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Home Innovation Baby Steps: Taking the First Giant Stride for Mother Tongues in Modern Uganda

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Baby Steps: Taking the First Giant Stride for Mother Tongues in Modern Uganda

Editor Corporate NewsUpdated 13 hours Ago2 Mins read26

In a world where English often takes center stage in education, Baby Steps dares to shift the spotlight back home, to Uganda’s rich tapestry of native languages, culture, and stories. This isn’t just an app; it’s a gentle revolution, made by young Ugandans, for Ugandan children.

A Digital Playground for Culture and Language

Baby Steps is a child-focused, interactive digital platform that makes learning local languages and culture fun, engaging, and deeply rooted in tradition. Through short games, songs, and animated stories, the platform helps kids reconnect with their heritage – all while building confidence in their mother tongue.

The problem Baby Steps tackles is real and urgent: many children in Uganda are losing fluency in their native languages. This is driven by a lack of learning materials in local languages, the dominance of English media, and modern parenting schedules that often leave little room for cultural transmission. Baby Steps is their joyful answer; a way to make language learning feel like play, not homework.

Meet the Dream Team

Ahumuza Ariyo Nimusiima – Founder & Team Lead. A software engineer with a vision: to harness code to preserve culture. According to his own site, this was his final-year project at Makerere University, developed in collaboration with his team.
Kahuma Andrew – Co-Founder, bringing energy and creativity.
Victoria Ndamurani – Team Member whose voice and insights help bring the app alive.
Special thanks also go to Ojok Emmanuel and Serumaga Conrad, early contributors to their prototype; they’re now officially on board to help build the next version.

From PitchFest to a Milestone Win

Their journey through the Makerere Innovation & Incubation Centre (MIIC) Graduate Innovation Program and PitchFest 2025 was transformative. Over two months, the team refined their idea, validated real user needs, and built a sustainable model. For Ariyo, standing on that pitch stage for the first time was both terrifying and exhilarating — but their message landed. Baby Steps walked away as PitchFest 2025 champion, earning US$1,000 and, more importantly, external validation that their mission matters deeply.

More Than Just a Prototype

Baby Steps is more than a final-year university project; it’s backed by rigorous academic work. Their dissertation, submitted to Makerere University, documents how they built the app using React Native, supported it with a Supabase backend, and even created a parental dashboard to encourage family involvement.

Their design is thoughtful: it supports offline access (vital in many Ugandan homes), tackles performance issues on low-end devices, and features language games tailored for children aged 3 to 12. It’s not just tech, it’s cultural care wrapped in software.

The Road Ahead: Big Dreams, Baby Steps

What’s next for Baby Steps? The team has a clear, ambitious roadmap:

Turn their prototype into a fully functional mobile app, with payment features, and launch on Google Play and the App Store.
Partner with schools and parents to pilot the platform — because real impact begins in classrooms and homes.
Expand content to include more Ugandan languages, ensuring inclusivity beyond just one culture.
Forge partnerships with institutions like Makerere University and language organizations (e.g., local cultural centers) to maintain linguistic accuracy and reach.

They envision Baby Steps becoming the go-to app across Africa for children to learn their heritage languages, not just as a novelty but as an essential tool for cultural preservation and identity.

Why This Matters Now

In Uganda, learning outcomes remain uneven, and foundational education in local languages is often under-resourced. Projects like Baby Steps don’t just fill a gap; they reshape the way we think about education, identity, and belonging. They remind us that modernization doesn’t have to erase tradition; instead, it can amplify it in ways children love.