Uganda as a country has had ingenious and highly talented youngsters and individuals, freelancers who enjoy and prefer executing their tasks in co-working spaces (Working alone can be boring.) Without any formal places of work, many of these freelancers seek to enjoy a comfortable and cozy atmosphere at a co-working space, where they may probably interact with and meet other freelance creatives in other fields (or theirs) and at the end of the day build their careers in diverse ways.
More to this, certain organizations and employers usually seek to work with freelancer creatives, who they find at many of these co-working spaces, some who have start-ups have gotten funding from large organizations.
People with start-ups, innovations at baby stages, creative ideas to bring to life, are the kind you will find in these hubs all with an aim to gain a foundation and build momentum to bolt away successfully in various skills and specialties.
The largest numbers of people you will find in these co-working spaces include; Information Technology enthusiasts (programmers, computer engineers, developers, and all kinds of techies), Graphics Designers, Animators, Video and film specialists, Painting/drawing artists, Social media specialists, Photographers to mention but a few; all working together in this digitalized but yet versatile economy.
These hubs have seen the creation of spaces where creative ideas have been harbored and helped grow, examples of these include The Kampala Innovation Week, an event hosted by Startup Uganda every year to see together startups, investors, innovation hubs, government agencies among other stakeholders in the ICT sector discuss the innovation ecosystem.
Read Also: Top 10 ecommerce websites in Uganda
These spaces also set up a series of hackathons, implement boot camps for individuals and entrepreneurs with limited or no experience and also hold technology events and creative talks from where ingenious freelancers build their know-how and connections.
Uganda has about 20+ incubation hubs, many located in the capital city Kampala, and others in far and nearby districts. Below are the best 10 co-working spaces & hubs where you might want to start a freelancing career or even source a team of creatives to help you on a project.
Contents
1.Hive Colab
Hive Colab was the first co-working space and incubation hub in Uganda. It was founded in 2010 by African technologist Jon Gosier, Marieme Jamme, Daniel Stern, Teddy Ruge and supported by Barbara Birungi.
Being one of Africa’s first and notable incubation hubs, it boasts of its affordable and collaborative workspace targeted to the tech and entrepreneur community of Uganda.
Their space area is large and cozy, with the perfect atmosphere where you can have a relaxing and comfortable feel all through. 
Since its opening, Hive Colab has shown significant support and upbringing of very many start-ups which include; We Farm a project that raised up to about $1M. Many other start-ups that have gained momentum from Hive Colab and made drastic changes in the tech spheres of Uganda include; Sula Pay –a mobile money transactions platform, Dignited – a top technology website, Yoza app – laundry and dry cleaning services app, Air Save, Access Mobile among others.
The prices of the space at hive colab are as below. (These include internet, subsidized cafe snacks and meals, 24hour access, and a locker)
| Individual | Group (3-4 people) | |
| Monthly prices (UGX) | 150000 | 400000 |
This also comes with pieces of training, one on one office hours with consultants, technical advice, connection to markets and investors.
Hive Colab is located at Kanjokya House, 4th floor, Plot 90 Kanjokya street, Kamwokya Kampala.
Click here to get the direction.
2.Makerere Innovation & Incubation Centre
This is an incubation space for young technopreneurs and freelancers with potential projects in different fields.
These different fields include; FinTech, Software & Services, Agriculture & Farming, Health, Gov’t Tech, Ad Tech, Energy, Education, Data & Security, E-commerce, Food & Beverages, Social, Supply Chain & Logistics, Media, Gaming among others.
The strategy followed at Makerere Innovation & Incubation Centre is as follows;
“MIIC identifies potential entrepreneurs with the best innovative ideas that use existing or new technology in a range of market sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, and tourism. We nurture and facilitate them from ideas to sustainable companies.”
The services offered after you obtain a space at this center include;
Consultation, Skills Training, Business Coaching, and Project Recruitment
Below are the prices to get yourself space at this innovation & IncubationCentre.
| PACKAGE | Incubation package | Freelancing package |
| WEEKLY COST | UGX 10,000 – 7000 | UGX 15000 |
| Doesn’t include Project recruitment | Doesn’t include Skills training |
The Makerere Innovation & Incubation Centre is located at Makerere University College of Computing and Informatics Technology, Block B Level 5.
Click here to get the direction.
