Mutungo Primary School emerged champions of the 2018 Fresh Dairy Schools Programme, winning a newly built nursery block, following a highly competitive yoghurt cup collection challenge.

The 1st Runner Up prize went to Murchison Bay Primary School who won a newly renovated multi-purpose hall while the 2nd Runner Up prize was taken by Kirinya Catholic Primary School winning 20 classroom desks.

Speaking during the grand finale event held at Mutungo Primary School on October 3, 2018, Vincent Omoth – Marketing Manager Fresh Dairy said, ‘Fresh Dairy has for two consecutive years run a schools program aimed at educating children on nutrition with an inclination towards encouraging the consumption of 1-Yoghurt-a-Day as a healthy and nutritious snack.”

He said this year’s Fresh Dairy’s School Program which started on March 15, 2018 reached at least 300,000 primary school pupils as well as teachers and parents in over 350 primary schools across Kampala, Wakiso and Mukono districts, a time during which free yoghurt was given out to all students for sampling to further re-emphasize the 1-Yoghurt-a-Day nutrition message.

Caroline Muchobia, a nutritionist Fresh Dairy said: “ Yoghurt as one of the products we produce at Fresh Dairy is an ideal nutrition booster for children because it is a healthy and nutritious snack that is rich in Vitamin A, B, D, E, Calcium and Potassium. School going children not only require adequate nutrition in order to meet their growth milestones and lead healthy lives but also need to learn best health and nutrition practices at an early age that they keep as they grow. Currently Fresh Dairy produces five flavours of yoghurt to include Strawberry, Vanilla, Mango, Plain and Mixed Berries.”

Omoth further said that the 2018 Fresh Dairy Schools program – Yoghurt Cup Collection Challenge dared all participating schools and their pupils to collect as many Fresh Dairy Yoghurt Cups as they possibly could, and then build any innovative model out of them which aimed to drive their creativity skills. ‘Mutungo Primary School pupils emerged winners for building the most creative model of a football stadium out Fresh Dairy yoghurt cups having been inspired by a desire to own an actual stadium.’

The Head teacher of Mutungo Primary School, Innocent Bainomugisha said: “I want in a special way to thank Fresh Dairy for giving back to the community. I want to request the Fresh Dairy team that now that they have started, it should not end.”
The hand-over event was presided over by George Mutekanga Assistant Commissioner Private Schools in the Ministry of Education and Sports.

Mutekanga said: “This Fresh Dairy program is 3-fold, it is meant to educate children, teachers and parents on not only health but on nutritional habits. They have also learnt that after eating don’t liter. The children have created a football stadium after eating yoghurt.”
Mutekanga also promised to consult with Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to look for land where an actual football stadium could be constructed in order to fulfill the children’s dreams of having a stadium.

As part of the hand-over event, Fresh Dairy also rewarded winners in two more categories of the 2018 Fresh Dairy Program;
Winners in the Best Teacher Category; Erasmus Savior from Mutungo Parents Primary School and Geoffrey Kyazze from Bright Day and Boarding Primary School. Both of the teachers received laptops as rewards from Fresh Dairy for successfully mobilizing their pupils to collect yoghurt cups.

Winners in the Best Student Category: Elisha Pascal from Uganda Martyrs Primary School and Komakech Mohammed from Police Children’s Primary School both received bicycles from Fresh Dairy for making the best individual models out of Fresh Dairy Yoghurt Cups.
Omoth concluded by noting that Fresh Diary will continue running the Fresh Dairy School Program next year in order to reach out to more schools with the health and nutritional message.
The health and nutrition benefits of consuming 1-Yoghurt-a-Day include:
CALCIUM: Yoghurt contains calcium which is the main mineral in our bodies. Calcium is beneficial for increasing bone mass in children as well as preventing fractures in adults. This is particularly important for postmenopausal women, who have decreased bone turnover as a consequence of hormonal changes accompanying menopause.

