A three year project run in Uganda aimed at empowering women entrepreneurs has recorded impressive results creating job opportunities and increased income for women entrepreneurs and women groups.
The program dubbed Strengthening Women Entrepreneurs in Uganda Project (SWEP), which was implemented between 2008 and 2010 with support from Norway aimed at enabling women entrepreneurs’ access financing and support services needed to enable them compete effectively and increase their earnings. The SWEP project is expected to resume once funding is sourced.
The project provided training and business support services to small female entrepreneurs and women groups in rural and urban Uganda. The project worked with more than 100 urban female entrepreneurs and 21 women groups across the country bringing in more than 2,000 of its members.
The project offered female entrepreneurs training in business management, drafting business plans, entrepreneurship, linkages to markets and skills on strengthening their groups.
One of the beneficiaries of the project, Jane Nampijja, said:
This program has been an eye opener as a first step towards effectively managing our group and with continuous interventions; we hope to have a very viable goat business in future.”
The project was implemented by Enterprise Uganda, an organisation that supports entrepreneurs in Uganda by offering entrepreneurship training, business advisory services, business linkages aimed at enabling start ups and existing businesses to increase productivity and be more be competitive.
Enterprise Uganda also runs a program which supports youth by giving them entrepreneurship and business skills through the Business & Enterprise Start-up Tool (BEST) project. Through the BEST initiative youths undergo five day training on how to start and run a successful business.
Jerrold Coste
February 27, 2012
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