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The Story of Jabali Uganda

Jabali is a charity dedicated to providing underprivileged and vulnerable children in Uganda the tools they need to succeed. We are driven by a passionate belief in the transformative power of education, sport, and mentoring to unlock potential and change lives.

With long-term support and a holistic approach to education and personal development, our mission is to build a programme that inspires belief and delivers the opportunities and experiences to allow our members to change their lives and the lives of those around them.

How Jabali Works

Jabali’s primary purpose is to support children of all ages, from primary right through to
university and vocational/technical college. Working with a carefully selected group of schools and institutions that share our values, we ensure our members have access to the very best learning environments. Once our support begins, we will ensure that each child completes their education all the way to tertiary. From start to finish.

Our primary support is paying tuition fees to allow our members to attend high quality schools, vocational institutes, and universities. On these foundations, we build a package of support that ensures each Jabli member’s education is uninterrupted. This could include uniforms, stationery, transport to and from school and sanitary kits for girls . We do this in partnership with our members’ parents, caregivers and school management.

Beyond this, Jabali will also provide a personal development programme, consisting of mentoring, workshops and sporting opportunities. This will provide members with “out of the classroom” experiences needed to grow confidence and leadership skills, and to prepare them for a life in the workplace.

Jabali members are selected based on extensive due diligence we carry out on each child’s family circumstances as well as interviews to assess the child’s commitment to completing their education and commitment to the Jabali programme.

We have also leveraged our relationships with the schools in the local area to ensure that the progress of the children is regularly reported on.

Inspired by the Founders' Journey

Two of our founders, Henry and Allan grew up in Naguru, at the time one of Kampala’s largest slums. Through their love of sport they received the support of an organisation offering school fees to talented sports persons. They excelled at school and university and upon finishing they both began working for the organization that had supported them. At its peak, this organisation supported over 300 children.

Today, Henry, is the Uganda Country Representative of Street Child, an international NGO, and Allan is, the Director and Co-Owner of a successful construction equipment and heavy machinery company.

Henry and Allan also worked hard to become two of the country’s top competitive tennis players as well as playing in the top cricket league. They credit sports as fundamental to their journeys as it taught them to be disciplined and goal-oriented, supported their mental and physical health, showed them the virtues of teamwork, and exposed them to new ways of thinking, working, and being.

Empowered by their own journey and the success of so many other former members they grew up with, Henry and Allan now want to build an organisation that can sustainably pass on the life-changing support that enabled them to thrive.

Team

Jabali is registered in both Uganda and the UK

Jabali Uganda is responsible for selecting Jabali members and designing and delivering all core activities to provide holistic education and personal development support to underprivileged and vulnerable children in Uganda. Jabali Uganda’s board consists of Henry Muyanja, Allan Senabulya, and Max Walter. Jabali UK is responsible for fundraising in the UK, Europe, and the rest of the world, managing donor relationships, and providing strategic support. Jabali UK’s board is composed of Joe Cottingham, Olivia De Burgh Marsh, and Max Walter. Child safeguarding is a top priority and an explicit core responsibility of all board members.

Henry Muyanja - Trustee and co-founder. Allan’s brother, was born and grew up in Naguru slum in Kampala. Henry and Allan worked at Lugogo Tennis Club as ball-boys, and later tennis coaches, to support their family and finance. Having financed his primary and secondary education by working at Lugogo and through scholarships, he completed a Bachelor of Business Computing at Uganda Christian University. Soon after this he was appointed as Programme Manager of Uganda Children’s Trust Fund, the same charity that had supported him through his education. At this time he met our co-founder Joe, with whom he went into entrepreneurial ventures in real estate and construction equipment leasing. Henry is now the Uganda Country Director for the global non-profit organisation StreetChild. He also founded Trailblazer Logistics Solutions, which provides car hire, safari, and other logistics services in Uganda.

Allan Senabulya - Trustee and co-founder. Allan grew up with Henry in Naguru and similarly worked at Lugogo Tennis Club to support the family and raise money for school fees. Allan, also supported by Uganda Children’s Trust Fund, then studied Bachelors of Business Administration at Makerere University and was approached by the charity to become its Finance Director. His entrepreneurial pursuits have included vehicle and heavy machinery import trade, car hire, and real estate investment. He later worked for StreetChild as Finance Manager before joining AfriMech, a construction machinery importer, as Sales Manager.

Max Walter - Trustee and co-founder. Originally from Germany, grew up in Kampala from age 9 to 19. He met Henry and Allan at Lugogo Tennis Club soon after arriving in Uganda and they have been close friends ever since. As a teenager Max co-founded an under-16 football club, Spirit FC, which competed at the highest levels in the country and was composed of some of the country’s brightest football talents from low-income Kampala households. Having studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics as well as Development Studies in the UK, Max returned to live in Uganda from 2017 to 2020 to co-found a policy think tank focusing on economic development in East Africa. Max is now based in Nairobi, Kenya, where he works as an economic policy advisor. He visits Kampala regularly.

Gallery

Team