In February 2025, Impact Week returned to Uganda with a new partner and a new location: SINA – the Social Innovation Academy. Founded in 2014 to provide educational opportunities for Ugandan orphans, SINA has since grown into a dynamic foundation that empowers young entrepreneurs from Uganda and across East Africa. From the start, it was clear that Impact Week had found the right partner: entrepreneurship and innovation are woven into SINA’s DNA.

Nestled on a hill in Uganda’s countryside just an hour from the capital city Kampala, the SINA village offered a unique setting for Impact Week. Both participants and coaches lived, learned, dined, and relaxed together on the campus, creating an immersive experience that helped to foster cultural exchange and connection. With participants and coaches from Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Venezuela, the United States, Italy, Germany, and India, there were many stories to share and lifestyles to compare. 

It is with this deeper understanding of each other that we can best tackle Design Thinking – especially under the common values and visions that SINA and Impact Week share. And although SINA had already successfully led more than 80 successful social enterprises, Impact Week brought Design Thinking methodology in a fresh, creative and structured way.

This Impact Week focused on pressing challenges facing the SINA community which were carefully selected and reviewed together with our Lead and Senior Coaches, to ensure both relevance and feasibility.  The four challenges chosen – Market Leap, Connect, Self Sustain, and Aqua Life – tackled real-world problems with creativity and purpose.

Our 77 participants were not typical students. They included refugees from the Congo, individuals without formal education, individuals without opportunity, and aspiring changemakers, all united by a common goal to become social entrepreneurs. The participants also came with a high degree of commitment and energy – not to mention a few new dance moves. Even more importantly, we trained Design Thinking coaches from 10 different communities, ensuring that knowledge spread far beyond the SINA village and across the East African region.

Soon after our participation in Mpigi, SINA began integrating Design Thinking into its Personal Development curriculum and is exploring ways to use the Train-the-Coach model to upskill neighboring organizations. With new scholars entering the “emerging” stage, these freshly trained coaches are eager to lead their own workshops and share what they’ve learned.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to our partners at SINA and look forward to the next edition of Impact Week Uganda which is already being planned. If you, or someone you know, are interested in joining this unique experience in Mpigi in 2026, please apply (here), or reach out to lead organizers Vanessa Quirini or Sydney Jones (emails) at any time. The dates are set for March 4 -13 onsite.