The Uganda edition of the CITO East Africa Summit began as a room full of technology leaders comparing operational challenges. By the end of the evening, the conversation had evolved into a discussion about community, collaboration and the need for CIOs across East Africa to stop working in isolation.
The Uganda edition of the CITO East Africa Summit brought together about 50 CIOs and technology leaders from sectors including banking, healthcare, telecommunications, media, NGOs and consulting to discuss the growing challenges facing technology leadership across the region. What began as conversations around operational pressures evolved into broader discussions about collaboration, influence and the need for East Africa’s CIO community to become more connected.
While many arrived expecting technical discussions, the strongest moments often came from discovering how similar their experiences were.
One participant reflected on the growing complexity facing CIOs and questioned whether technology leaders were receiving enough support for the expanding expectations placed on them.
“There’s a lot of expectation around the ever evolving role of CIOs,” she said. “You’re expected to be a business strategist, a cost optimiser, a data and AI enabler.”
The conversation repeatedly returned to visibility and influence. Participants argued that technology leaders often remained too quiet inside organisations despite carrying responsibility for systems critical to business continuity, customer experience and security.
“We need to ensure that our voices are heard,” one participant said.
Others spoke about collaboration becoming essential, particularly in organisations where CIOs may not sit at the highest executive level. Rather than waiting for structures to change, some participants argued that technology leaders needed to build alliances across departments.
“Collaboration is your key to actually winning,” one speaker said. “You may talk and whine and say, oh, I need to report to the CEO, but it will not happen.”
The idea of shared learning gained momentum as the evening progressed. Participants discussed cybersecurity, regulation and digital infrastructure not as isolated company problems, but as challenges affecting entire industries and countries.
“How do we influence policy?” one participant asked. “How do we make sure those voices are heard?”
The summit also highlighted the importance of peer support in an increasingly risky digital environment. During the closing session, organisers recalled a conversation from another regional summit where several CIOs realised they had experienced cyber attacks around the same time without knowing others had been affected too.
“If they had known each other before, they probably would have talked,” one organiser said.
By the end of the evening, discussions had moved beyond immediate operational concerns into longer-term questions about East Africa’s digital future. Participants spoke about workforce development, entrepreneurship and building African technology companies capable of shaping the global economy.
“One of the members said the richest guys on this planet are actually owners of tech shops,” a participant recalled. “But what are we doing in Africa?”
The sense of building something collective became more visible during the closing moments, when participants were invited to sign a board marking the launch of the Uganda CIO community. Organisers described it as the beginning of a longer journey rather than a single event.
“If you want to go far, you go together,” one speaker said during the closing address.
As attendees moved towards dinner and continued informal conversations, the message that lingered was less about individual organisations and more about what technology leaders might achieve if they remained connected beyond the summit itself.
