A beacon of hope and innovation

The Dream That Led to OIST

Eng. Emmanuel Ogwang, founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Oyam Institute of Sciences and Technology, recalls a dream that stayed with him for years. He was walking up a mountain. Along the way, he saw wounded people waiting to be cared for, families without enough food, young people searching for work, and others struggling to repair machines on which their communities depended. Some were ill and could not reach the treatment they needed.

Near the summit, a voice called his name three times. When he answered, it asked, “Have you seen all those people?” He said yes. The voice then urged him to find one response to the suffering he had witnessed.

At first, he set the dream aside. Two years later, it returned. This time, he began to see how one institution could respond to many needs: by helping people gain the knowledge and practical skills to care, repair, produce and earn a living. He founded a vocational training institution called Oyam College of Health Sciences. It later became Oyam Institute of Health Sciences and Technology, before taking the name Oyam Institute of Sciences and Technology in 2018.

That dream still gives the Institute its purpose. Behind every skill taught is a person who may one day need it: a patient waiting for care, a family depending on an income, or a community relying on equipment that works.