At least 5,000 women are expected to participate in the 2nd edition of dfcu Women in Business’ Rising Woman Initiative.
The Rising Woman initiative which was started last year under the theme ‘Taking your business ahead’ is meant to recognize, celebrate and promote a culture of mentorship among women in business in Uganda and targets Ugandan business women, Small scale investors, Entrepreneurs, Members of Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association Limited (UWEAL), Members of Uganda Small Scale Industries Association (USSIA) and Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA) members.
Speaking at the launch event held at dfcu bank main branch in Kampala on Wednesday, Mathias Katamba, the dfcu bank CEO said that the new edition of Rising Woman initiative is expected to raise hopes for women facing challenges in business.
Katamba explained that out of the 9000 dfcu bank agents across the country, most them are women.
“As a financial institution that believes in building thriving communities, dfcu embarked on a journey of creating an enabling environment for Small and Medium Women owned Enterprises by introducing the Women in Business programme in 2007,” Katamba said.
He added: “Our primary motivation is the fact that despite women making up over 52% of the population of Uganda, it is not reflected in the ratio of women who have access to financial services.”
He said the bank works with women in diverse ventures to turn business ideas into realities which in turn become vehicles for change in communities.
“With over 55 years of lending to SMEs, and at least 10 years running the WiB program, dfcu Bank understands the financial needs of women and goes ahead to provide tailor-made solutions for them,” he added.
Sheila Mugyenzi, the Director of Information and Development at Uganda
Investment Authority (UIA) lauded the development as the initiative which has since created an impact in the society.
“..As UIA, we managed to help in skilling and training an average of 200 women in the first session; we shall also go back and try to do the evaluation,” she said
Business women are encouraged to participate in proposal writing which run up to 20th September 2019.
The top 3 winners will walk away with Ush15 million, USh10 million and
USh5 million respectively and the top 10 will take part in an all-expenses study tour trip to Nairobi.
Last year, the initiative was made up of a series of activities whichincluded: 2 day trainings in 4 regions of the country (Lira, Mbarara,
Jinja and Kampala), proposal writing on how the women wanted to take their businesses ahead, a two day business expo at Hotel Africana and an award ceremony to recognize the winners in the business proposal.
