The Director Action for liberty and Economic Development (ALED), John Mugabi Socrates has been nominated in the “Business Advocacy Award of the Year” category at the upcoming National Quality Awards 2026.
Mugabi’s nomination in the awards organised by the National Entrepreneurs and Traders Association (NETAUGANDA), follows his “Taasa Omusubuuzi” (Save the Vendor) Project.
When contacted, Mr Mugabi, who expressed delight at the nomination explained that the ‘Taasa Omusubuzi’ (Save the Vendor) initiative is aimed improving the business environment for informal vendors and small entrepreneurs in Entebbe and the wider Wakiso area.
“Through business advocacy, legal support, media engagement, and dialogue with local leaders, Taasa Omusubuzi seeks to ensure that vendors are treated fairly, understand their rights and obligations, and have opportunities to operate their businesses in a predictable, supportive regulatory environment” he said.
Through the Save the Vendor campaign, 14 traders recently managed to regain their lock ups in Entebbe Kitooro Taxi Park, following years of long running court battles.
The case which was before the Civil Division of the High court, presided over by Justice Acellam Collins was set for ruling on May 8th this year, saw a milestone mutual agreement reached between the Entebbe Municipal Council authorities, the legal representatives of the traders, and the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC).
The mediation saw rigorous interventions and the firm compliance guidelines issued by the Ministry of Local Government, with all self-allocated spaces previously held by municipal technical staff and politicians under pseudonyms were vacated.
Consequently, immediate priority was extended to the original, verified market vendors, which has seen a total of 14 key pioneer traders successfully reinstated and formally issued official allocation letters for their commercial spaces.
The case stemmed from the Municipal council’s alleged violation of the 2017 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), between Entebbe Municipal Council and the registered vendors of Kitooro Taxi Park that owned lockups and traded in the park before its re-development.
The traders previously accused the Municipal of failing to grant first priority to the original market traders to get stalls during the allocation exercise, following the opening of the new Kitooro taxi park in January last year which has a total of 249 shops and cost over UGX 10 billion during construction, that started in 2017 under the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development Programme (USMID).
The high level awards which will convene more than 1 ,000 elite delegates, including industry captains, senior government decision-makers, corporate leaders and regional investors from across East Africa, will take place on November 27th at the Kampala Marriott Hotel.
President Yoweri Museveni is expected to be the Chief Guest at the awards themed, “Excellence Beyond Borders: Celebrating Innovation, Enterprise & Impact”.
