Kate Kiiza: dfcu ED Rallies Farmers, Entrepreneurs To Exploit Bank’s Unmatched Financing Solutions

Kate Kiiza, dfcu Bank’s Executive Director and Chief Corporate & Institutional Banking Officer, speaking at the event

dfcu bank has urged farmers and entrepreneurs at all levels to utilize its unrivaled financing solutions including unsecured loans to unlock their growth potential.

Kate Kiiza, dfcu Bank’s Executive Director and Chief Corporate & Institutional Banking Officer, made the call during a panel discussion themed “Scaling Through Support with Access to Finance & Services Ventures” at the Day of the Entrepreneur organized by the Netherlands- Uganda Trade & Investment Platform (NUTIP) at Four Points Hotel in Kampala on Thursday.

“At dfcu, we have a solution for entrepreneurs right from the informal to the formal. Through dfcu Foundation, we support the informal to get organized and grow to the level of being investable. We have the financing that works for the informal at that level. Once you’re formal and the books of accounts are all in place, then we start with our section called enterprise banking, but the older you grow, the more the focus we give you and the more the needs,” Kiiza said.

She added that dfcu in partnership with Rabo bank, a Dutch-based bank, has built capacity and designed SME friendly finance instruments to help entrepreneurs improve on their risk management.

Ms. Kiiza said that dfcu prioritizes agricultural sector and through partnerships with Rabo bank and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands (EKN), the bank has registered visible impact over the years.

“Agriculture is such a very big thing; it has a lot it contributes to Uganda’s economy; Agriculture contributes about 24% to Uganda’s GDP, contributes about 60% of the country’s export earnings, and employs about 70% of the population,” Kiiza said, adding that the bank has facilitated a number of Ugandan farmers to go to the Netherlands to benchmark on the country’s modern farming practices.

“Through the Best Farmer Competition, we have partnered with the EKN for the past 11 years, where we have supported businesses with USD22M through prizes, and study tours to the Netherlands. This helps farmers to see firsthand the modern farming practices in Netherlands. 59% of the farmers that have gone on those study tours have adopted totally improved methods of farming back in Uganda,” she said.

She added that dfcu bank through the dfcu Foundation in partnership with Rabo is implementing two programs to support farmers at a lower level; Financial Expansion for Agricultural Transformation (FEET) and Business Accelerator Program (BAP).

“Through those two programs, we work with farmers where you don’t need the collateral to get financing; we look at the farmer, the problems they are facing and find a solution to support them until they get to the level where the bank picks an interest in the farmer,” Kiiza said, adding that for  village-based entrepreneurs and farmers, record keeping and business formalization remains a big challenge.

“More than 65% of the farmers we have worked with through the Foundation are now registered. We support them at no cost to register, take them through record keeping,” she added.

Kiiza further noted that medium and large-scale farmers can also benefit from the Government of Uganda’s Agricultural Credit Facility (ACF) through dfcu bank at an interest rate of only 12% per annum.

Martijn Harlaar, the Chairperson of NUTIP said the association was formed to harnesses the economic power of cooperation between Dutch and Ugandan entrepreneurs.

The 4^th edition of the Day of the Entrepreneur by NUTIP brought together entrepreneurs connected to Uganda and the Netherlands.

Harlaar said the event is growing bigger, noting that besides networking, the event celebrates the power of entrepreneurs especially the Dutch businesses connected to Uganda and the Ugandan businesses linked to the Dutch and other European markets.