Joan Nalubega, founder of Uganics Repellents, has been named to the Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 list.
Anyone who has built a social enterprise knows that the public moment is only a small piece. Behind it are years of trying things that did not work. Finding customers. Losing customers. Changing the product. Figuring out suppliers. Paying people. Carrying pressure that does not appear in a short announcement. Uganics grew from that kind of work.
The enterprise was born in SINA out of a problem close to people’s lives: malaria, and the difficulty many families face in accessing protection that is affordable and usable. Joan and her team turned that reality into a social business serving communities, while creating work and proving that solutions can come from the people who know the problem from the inside.
For SINA, this is why the SINA Framework exists. Scholars do not come to SINA to be rescued or trained into obedience. They come into a community where they take real responsibility, run parts of the space, face themselves, test ideas, and build social enterprises from lived experience and local problems.
Congratulations Joan, the Uganics team! We are happy this important and live-saving work is being seen.