Master of Science in Venture Building
Entrepreneurship is taught almost everywhere as a subject and almost nowhere as an apprenticeship, which is why so few graduates start anything that lasts. This masters inverts that. It is a structured venture building programme for technically capable people who intend to found or lead a company, ...
The four facts
What you actually need to compare
- Award and entry
- MSc
- A
- Duration and mode
- 12 months (2 semesters)
- Hybrid. Includes 0 months of paid, assessed cooperative education.
- Cost
- UGX 3,000,000 per year
- None laboratory classification. No laboratory premium.
- Outcome targeted
- Founder and co-founder, venture builder, early stage operator
- Reviewed by 2031. If the thesis stops holding, the programme is reviewed.
Pricing Model 5.1 · The Forward Standard
Master of Science in Venture Building fee
UGX 3,000,000 per year
- Laboratory tier
- None
- Annual premium
- UGX 0
- Per semester
- UGX 1,500,000
- Whole programme
- UGX 3,000,000
- Approximate USD
- ≈ USD 789
What this fee includes
- Teaching, practice tutoring, assessment and competency verification
- The Amagezi platform and AI tutor around the clock
- All learning materials
- Every examination, including first resits
- Identity card, library, guild, sports and basic wellbeing
- Co-op placement matching and the Capability Passport
- Graduation and the statutory NCHE fee
- Online application
Employment thesis
What this programme is designed to produce
Forward publishes the destination of every programme before you enrol. If the thesis stops holding, the programme is reviewed and, where necessary, retired. Next review: 2031.
Roles
- Founder and co-founder
- venture builder
- early stage operator
- product and growth lead in a venture
- venture studio and incubator manager
- innovation lead
- venture analyst and investor track
- enterprise leader
Employer types
- The graduate's own venture, incubated through the Forward Venture Studio
- startups and scale ups
- venture studios and incubators
- corporate venture and innovation units
- investors and accelerators
- development and enterprise programmes
- family businesses converting to scale
Target outcomes we hold ourselves to
- This programme is built for founders and venture operators, and its primary destination is the graduate's own or a partner venture. Progression routes include doctoral study for those who move toward research.
Compulsory · The Forward Core
How the Core works →Every Forward programme, including this one, carries the same five cross-cutting requirements. They are graded, not optional.
- AI Fluency
- Quantitative Reasoning
- Ethics and African Context
- Human-Advantage Skills
- Enterprise
Includes 12 months paid work-integrated learning
Postgraduate programmes carry work integrated learning inside the taught structure rather than the twelve month undergraduate cooperative education placement. Read the co-op commitment
Am I eligible?
Check yourself against the published requirements
7 questions written specifically for Master of Science in Venture Building. Every answer is checked against a requirement Forward has published, and the result tells you which page that requirement comes from. Indicative only, the admissions office decides on your full file.
What is the highest qualification you hold?
Curriculum structure
The same degree, in both pathways
Every Forward programme is published in both pathways: Path One, the term plan of two six-month terms, and Path Two, the block sequence of twelve four-week blocks. Same competencies, same assessments, same award. Toggle to see this programme in each.
Path One term plan shown
Path One · The Term Model
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 501 | Applied Intelligence for Professionals Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| FDC 502 | Research Evidence and Method Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| MVBU 510 | Opportunity, Customer and Market Validation Both | 6 | 3-2-2 |
| MVBU 511 | Building the Product and the First Customer Performance | 6 | 3-2-4 |
| MVBU 512 | Commercial Engine and Unit Economics Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 503 | Governance, Ethics and Leadership of Intelligent Systems Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| MVBU 520 | Venture Finance, Cash and Fundraising Performance | 5 | 2-2-4 |
| MVBU 521 | Team, Hiring and Venture Governance Both | 4 | 2-2-2 |
| MVBU 522 | AI Leverage and Lean Venture Building Performance | 4 | 2-2-4 |
| MVBU 523 | Venture Law, Ethics and Leadership Objective | 3 | 2-2-0 |
| MVBU 530 | Venture Build Project Performance | 15 | 0-2-12 |
Total credit units: 60
Curriculum source
Forward University Curriculum Compendium
Assessment
Coursework + project + integrated exam
Work-integrated learning
12 months paid co-operative education
Your week at Forward
A typical week on Master of Science in Venture Building
Path One, the Term Model: your own pace across a six-month term, one live session a week, short flexible lessons, and assessment on demand.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Curriculum explorer
Drill into the degree, step by step
Choose a study path, then a year, then a term or block, then a course. Credit totals add up as you go, and every course shows what comes before it and what it unlocks.