Calcium also increases the body’s breakdown of fat and helps preserve one’s metabolism, which in turn helps with weight management. A well-managed weight in turn reduces the risk of Type 2 Diabetes.
PROTEIN: Yogurt contains protein which contributes to both the maintenance and growth of muscle mass and normal bones. Proteins cannot be stored in the body which means they need to be part of our daily diets;
VITAMIN D: Yoghurt also contains Vitamin D which helps reduce the risk of osteoporosis, which is a medical condition in which the bones become brittle and fragile from loss of bone tissue;
VITAMIN B2 and B12: Yoghurt contains Vitamin B2 and B12 which both contribute to normal energy-yielding metabolism, while B2 vitamin also helps maintain normal vision;

POTASSIUM: Yoghurt contains Potassium which helps reduce the blood-pressure; Yoghurt can also protect against gastrointestinal infections by suppressing the growth of pathogens that cause intestinal disturbances such as diarrhea which often comes as a result of infection or over-use of antibiotics.

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By George Mangula

The Government of Uganda recently announced its plan to rationalise agencies, commissions and authorities, causing a wide-spread debate on the implications of the changes on the affected institutions, employment opportunities and service delivery.

Now local insurance players under the umbrella of Uganda Insurers’ Association (UIA) have come up to, urge government to leave out their regulator-the Insurance Authority of Uganda (IRA), which they say has helped so much as mandated, to streamline the operations in the industry, leading to a considerable growth.

“One of the key reasons being fronted for the proposed reforms is that the many agencies have exerted a lot of pressure on the government budget. This does not apply to IRA which delivers its mandate through an established strategic partnership with the private sector and in fact is 100 per cent funded by the industry players through annual contribution(s), says UIA’s Vice Chairman David Kuria.

“…UIA unanimously recognises and indeed supports government’s efforts to streamline institutions and agencies to enhance operational efficiency; we do however note that whereas the intention is noble, it will also undo all the progress made to ensure the systematic growth of the insurance industry,” other association’s leaders state.

Insurance supervision is governed on the basis of the Insurance Core Principles (ICPs) and ICP 2 particularly provides for the independence of a supervisor (IRA) to be operationally independent, accountable and transparent. It is in recognition of this and other global practices that even the current Insurance Act 2017 was amended, they say.

In a statement they say that compliance with the international best practices of regulation has made investment in insurance in Uganda very attractive even to very large international insurance groups and the proposed reform may be impact on our global competitiveness and subsequently on our Shareholders’ appetite in the local insurance industry.

“Fortunately for Uganda, the government of Uganda was well ahead of Insurance Act 2017 and made the provision for the establishment of the Insurance Regulatory of Uganda as early as 1996 to specifically nurture the growth of this industry,” adds UIA Chairman Allan Mafabi.

He says that as a result of that move, as well as the different initiatives taken on by the industry, the total premium written has increased to Shs728 billion in 2017 from Shs296 billion in 2011, signifying a 13 digit growth.

The independence of this Authority has allowed for a mode of supervision that has fewer ambiguities, less bureaucracies and is very supportive to the private sector business. Moving the industry to a Regulator whose key mandate does not explicitly relate to insurance even if that Regulator is the Bank of Uganda- whose key mandate is monetary policy- will stagnate if not retard our progress.”

Today, the IRA oversees the supervision of 29 Insurance Companies, 37 Brokers, 14 Bancassurance Agents, 28 Loss Assessors/Adjustors, five Health Membership Organisations, 1893 Agents and the National Reinsurance Company.

“Uganda presents an over 95 per cent market growth opportunity for insurance penetration and it is our expectation that as we implement different initiatives in partnership with our members, the different players and stakeholders, we should see penetration rise to 3 per cent by 2025. It is imperative that we do this in an environment that is sound and secure as has been ably demonstrated by the IRA,” says Paul Kavuma, UIA ‘s Chief Executive Officer.

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