Stella Nantongo, Co-director of Fotea speaking at the 2024 edition of the Uganda Press Photo Award
Inarguably, the COVID19 pandemic altered society’s fabric. With every nation focused on containing the virus, majority of the Western donor funding – that often sustained socio-economic development projects in the global south, was suspended. The onus was on capable individuals to continue working towards the development of their respective countries. In Uganda, this led to the rise of local philanthropy, with corporations and individuals giving to the national covid task force, their communities, and neighbors in the form of money, food and hygiene products among other things.
The pandemic equally amplified the dire needs of our communities, prompting Linda Mutesi and Dr John Mark Bwanika to formalize their operations at the Future Generations Foundation(FGF). The objective was to invest in long-term transformative work, bridge the gap between partners with ideas and partners with resources, and exemplify positive community led change.
“We are wealthy in our ability to share of our time, knowledge and expertise. Giving is a duty and obligation, because life is communal” says Linda Mutesi, a feminist lawyer, arts lover and conduit for resources within the grassroots community.
From the age of 10 when Linda lost her mother, she was parented by a wider extended family and grew up thinking of herself as a community’s child. She carried this perspective well into her adulthood and continued sharing whatever resource she had with her friends; because while an African upbringing may not often be abundant in material, we can always count on each other, and that is an inexplicable amount of wealth.
Linda Mutesi at the launch of 32° East Art Center
For that reason, when Benjamin Rukwengye, the founder of Boundless Minds, put out a $5,000 crowdfunding call on X (formerly Twitter) in December 2019, to build a virtual learning platform where University students can access work-readiness skilling content and resources, Linda donated. Benjamin was so touched by her donation, that he told all his friends about it, including John Mark whom he later introduced to Linda because of their likemindedness.
John Mark Bwanika, a medical doctor, e-health specialist and founding partner of Rocket Health Africa – a digital telemedicine company, had previously hosted free medical camps for street children. Much like Linda, community was a huge component of his upbringing. Owing to the loss of his father at 15, his mother – a housewife with 9 children, could not afford to pay his school fees. Through the generosity of his classmates and father’s friends, along with scholarships from The Kabaka’s Education Fund and the Ugandan Government, John Mark was able to finish school. “I have gone to almost every top university in the world and travelled, I consider myself privileged. A lot of people may not access these opportunities, so it is my duty and responsibility to ensure they do.”
The Future Generations Foundation story begins when Linda Mutesi and Dr. John Mark eventually meet. Linda had an interest in Future Generations because children need a starting point, and John Mark recognized the power of mobilizing ourselves to solve pertinent societal issues. They both realized the need to build trust within our communities and redefine philanthropy as mutual aid, which inherently is our African Way of living.
Dr John Mark Bwanika, left and Mr. Benjamin Rukwengye, right
In a bid to dismantle the oppressive systems of grant making, prioritize our indigenous roots and promote heritage focused advancements for Africa, the FG Foundation Theory of Change was formed. Internal, social, and structural systems were implemented within the foundation, to determine the success of the theory and identify which FGF interventions and qualities would sustain the anticipated ecosystem outcomes i.e. local-led ideation and giving, revenue generating and self-sustaining creatives, environment & biodiversity preservation, to mention but a few.
