More than 50 of East Africa’s most influential Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) convened last week for the first-ever CTIO Summit 2025, held at the scenic Brovad Sands Lodge on Kalangala Island.
The high-level, three-day summit provided a premier platform for digital leaders to engage in strategic dialogue, exchange insights, and strengthen regional collaboration across key technology domains — from cybersecurity and cloud services to data monitoring, colocation, and connectivity.
“The conversations at this summit were a powerful reminder that our collective success hinges on continuous innovation and robust collaboration,” said one of the event organizers. “By bringing together the region’s top tech decision-makers, we’ve laid the groundwork for significant advancements in Uganda’s digital economy.”
Among the featured speakers, Vincent Nuwamanya, Enterprise Account Manager for the East African Region at Cohesity, underscored the growing need for modern data resilience amid escalating cyber threats.
“In an era of relentless cyber threats, particularly ransomware, the conversation has moved beyond just preventing attacks to ensuring swift and reliable data recovery and business continuity,” Nuwamanya said. “The CTIO Summit provided a vital space to discuss how to make data inherently resilient and instantly accessible.”
James Byaruhanga, Managing Director of Roke Cloud, emphasized the importance of developing robust, local cloud infrastructure to strengthen digital sovereignty across Africa.
“We must empower African businesses with secure, low-latency, and compliant infrastructure that keeps valuable data within our borders,” Byaruhanga noted. “The synergy of ideas here was phenomenal.”
Meanwhile, Caroline Kamaitha, General Manager of Raxio Uganda, highlighted the role of data centers as the backbone of the region’s digital transformation.
“Data centres are crucial to powering fintech, government services, and the broader digital economy,” Kamaitha said. “Collaboration between technology leaders and infrastructure providers will be key to ensuring scalability and security as Uganda’s digital growth accelerates.”
The summit’s success was supported by leading industry sponsors, including Roke Cloud Ltd, Westcon-Comstor, Sophos, Raxio Data Centre, Motadata, Cohesity, Roke Telkom Ltd, and Tyms.
The CTIO Summit 2025 has set a new benchmark for technology leadership engagement in Uganda. The actionable insights and collaborations forged during the event are expected to shape the strategic technology roadmaps for some of the region’s largest enterprises — fueling sustainable digital growth and innovation.