3.Venture Labs EastAfrica
This unique workspace brings together global and local networks of innovators and creators to fashion ideas that are relevant to the problems available in the current economy.
The hub was established by CleanStar Ventures in 2014, a company that boasts of having the international know-how not only in regions of Africa but also experience in India and Brazil.
These solutions cut across rural and urban areas, and indeed this is a place for any creative to be.
The prices of the different packages offered for this co-working space are as follows.
| PACKAGE (These come with different offers, incentives, and time specifications) | Enclosed Office | Premium co-working | Virtual office | Co-working space |
| PRICES ($) | 300 – 1500 | 150 | 50 | 6 – 120 |
Venture labs East Africa is located at Plot 7, Binayomba Road Bugolobi, Kampala – Uganda.
Click here to get the direction.
4.Design Hub Kampala
Beyond being a co-working space, Design Hub is also known for hosting events most especially Creative Talks and Art Exhibitions.
Design Hub works with start-ups, expanding and established businesses. This is how their pricing is distributed. Here is the list of the packages they offer.
| PACKAGE | Start-up | Expanding | Established |
| Prices (UGX) | 215000
| 325000
| 415000
|
Design Hub is located next to Bata Factory outlet on 5th STREET, PLOT 3 BATA CLOSE, PO BOX 7381 KAMPALA.
Click here for directions.
5.The Innovation Village
Established in 2015, Innovation village boasts of converging over 2000 entrepreneurs to reimagine their possibilities by coming together, learning together, and growing together.
You might want to be a part of these entrepreneurs, so Innovation village made it easy for any creative by breaking down the creatives into sector Labs. They have the Climate Lab, Health Lab, Agri-business Lab, The Fintech Lab, The Media, and EdTech LAB, so feel free to visit their website for more information.
Innovation village is located at Ntinda Complex, Block B, 3rd Floor, Ntinda, Kampala, Uganda.
Click here to get the direction.
6.OutBox Hub
It is located on Lumumba Avenue, Kampala.
Click here to get directions.
7.The Space Hub
It is a workplace, community, and development services for entrepreneurs.
The prices of the different spaces are crafted for different classes of people.
They are listed as below.
| PACKAGES | Private space | Dedicated desk | Hot desk | Pay as you go |
| Monthly prices ($) | 500
| 100
| 80
| 10
|
It is located at Plot 4 Kanjokya Street, Kamokya.
Click here to get directions.
8.The Mawazo Innovation Hub
The Mawazo Innovation Hub is a division of the NFT Consult.
“It was established to support emerging Next Generation ICT businesses through accelerated technology commercialization. The Mawazo Innovation Hub has created a unique space for high-tech entrepreneurs, academics, researchers and venture capitalists to meet, network and collectively work towards growing the Ugandan economy through innovation.”, this is what Mawazo innovation Hub is about, as reported on their website.
NFT Mawazo celebrates successes through its creative developers who emerged the best in the Data Hack for finance season 2, and many other startups. (Read more here)
The Mawazo Innovation hub is located at NFT Mawazo Centre, Mulago View Hostel Rd, Kampala.
Click here to get directions.
9. WITU Hub
Women in Technology Uganda (WITU) is a co-working space targeted at creating a platform for women with innovative ideas. It is for Uganda female leaders, business women and technologists, all who are offered with the right training, mentorship and interactive collaborations sessions to work together and bring life to ideas.
There vision is; “A Zero Technological Gender Gap to Improve Women’s Lives”, and indeed this has been achieved through triumphs on a project such as Inspire where winners are given start-up
The projects at WITU hub are broken down as follows, career and leadership, code girls, events, external training, internship program, tech kids among others which are conducted in calculated ways to help different age groups of ladies.
[Photos from WITU Hub’s Facebook page]WITU hub is located on 18 Kanjokya St, Kampala.
Click here to get directions.
10. Tribe Kampala
An open and spacious environment for individuals and teams to work flexibly and most of all affordable.
Below are the pricings and services offered along each package.
| DAILY PACKAGES | Half day | Full day | Weekly |
|
|
| |
| UGX: 20000 | UGX: 30000 | UGX: 125000 |
| MONTHLY PACKAGES | 35 Hours | 70 Hours | 150 Hours | Unlimited |
|
|
|
| |
| $50 | $100 | $200 | $300 |
The Tribe Kampala hub is located in 8 Bukoto St, Kampala.
Click here to get directions.