President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has met with Mehamood Hosein, founder and chairman of U.S.-based Hive Global Group, to discuss potential investment in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and digital transformation in Uganda.
The meeting, held at State House Entebbe, focused on a proposal to establish HIVE Uganda and The Global AI Village, initiatives that Hosein said could position Uganda as a leading AI hub in Africa and a centre for computing and intelligence services.
“I welcome you to Uganda. AI is a gap. I am happy to learn from you and what you bring to the AI industry,” President Museveni said.
Hosein, who also founded the Massachusetts-based Hosein Family Office, said the global economy was entering a new phase driven by artificial intelligence, with computing infrastructure expected to play a central role in economic growth.
“We helped build the infrastructure that powered the information age. Today, AI infrastructure will power the intelligence age and become a major driver of global economic growth,” he said.
Hosein was among the early engineers at EMC Corporation, a data-storage technology company that grew to employ more than 55,000 people worldwide before becoming part of Dell Technologies in 2016.
He said the proposed HIVE Uganda and Global AI Village initiatives would bring together AI computing centres, reliable energy, education, research, technology development and international private investment.
“My vision is to help make Uganda the leading AI nation in Africa by building the critical infrastructure needed to transform the continent into a major global computing hub. We want Uganda to produce and export intelligence services to the world, just as nations export oil, minerals and manufactured goods,” Hosein said.
He said the proposal extended beyond building data centres to developing a technology ecosystem that could attract international technology companies, support research and innovation, expand digital skills and create new technology-based industries.
Hosein also highlighted the importance of reliable and competitively priced electricity to support the energy-intensive computing infrastructure required for large-scale AI operations.
He said the initiative would seek to mobilise international private capital to develop commercially sustainable infrastructure without adding to Uganda’s sovereign debt burden.
The meeting signals interest in exploring AI investment opportunities in Uganda. However, details on the proposed projects’ investment value, implementation timeline, power requirements and expected job creation were not provided in the statement.
