Guild Digital Foundation did not start life out as such. We are a case of resilience and grit, pivoting as necessary, ensuring the mission of our founders stays at the center of our journey. So how did we start?
2018 – At the start of the year, Brian and Edgar get together, and birth Olympia and Associates – a desire to use technology to affect labor and employment practices for group factory workers, through a digital profiling solution to increase their employability and accurate documentation. Adhoc technology consulting opportunities continue to become available, but neither truly gather momentum to launch as a product
2019 – Early access to the CHT offers a first opportunity to adapt the platform for Lifenet International to support NCDs work in Greater Masaka area, covering 13 health facilities; and reaching more than 2000 clients with monthly SMS in English and Luganda. This is truly the first seed planted into the opportunities of a technical partner profile
2020 – At the height of the pandemic, Olympia & Associates slows down its operations, and effectively shuts down offices, joining in the rest of the world to focus on health.
We stayed home. Wore our masks. The power of technology allowing us to remain plugged into what was important around the world, while enjoying time with dear ones.
Brian Ssennoga
2021 – Olympia & Associates reconstitutes a partnership with Agnes Kabalyanga and this gives birth to Guild Digital Solutions. Some of the previous staff and volunteers join and are simultaneously working on various CHIS projects in Uganda, supporting various partners with deployment work in West Nile, Buikwe, Lamwo and Ntungamo districts.
Q4 2021 – Guild Digital successfully partners with Africa Humanitarian Action, to pilot a CHT powered CHMIS in Kyaka II Refugee Settlement. The pilot targets 27 VHTS and achieves success leading to the launch of a scale up project with UNHCR in 13 settlements in Uganda.
2022 – UNHCR contracts Guild Digital Solutions to scale up the pilot in Kyaka to 4 settlements, providing tablets for the VHTs, and coordinating health implementing partners in the settlements to rally the project, and support its implementation. By the end of the year, the platform has scaled to 600 VHTs reaching more than 95000 fellow refugees.
2023 – Guild Digital Solutions makes it to the final continental publication list for Digital Health Entrepreneurs (DHE) published by PATH and Digital Square, receiving funding and a mandate to work on Supervision using the CHT. We are incredibly proud of the external recognition for our team, who have undergone rigorous capacity building from Medic and have worked incredibly hard over an extended period to ensure we consistently meet the needs of our partners who prefer their solutions built off the CHT. Additional partnerships and recognition from Pierre Fabre Foundation, Dovetail Foundation and the Healthtech Hub spur Guild into renewed work on the Theory of Change. The transformation to Guild Digital Foundation is sparked.
2024 – date: Guild Digital pursues formal re-registation as Guild Digital Foundation; a technology not-for-profit working in the Humanitarian sector in Uganda.
