My name is Juliet Okudi, a finance and accounting trainee under the GPAP Program. I arrived earlier than the official arrival time on the 1st of September 2025.To be precise, I was at the training hub by 7:00 am. I was excited and over the moon because of the new journey that I was embarking on. I had always wanted to become a professional accountant and all I could think about that morning was, Lo and Behold! In three months, I will be one of Uganda’s newest certified accountants! However, Mr. Epa came through, and was able to open up and showed me around a few places within the space. The rest of the colleagues came in after, the welcome I received was top notch from each of the members, which built up my confidence and self-esteem instantly.

I was then ushered into the boardroom, where the rest of my colleagues were seated. An orientation program was shared to all of us in the board room as a guide for the day. The first activity that I did was to make the necessary payments of which a receipt acknowledging payment received was issued, which act gave me full confidence that the company was indeed legit and was geared towards the right cause. The next activity was an orientation led by the CEO him self, Mr. Keneth. His welcoming remarks blew my mind for I had never received such comforting words and warm welcome from the Boss himself. The look in my eyes alone was enough to show how much happy I was because this act affirmed to me that I was indeed in the right place where I am accepted and valued. He went on, provided an over view of the company’s mission, core values and the history of their journey to date. He emphasized Team work, creativity and innovation.

This session required all of us to introduce ourselves and give a hint about our education background, work experience and also, expectations and achievements so far, for the achievement requirement in particular, was majorly for those that had finished on the first month and above. I must say, this was a very exciting moment for me and very motivative because it gave me self actualization, confidence that I would make it too, I saw a spirit of togetherness, Excellent communication, creativity as well as leadership skills displayed.

BREAK FAST: I had the best break fast, and the act of serving the visitor first was amazing. We all had break fast together with our CEO, a sign of unity and love. This was my best moment.

PRESENTATIONS AND LEARNING SESSION. There was an introductory over view of what TechBuzz Hub is all about, what it does, and why the GPAP programme. I understood that TechBuzz Hub builds, empowers and launches start up companies or enterprises. This was clearly taken through by Mr. Keneth, which was an amazing and educative session. I also got to know of the affordability and flexibility of its offered services of spaces as low as 35,000 Ugandan shillings. An indication that they put into consideration the pain points of their customers.

A*Learnt about the start up companies; as new entities of not less than 6 months that applies technology or innovation to produce a disruptive process or solution that is commercially viable.

1.  Here, diversity was being emphasised as one of the requirements where by the company should have at least some entrepreneurs, employees, Academentia, Experts, and many more other categories of people.

2.  Also, a company having a temporary managerial structure; at least board of directors.

3.  25% owned by Ugandans

4.  Spending 30% on Research and development.

Understood what Disruption and commercialisation meant too in regards to the start ups.

Disruption: Doing away with the old tradition of doing things. Where by the company can be expansively sold-out, people are free to connect and call in from different countries with in the world.

Commercialisation: Looks at revenue viability. Also, whether people are able to pay for the services offered.

B*ABOUT GPAP; This was presented by one of the colleagues. (m/s Seline). Where she clearly explained its meaning, why join GPAP, and what it does. GPAP stands for Graduate professional Apprenticeship Program. She noted that several of people complete studies, yet still jobless. Of about 4,000,000 people, only 700,000 are employed, leaving the3,300,000 jobless which is a very worrying situation. It’s from this perceptive that TechBuzz Hub decided to launch the GPAP program as a way to help out the unlucky group.

Why join?

1.To gain workable experience

2.valuable work experience

3.Networking opportunities

4.personal growth

5.fast-truck employment.

LUNCH BREAK: During this time, I was led by colleagues to the dinning space where we further interacted amongst each other and got to know each other a little more. The hour was full of lively and casual stories. However, all through this moment, I saw love and good team work, approachability down to earth colleagues, which acts got me overwhelmed and blown away by their characters. This gave me a great feeling of acceptance and fully integrated into the environment.

C* FINANCIAL AND ACCOUNTING PRESENTATION. (M/S ROY) This session was an interesting one because it was in line with what exactly I had come for. All my ears were on ground not to miss out any single bit of the training. As the presentation went on, I got to understand that Accounting involves posting, reconciliations, balancing, reporting, budgeting and filling returns of any given company.

The whole process begins with identification and generating of source documents like; cash receipts, invoices, vouchers, cheques, among many more documents. She emphasised understanding trends in your circles to be able to make informed decisions. She also hinted on financial analysing; a process of evaluating the health or performance of the business whether its profitable or not.

On budgeting; expenditures, incomes should be keenly looked at in order to be able to make projections in to the next financial year. For Tax compliance; An understanding of why the need, when they are due, the exemptions and other tax related regulations is important.

D* DIGITAL MARKETING PRESENTATION. (MR. ALINDA) The session was a very lively one, where by Mr Alinda gave illustrations by examples in order to bring out the whole concept to simple understanding and internalisation. He clearly brought out the need to have online presence. Noting that digital marketing is how we use the internet to bring out put.

Instead of some one giving directions for example of their physical location, the products they offer, the pricing involved, this could be done online attracting a wider coverage. This could be done through video content. Also, giving a Brand an identity in form of graphic designs, locations and use of Carousels.

E* PROPOSAL WRITTING PRESENTATION. (M/S GRACE) Through out this session, I learnt about aspects that I didn’t have knowledge about. For example, what a proposal is, why come up with proposals, what to look out for while writing one.

A proposal; An idea or process flow of how a project will be implemented.

What to consider;

1. Terms of reference by the company. These may include; Value proposition, Out comes, Way of execution, Location, Material to be used.

Why have proposal writing? Some are upon request, which are referred to as Request for proposals (RFP) However, RFPs should have an introduction, Activity should be specific and log frame. for example, under education sector, a curriculum must be the number one consideration. If it is a social activity, there should be a clear flow of activities i.e. Say monthly expectations. For purposes of effective project execution. There must be a guiding tool on how work should be done.

*Goal. TechBuzz Hub is looking at giving an opportunity to every one that by the time one is leaving, they must have learnt how to write a proposal, which is a very good opportunity.

Overall, the entire day was a lively one and involved a lot of learning and skills equipment. My communication was polished, Self esteem boosted, Knowledge gap bridged, Deeper understanding of TechBuzz Hub as a whole. Mr. Keneth thanked every member within the room and encouraged continuous learning, more interactions team work in order to win together as a team.

We ended the day at 5:30pm, I signed off the KYC form, The NDA form and submitted. Then left for home with some of my colleagues with whom we use the same route. I am so grateful so far for the best I have learnt and achieved. And looking forward to even better, not to disappoint the facilitators who are ensuring that they groom me into a polished and skill full person, and above all, myself.

Thank you.