A total of 60 youth, women, and small and medium entrepreneurs have graduated in the inaugural Enterprise Development Program of the Uganda Development Bank, with a call on institutions to “enable capital flow”.
The program is a business incubator designed to prepare businesses to become investor-ready.
Up to 291 businesses nationwide have been trained on management best practices, good governance, record keeping, and financial management, under the program that runs for three to nine months.
The training was based on the Bank’s wider knowledge of the business, operating environment, and experience gained from funding, implementing, and monitoring such projects, but also from the views.
The UDB Managing Director, Patricia Ojangole says that the notion of lack of easy access to finances has persisted for a long time in Uganda’s business terrain, especially for micro, small, and medium enterprises mainly because the reasons for this had not been well internalized.
She says, for example, introducing low-interest rate products, and easing collateral for borrowers, among others, were discovered not enough because even then, people would not go for credit as expected, because there was no preparation.
According to Ojangole, this EDP is a cornerstone initiative of UDB’s Business Acceleration for Successful Entrepreneurship (BASE) designed to foster business growth and enhance investment readiness through an incubator model.
The program facilitated by the Uganda Management Institute and Makerere University Business School was intended to make the participants ‘investor-ready’ and able to navigate market complexities and attract the investment necessary for their growth.
The overall objective of EDP is to train, support, and incubate selected private businesses, enhancing their readiness for credit facilities from UDB and other financial institutions.
Col Edith Nakalema, head of the State House Investor Protection Unit, who presided over the event, welcomed the move by UDB, saying it would go a long way in overcoming the early collapse of businesses in Uganda.
She however, called on UDB and other financial and government institutions to put in place measures that will respond to all challenges, not only financial, but also energy and tax-related ones, among others, that affect the growth of MSMEs.
Nakalema pledged the government’s, and in particular, the presidency’s commitment to protect and support not only foreign but also local and small businesses, adding that these private sector businesses account for 80 percent of the country’s economic output.
This training is based on the Bank’s wider knowledge of the business, the operating environment, and experience gained from funding, implementing, and monitoring such projects and is a partnership with several organizations including Uganda Registration Services Bureau, Uganda National Bureau of Standards, Uganda Revenue Authority, Uganda Investments Authority, National Social Security Fund and Uganda Women Entrepreneurs’ Association Limited.
EDP provides participants with essential skills in management best practices, corporate governance, record-keeping, risk management, and financial management, among others.
This approach is aimed at establishing a “robust foundation” for their future success, ensuring that they are well-equipped to navigate the complexities of the market and attract the necessary investment for their growth.
Mahamoud Andama, the Director of Investment at UDB said the program not only aimed at training the participants but would also include a “handholding and mentoring” process until the Bank is confident that the enterprises were ready to attract, go for, and benefit from investment from anywhere.
Dennis Ngabirano, the founder and chief executive of Psalms Food Industries Ltd, makers of Sumz food products, implored the graduates and all startups to take spiritual capital (praying for their businesses) seriously, be persistent in what they set out to do, and create and protect their integrity if they were to survive.
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