“Miah, which simply stands for “Make it A Home”, is an online marketplace for student accommodation. We are putting convenience and reliability to how students and student-housing providers conduct their usual business in Uganda. MiahUg helps students find and book hostel rooms, within close proximity to their Universities, with no-hassle,” Emmanuel Akandwanaho, a Ugandan entrepreneur, told Savvy.

Emmanuel Akandwanaho is the Co-Founder/CEO of MiahUg, an online marketplace for student accommodation. When explaining why he started MiahUg, he says, “Freshers and International students find it challenging to secure suitable places of residence within a reasonable time frame. Even continuing students experience difficulties finding available rooms within a given hostel.”

After reserving a room, MiahUg helps students make secure payments from the comfort of their living spaces. “Students have to first send a booking request to the hostel, and upon confirmation, the student can proceed to make a secure payment. It’s important to note that the hostel management remains in full control of their hostel as they can monitor and regulate people who need rooms.”

We are putting convenience and reliability to how students and student-housing providers conduct their usual business.

Emmanuel Akandwanaho

University students, including Freshers, International students, Local students, and Continuing students, will find MiahUg helpful. Also, parents of students can use MiahUg to find better accommodations for their children. MiahUg intends to generate revenue through commissions on transactions when students pay for hostels through their platform. They believe this can help them break even and become self-sustaining. “We also have Miah Marketplace, where students can buy and sell products amongst themselves,” says Emmanuel Akandwanaho. “Our project is providing convenience to students, helping them make better and more informed decisions, and simultaneously changing the outlook of student accommodation in Uganda.”

When asked what makes his team the right people to solve this problem, he said, “Equipped with digital marketing skills, I have a background in Real Estate as I am studying Land Economics, which gives me adequate knowledge and understanding of the trends in Real Estate. I also have a team of three software developers (both back-end and front-end), who are full-time; working to bring our product offerings to fruition.”

When asked why he wanted to be a Savvy Fellow, Emmanuel said, “I want to learn more about startups and building favorable business models. I want to learn from a network of experienced entrepreneurs.”

Emmanuel Akandwanaho is a 2020 Savvy Fellow from Uganda. He is the Co-Founder/CEO of MiahUg.