Prior to establishing the FG Foundation structure, Linda and John Mark were giving from their personal finances. Which meant that their impact could barely go beyond friends and family. Therefore, pooling resources in one account allowed the foundation to double its impact, and create an archive of their work and partnerships. In turn, this enhanced FGF’s visibility and attracted like minded people who were looking to give, but did not know where to start. As such, the busy dynamic duo was presented a new task, to build a community of trustworthy individuals in this performative digital era. They have achieved this by contributing to art exhibitions and sports events, to create physical spaces that convene individuals with diverse interests, and allow knowledge sharing and idea propagation across industries
While working with people is hit and miss, Linda believes that paying attention to what ails others enables us to work better together. “Sometimes, our personal challenges overlap with community needs, leading to conflict of all sorts” – Linda Mutesi. In the same spirit, John Mark believes that these physical spaces allow individuals to experience each other’s worlds, resolve conflict, guarantee equitable contributions, make everyone feel valuable and introduce people to better. “Have a meal with the people you disagree with online, so you can better understand each other’s world view.” – John Mark
Courtesy of Njabala Foundation
With a vision to nurture a community of informed, socially conscious and self-driven people who champion equitable, progressive, and heritage-derived ideas to advance Africa, the Future Generations Foundation currently works under the framework of three pillars:
Partnering with Community and Civic Organisations. The foundation supports community-based sports and artistic activities (music, literature, virtual arts, film/video and playwriting) in addition to individuals working in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) field. Since formalizing in 2021, the most notable partnerships have included Uganda press Photo Awards (UPPA) that creates growth opportunities for photographers in East Africa and Njabala Foundation, an organisation that curates exhibitions as safe spaces for female artists to blossom among others. “It is easier to learn about the effects of poor waste management through a picture” – John Mark. Through partner spaces like the 32° East Art Center, Trevor Aloka, a brilliant young artist, was introduced to mentors who guided and encouraged him to expand his work beyond borders. He has since been a part of the Silent Invasions group exhibition at Amasaka Gallery; and with support from the Future Generations Foundation, Aloka participated in a 3month residency program at the Blaxtarlines Artist Collective, at the Department of Art & Sculpture in Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Ghana, and took part in Okuyiriba, The Bread Hunt Group Exhibition.
Preserving Bio and Cultural Diversity. Under this pillar, the Foundation seeks to accentuate African culture by researching, curating, documenting, archiving and disseminating African historical and contemporary languages, art, music, relics, Fauna, Flora and customs. FGF is currently conducting more research and curating data on all indigenous plants and animals of medicinal, cultural and economic value, together with our people’s culture, heritage and history. This data will be archived in a digital repository and a publicly accessible virtual museum, to expand the foundation’s cultural preservation objectives. So far, 1184 data entries on Uganda’s indigenous people have been collected, in addition to 1035 medicinal plant species and 1054 entries on Ugandan animals with economic and cultural value.
Nurturing Early Stage Enterprises. The focus of this theme is to provide foundational business essentials, and startup advisory for innovative businesses, that are capable of employing our people, solving various societal challenges, and competing on a global stage. For our communities and Africa as a whole to progress, we ought to boost startup businesses, by tailoring our support to their unique needs. The foundation encourages early-stage enterprises in two ways: First, through in-depth non-financial support, in the form of expert-led workshops, mentorship programs, legal and taxation advice, strategic financial planning, along with monitoring & evaluation. Second, by providing startups with tailored financing in the form of short-term or multi-year grants, that can partially be applied to administrative costs, allowing businesses to focus on product development, infrastructure, customer acquisition and team building. In the first year of operation, the foundation piloted companies in the Sports Development & Management, Local cuisine & food heritage, Fintech & Digital finance, body care & wellness, and the Hospitality sectors. These include QI Sports Management, Ensaka Kitchen in Jinja, HubPay, 180Degrees Glow, and Mutima Villas respectively.
Safinah Mugide, Winner of the 2nd edition Women in Chess Tournament supported by FG Foundation
Over and above convening more givers to advance the ongoing work in alignment with the aforementioned pillars, the foundation aspires to establish standard frameworks for identifying progressive ideas, and verifying which new 10 startups and 10 foundations to partner with. Additionally, a clear target input for revenue generation and a working guide will be developed to guarantee maximum impact under the early enterprise support and community partnership themes.
To fortify the impact and legacy of the Future Generations Foundation, Linda Mutesi is presently pursuing a Masters in Philanthropic Studies, to better equip herself and streamline her work. John Mark recently matriculated to the University of Oxford, Saïd Business School in pursuit of an Executive MBA, to enhance his skills and drive the foundation’s performance. This exemplifies their unwavering dedication to the FGF mission: to generate and catalyse community based ideas and solutions in Africa through resource sharing and partnership-building.
