In 2016, three SINA scholars asked a question that we had never had to answer before. Patrick Muvunga Trickpa, Turatsinze Mafigi Victor and Raphael Muvunga had come to SINA in Mpigi after living for five years in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement in western Uganda. Around nine months into their journey, they wanted to know: if […]
News
From East Africa to Zambia: Young People turn Local Challenges into Social Ventures through the Social Impact Award
Across SINA’s 24 communities, around 1,000 scholars are discovering their potential and building social enterprises. Many more young people have ideas rooted in challenges they know first-hand. The Social Impact Award gives young people beyond the SINA communities a way to explore social entrepreneurship and develop early-stage ideas into enterprises through training, incubation, mentoring and […]
Two SINA scholars recognised at Uganda’s Girl Champion Awards 2026
We are celebrating Viola Nakadama and Sandra Peace Naluzze, who received the Girl Earth Award and Girl Innovation Award respectively at Uganda’s National Girl Champion Awards 2026 in Uganda yesterday. They come from two SINA communities, Kiira Innovation Academy in Nyenga and Jangu International in Mpigi, where they have been developing their enterprises alongside fellow […]
SINA featured in the Magazine: “Designing for Freedom”
How can freedom grow without losing what makes it work? This question runs through the second issue of Designing for Freedom, an independent magazine by Tine Bieber. We are featured in the article “Scaling What Cannot Be Standardized,” based on her conversation with Philipp Mäntele, Systems Steward at SINA. The detailed article explores a question […]
SINA Wins Third Consecutive ZeroDX Award as Uganics Earns Its Own Recognition
SINA has won the ZeroDX Award for the third consecutive year, receiving the Benchmark Innovators recognition at the 2026 ceremony in Qingdao, China, on September 21. Uganics, the Ugandan social enterprise founded by SINA alumna Joan Nalubega, won in the Emergent Excellence category. Ten social enterprises from our ecosystem were nominated this year. For us […]
Etienne Salborn Recognised among Thinkers50’s Global List of Leaders50
SINA founder Etienne Salborn has been included in Thinkers50’s Leaders50 for the second consecutive edition, recognising a form of leadership rooted in freesponsibility and distributed authority. SINA is grateful that Etienne Salborn has been included in the Leaders50 again, following the 2024 edition and now the 2026 edition. The recognition is meaningful because of the […]
Introducing the “SINA Expert Network”
A six-person team in Uganda brings knowledge from households and refugee contexts into a shower-design process. A 24-year-old SINA alumna who left formal education early trains university lecturers in how entrepreneurship is learned through practice. Three SINA facilitators work with six NGOs from Uganda and Rwanda to examine their purpose, test possible income opportunities and […]
SINA and Ten SINA Social Enterprises Nominated for the 2026 ZeroDX Awards
After receiving the ZeroDX Award in 2024 and 2025, SINA has again been nominated for the 2026 edition. This alone is an honour. What excites us even more is that ten social enterprises from across the SINA ecosystem have also been nominated this year. Together, the eleven nominations offer a glimpse of what can happen […]
When a High School Dropout Trains University Lecturers
Universities are built around qualifications. To lecture, people usually need degrees. To train lecturers, the expectations are even higher: a master’s degree, often a PhD, publications, academic titles, and years of being recognized by the system. Jesca Nayebare came with a different kind of evidence. She is 24 years old, a SINA alumna, and co-founder […]
When Pain Becomes an Opportunity: Jackline Birungi and She Deserves Uganda (video)
Jackline Birungi knew the problem before she ever thought of building a social enterprise around it. Severe menstrual pain had affected her own education. She struggled to sit through class. She searched for relief and ended up taking too many painkillers. Then, while going through the SINA Framework at Jangu International, something shifted. Instead of […]