking them from an idea to operating service in just 48 hours. There are usually 100 people participating who then form around 15 teams of 4-8 people around their product ideas.

In line with our vision of creating an entrepreneurial platform that attracts talent, we believe hackathons like Garage48 play a big role as catalysts for startups. Thus our interest in hosting Garage48 in Kampala.

There will be a special info event on Tuesday, October 14th and then a pre-pitching and preparation evening on Wednesday, October 22nd.

Pre-registration is needed and the registration is open for everyone on Garage48 Kampala homepage. The ticket price that covers food, snacks and drinks is 20,000/= (USD 8) for students and 40,000/= (USD 16) for others.

The event will be attended by 4 international mentors from the areas of business, marketing, design and entrepreneurship who will travel especially to Uganda to share the startup experience.

The partners and supporters of the event are Intel, Embassy of the United States in Kampala, Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The previous Garage48 event in Kampala took place in 2011 and was a major success to local tech ecosystem. That time 11 products were launched. Many of the people attending then formed life-long relationships and formed teams for their current and future businesses.

Started in Estonia in Northern Europe back in 2010, Garage48 today operates startup hackathons in tens of countries across Europe and Africa. Over 10 thousand people have attended Garage48 events in tens of countries. Many of them have formed long-last businesses and raised investments from all over the world.

For more information contact Solomon Opio at sopio@outbox.co.ug or call +256 7555 10000

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