Part 3 of 5 - AfChix Uganda Stories Featuring Emily Namugaanyi

Emily Namugaanyi is a member of the AfChix Network – she is a natural mobilizer, is enthusiastic about developing applications and she also delivers on time. She is proficient in systems analysis & design and programming in Python, Java, HTML and CSS. Emily recently completed her Bachelor of Software Engineering degree from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda and will graduate in January 2014.

Emily missed attending the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women In Computing Conference that was held in Minneapolis USA (2-5 October 2013) because of a conflict of engagements after she was recruited by ThoughtWorks Uganda Ltd as an Application Developer. She had to travel to India for orientation at the ThoughtWorks University - a program designed for new hires to be introduced to the software world.

Emily had worked with her team members to successfully submit a paper for GHC 2013 entitled “Mobile Experiences for the differently-abled in Uganda”.  While at the ThoughtWorks University in India, Emily organized a “lunch and learn” session where she presented this paper. In response to her presentation that was well received, the following issues came up:

1. Developers in the audience said that they had never thought about developing apps for the differently-abled users. The audience challenged Emily and her team to make a difference by developing apps for the differently abled.
2. An app challenge was proposed as a method of creating awareness and getting developers to begin developing for the differently abled

Emily is flying high, has big plans for a career in software development and looks forward to being a first time GHC 2014 attendee in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.