Spotlight of the Month: Amos Ongere
By Amos Ongere,
The transition from university to the professional world often comes with uncertainties for graduates. According to a Human Sciences Research Council (2025) survey, nearly 30.3% of African young graduates aged 20–29 are yet to establish solid career pathways, whether in employment, entrepreneurship, or further studies – in the Mastercard Foundation transition context. A glance at the cornerstone of my journey, a year post graduation translates my passion for digital strategy, empowerment for community programs and personal development.
My career has in a great way nursed this ambition in strengthening sustainable strategies and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance). For instance, leading the digital strategy for the Africa HealthTech Summit 2025 has captivated my focus; I have mapped the digital health stakeholder ecosystem (entrepreneurs, policy makers, investors) and identified 5 critical adoption gaps, informing Dala Africa’s 2025-2027 digital roadmap. Additionally, I have designed KPI dashboards and automated workflows for the Africa Smart Cities Investment Summit, enabling senior executives to track over 3,000 delegate registrations and partner engagement in real time. This role has extended my research on emerging technologies from the diverse perspectives of politics, health, ethics and the law, being vital dynamics of global health. Moreover, I have recently graduated from the Udacity Nanodegree program as an AWS Business Intelligence Engineer and the Cyber Shujaa program on Cloud and Network Security track. This has built my skills in securing health systems and powering data driven insights through real time apps and dashboards.
As the ASG representative for USIU-Africa, I led the launch of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Alumni Chapter at USIU-Africa, where I also spearheaded programs on digital skills for scholars with disabilities, inclusive leadership, and alumni networking. Through these initiatives, we saw increased engagement from a broader cross-section of scholars, strengthening our community’s inclusivity and capacity. Building on that momentum, we recently hosted an Alumni Leadership & Governance webinar that focused on establishing governance mechanisms, reinforcing peer-to-peer and institutional linkages, and designing a sustainable governance framework for the long term. Furthermore, in collaboration with inHive Global, I co-designed a “Building Alumni Community Capacity” training series covering leadership, chapter formation, programming, data management, and communications and technology. As a result, we are equipping alumni with concrete skills to run and scale our network – promoting self-reliance, professionalism, and ongoing connectivity. Currently, our engagement strategy and a draft alumni constitution are under review as we work to formalize a durable, inclusive leadership structure. This effort promises to institutionalize our alumni chapter, ensuring that our growth is not just sustained but anchored in shared values and governance.
Looking forward, I am more motivated than ever. I plan to grow the USIU-Africa Alumni Chapter by bringing in more cohorts, diversifying program offerings, and strengthening our governance structures. Professionally, I aim to scale cross-regional collaborations in digital health, turning pilots into sustainable systems that uplift underserved communities. Most importantly, I see my role as a connector: bridging alumni, innovation, and institutional actors to translate insights into impact. We continue to build, connect, and govern with a shared purpose of capacity building to scale to greater heights.
