Women entrepreneurs in Buvuma, an island district in Lake Victoria, are set to get affordable loans, free business training and help to formalise their enterprises.
This follows the extension of the government’s Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises (GROW) Project to the district.
Equity Bank Uganda is one of the financial institutions delivering the programme in Buvuma.
The government runs GROW with support from the World Bank and the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU). It aims to help women start, strengthen and expand their businesses by improving their access to finance and business development services.
Nelson Mugisha, the enterprise development manager at Equity Bank Uganda, said the extension followed a review of the project’s national coverage by the foundation and the participating financial institutions.
“The review established that the project had already reached 134 of Uganda’s 136 districts, leaving Buvuma and Otuke as the only districts yet to benefit,” he said.
“We are pleased to be part of the effort to bridge that gap and ensure women entrepreneurs in these districts can also access the opportunities available under the programme.”
Under GROW, eligible women can borrow between Shs1m and Shs100m, depending on their business needs and the loan category.
Mugisha said the support did not stop at loans.
“Many people think the GROW Project is only about loans, but there are several other opportunities available to women,” he said. “We provide free financial literacy training, support business registration and formalisation, as well as business digitalisation.”
The bank’s training covers budgeting, record keeping, debt management and business growth. It is meant to help women run their businesses better, reach new markets and build enterprises that last.
The programme also tries to remove some of the barriers women face when seeking credit. One of the biggest is a lack of collateral.
Under GROW rules, a married woman may use her husband’s collateral to support a loan application, subject to the usual requirements.
Equity Bank says its work in Buvuma will also complement the National Oil Palm Project, which it already supports in the district. The bank is the project’s fund manager.
The 10-year project is led by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries and funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development. Many women in Buvuma already earn a living from commercial farming under the scheme.
Silverstar Kagga, a financial literacy trainer for Equity Bank Uganda in the Eastern Region, said the bank wanted to make sure the women of Buvuma were not left behind as GROW spread across the country.
“Buvuma was one of the districts that had not benefited from the GROW Project,” he said. “Our focus was to ensure that women in the district also have an opportunity to access the financing, skills and support available under the programme.”
Kagga said interest from women already involved in the oil palm project showed the need to bring GROW services closer to the island community.
Beyond credit, the bank is urging women to save and to use digital banking. Kagga said this could cut the cost and time of travelling long distances for financial services.
He also advised women to borrow responsibly by weighing their business needs and their ability to repay before taking a loan.
Women who do not qualify for GROW financing can still use other bank products designed for small businesses, he said.
