KAMPALA: Tension and excitement are building as eight outstanding schools from across Uganda gear up for the grand finale of the Stanbic National Schools Championship (NSC) 2025, known as the Battle of Champions, happening on 29 th August 2025 at Mestil Hotel in Kampala.
This year marks a decade of the competition, which has evolved into a vital platform for nurturing young entrepreneurs and innovators in the country.
The event, which culminates after a rigorous seven-month journey, has attracted over 500 students from more than 150 schools.
These young innovators have developed solutions addressing real-world challenges, from health to energy and agriculture. The finalists emerged after an intense boot camp held in May at Seroma Christian School in Mukono District, where over 90 schools were eliminated within the first three days.
“We entered the boot camp with 150 secondary schools in the Student Spark category (students currently in school) and 12 businesses from the Business Fellowship category comprising of NSC Alumni. The competition saw eliminations from 150 to 90 schools, then down to 60, and by the end of the seventh day at the boot camp, only 16 schools remained. As of today, we have only two schools representing each region, making a total of eight schools qualifying for the grand finale,” said Cathy Adengo, Head Sustainability Stanbic Bank Uganda.
Among the finalists is St. Noah SSS Mawaggali, whose project dubbed the WalkMate Smart Glasses aims to improve the mobility and independence of visually impaired individuals by combining smart glasses, a locator, and a smart cane into a comprehensive navigation system.
Other standout projects include: Summayya High School’s UTI detector, which helps identify urinary tract infections early.
Western Uganda’s Sacred Heart Secondary School – Mushanga are in the battle an automatic drinking water pumping system for institutions, prototyped in February 2025, with two units sold to their school so far.
Still from the West is Ibanda Secondary School with scented insect-repellent candles made from coffee and cloves, targeting markets like lodges and supermarkets.
From Eastern Uganda, St. Mary’s Girls Secondary School Mandera are also in the showdown with an innovative diabetes testing kit that allows flexible blood sugar monitoring whereas Musana Vocational High School produced an independent power source that requires no gasoline, solar, natural gas, or wind power to operate.
Comboni College Lira is representing the Northern region with a smoke-free electric generator, designed to address power shortages in rural areas as Mentor Secondary School’s automated patient monitoring device used in healthcare settings to manage intravenous therapy.
Diana Ondoga, Head of Social Corporate Investment at Stanbic Bank, highlighted the importance of the competition in shaping the mindset of Uganda’s youth. “The NSC aims to equip youthful secondary and vocational school students with entrepreneurial and practical skills, fostering innovation and problem-solving,” she said.
She added that Stanbic National Schools Championship has impacted over 500,000 students
and also ignited the birth of more than 200 businesses thus contributing to the economic
transformation of the country.
She added that Stanbic National Schools Championship has impacted over 500,000 students and also ignited the birth of more than 200 businesses thus contributing to the economic transformation of the country.
This initiative also perfectly aligns in Uganda’s National Curriculum, especially the Competency- Based Curriculum (CBC), which emphasizes skills, knowledge, values, and attitudes essential for real-world success.
As the grand finale approaches, she revealed that the winning school will take home a solar panel worth UGX 20 million, the second school will receive a water system worth UGX 10 million, and the last two schools will win scholastic materials.
There is also a commemorative prize of an all-expenses-paid trip to Johannesburg, South
Africa, for two students and their teacher. She concluded that given Stanbic Bank’s strategy focusing on Women, Youth, and Farmers (WYF), this project addresses the youth constituency by equipping them with practical skills to tackle the challenge of unemployment.
