MADHVANI FOUNDATION CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSAY WITH LARGEST FUNDING EVER
As Uganda moves towards her 50th anniversary of Independence, so is the Madhvani Foundation equally looking back at 50 years of supporting gifted students, celebrating that special event with a record budget of 600 million Uganda Shillings for the year 2012/13.
The attachment of the Madhvani family, Ugandas leading family owned agricultural, manufacturing and service conglomerate which includes Marasa Africa, owners and operators of 7 safari properties in Uganda and Kenya, to the Pearl of Africa was only recently underscored when the ashes of the late patriarch of the Madhvani group were interred at their family estate of Kakira outside Jinja. Thrown out of the country by one of the worlds most notorious dictators, Idi Amin, in the early 70s when all their possessions were grabbed by Amins regime and henchmen alongside all other Asians, the family was invited back to Uganda soon after President Museveni had driven the last of the dictatorious regimes out of Kampala in January 1986 and formed a new government. The Madhvani Group has since then grown from strength to strength and even when rebuilding their family empire immediately restored the foundation to resume their charitable work.
Said the Chairman of the Madhvani Foundation Scholarship Committee, former Jinja MP and long time government minister Henry Kyemba during a press briefing a few days ago: The Madhvani Foundation is this year marking 50 years of support to Ugandan students and we would like to express our extreme joy at achieving this milestone. The Muljibhai Madhvani Foundation is a charitable trust that was set up in 1962 on the eve of Uganda’s Independence to honour the vision of the late Muljibhai Prabhudas Madhvani. It is with this milestone in mind that the board of the Foundation has set aside UShs 600 million this scholarship year to benefit Ugandan students in various universities across the country. Not only does this make it the largest amount ever donated by the foundation but also the largest by any private sector donor. We are looking for visionary individuals who would like a chance to play a role in transforming their societies. The requirements remain the same and we encourage students to visit the foundation website for more information and to download the application forms. The selection process will be transparent and all applications will be handled on an individual and unique basis.
Applications for Ugandan students, meeting the criteria for scholarships, are now invited until 31st of May and applicants are encouraged to visit www.madhvanifoundation.com where application forms can be accessed. Eligibility is restricted to Ugandan citizens and available to students who have finished their first year of study and have a Cumulative Grade Point Average CGPA of 2.2 with no retakes done in the first year. Notably, students in tourism and hospitality courses, besides many other fields, are able to apply, it has been pointed out by a source from Marasa Africa, aimed at creating a human resource pool of skilled young people who can form he backbone of Ugandas hospitality industry in the years to come.