Step 1, choose a year
Step 2, choose a term
SEMESTER 1 | YEAR 1 | 25 COMPETENCY UNITS
Year 1 · this step is worth 25 CU
Cumulative
25
Programme total
60
25 CU of 60 CU completed by the end of this step (42%)
Step 3, choose a course
Pick a course to see the detail
Credits, assessment, prerequisites and what each course unlocks later.
The twelve Forward capabilities
What this programme develops in you
Every Forward degree develops the same twelve cross-cutting capabilities. The profile below is the level this programme is designed to develop and verify by graduation, on the four-level scale in Part B2 of the Curriculum Compendium. Every claim above Level 2 is verified by someone other than the teaching lecturer.
- C1Intelligent Systems FluencyLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C2Quantitative and Evidential ReasoningLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C3Ethical and Contextual JudgementLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C4Communication and Persuasion CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C5Disciplinary MasteryLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C6Technical Production and CraftLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C7Problem Framing and Systems Thinking CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C8Collaboration and Multidisciplinary TeamingLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C9Enterprise, Value and Commercial Literacy CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C10Professional Conduct and Workplace PerformanceLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C11Learning to Learn and Adaptive Capacity CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C12Stewardship and Public ContributionLevel 4 of 4, Leading
Critical capabilities for this programme: Communication and Persuasion · Problem Framing and Systems Thinking · Enterprise, Value and Commercial Literacy · Learning to Learn and Adaptive Capacity. A graduate cannot pass out of this programme below the stated level on any capability marked critical.
Programme Learning Outcomes
What you will be able to do
Each outcome is assessed, and each is tagged with the Forward capabilities it is verified against.
- PLO 1Find, test and validate a real venture opportunity against a market.
- PLO 2Build a product or service to a first paying customer.
- PLO 3Build the commercial engine: acquisition, pricing, revenue and unit economics.
- PLO 4Manage the cash, finance and fundraising of an early venture.
- PLO 5Build the team, hiring and governance a growing venture needs.
- PLO 6Apply intelligent systems to build a venture leaner and faster.
- PLO 7Lead ethically and manage the human and legal realities of a venture.
- PLO 8Pitch and defend a venture to investors, partners and customers.
- PLO 9Build and test a real C6, C8 venture against a real market with measured traction.
- PLO 10Acquire and demonstrate C10 a new capability without formal instruction, evidenced in the Capability Passport.
Why this programme exists
Entrepreneurship is taught almost everywhere as a subject and almost nowhere as an apprenticeship, which is why so few graduates start anything that lasts. This masters inverts that. It is a structured venture building programme for technically capable people who intend to found or lead a company, and for professionals converting into venture roles, delivered inside the Forward Venture Studio with a real venture as the spine. The emphasis is on the machinery that turns an idea into a payroll: customers, product, cash, hiring and governance, and the programme terminates in a venture that has been built and tested against a real market.
Admission requirements
A good first degree (second class or above) in any field with demonstrated capability, or substantial professional or entrepreneurial experience admitted through recognition of prior learning; plus a venture concept and reasoning task scored against Capabilities C7 and C9. All applicants must demonstrate competence in English, the language of instruction, through their qualifications or an approved proficiency test under Part A. International and non standard qualifications are assessed for equivalence against the profile above under the Credential Portability provisions, so that a suitably prepared applicant may enter from anywhere in the world. Selection considers the whole application, including the structured admission task, and is conducted without discrimination under the University's admissions policy. Alternative pathways: recognition of prior learning against the admission profile under Part G, including substantial professional practice in lieu of the named first degree field. Online components require the Digital Readiness orientation under Part D6.