There was an economic rival at Kyambogo University as the university temporarily stopped behaving like a university and started behaving like an economic revival center as students packed the Heart to Harvest Lecture Series with the attentiveness of people who had finally discovered somebody was teaching survival in subtitles they could actually understand.
Phones came out for notes instead of TikTok. Heads nodded aggressively. Laughter kept colliding with serious economic truths every few minutes like a taxi conductor arguing with a passenger over 500 shillings.
From the front rows to students with disabilities, participation filled the room with unusual energy as they listened attentively to grab something economically.
Honest and fellow students with disabilities fully engaged in the discussions, proving one of the core messages of the day: productivity, intelligence, and value creation carry no physical limitation.
The Heart to Harvest Lecture Series, founded by Dr. Okello Sharon Nagenjwa aka Girl From Oyam through Triumph Women Uganda, has steadily grown into a youth empowerment platform focused on economic activation, leadership, mindset transformation, and practical wealth creation for young people.
This particular edition centered around the theme “How To Make Money Without Money,” using the Musevenomics framework, an economic philosophy championed by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and strategically packaged for grassroots understanding and youth empowerment by Gen. Caleb Akandwanaho aka Salim Saleh.
Delivering the keynote lecture, CEO of Triumph Women Uganda, Dr. Okello Sharon Nagenjwa, opened the session with the declaration:
“I am value.”
The room echoed it back loudly.
She then broke down Musevenomics as a people-centered economic philosophy teaching that wealth creation begins with self-activation long before financial capital arrives.
“Many young people are sleeping factories introducing themselves as unemployed,” she told students.
Using wit, storytelling, scripture, humor, and lived experience, Dr. Sharon explained how: a voice can become infrastructure, confidence can become currency, pain can become platform, visibility can become income, and discipline can become economic power.
At one point students burst into laughter when she explained that some people own expensive smartphones only to use them for gossip, stalking exes, and forwarding “Gud mrng dear 🌹” messages, while others use the same phones to build businesses, markets, brands, and careers.
“The problem is sometimes a sleeping mind inside a fully charged phone,” she said.
The lecture explored key Musevenomics doctrines including self-value addition, productivity, discipline, strategic thinking, street smartness, fear, creativity, and the three stages of wealth creation: making money without money, making money with money, and making money in your sleep.
Representing the UNDP Resident Representative, Ms Annette Mbabulungi emphasized hard work, consistency, and intentional growth among young people, encouraging students to position themselves actively for opportunities.
Mr. Sedrick Otolo also shared his personal story, reminding students that difficult beginnings do not determine final outcomes and that resilience remains one of the greatest economic assets a young person can possess.
Students remained highly interactive throughout the session, asking questions, responding enthusiastically, and writing notes with the seriousness of people revising for an examination called rent, survival, and adulthood.
By the end of the lecture, one thing had become very clear: Many students arrived looking for motivation. They left looking at themselves like undeveloped industries waiting for activation.
