SUPPORT MICRO SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN UGANDA

Kigezi Healthcare Foundation has mentored three businesses to grow from micro to small and now medium through the support provided under business development services. The story of Angela who is one of the best performing single mothers. She started her business about five years ago selling fruits and vegetables by the roadside with a small capital of $50. From a micro enterprise the business grew into a small enterprise. From there she moved to share a market stall with a friend. Talking to her this week she now owns her own stall and the business has grown. She hope to hit a turn over of&20.000 in the coming year. She is negotiating contracts with restaurants and Hotels. She is also engaging with suppliers. Her focus is on high quality assorted vegetables and fruits. She has been a consistent member of our business development services focusing on financial literacy and customer care. She has clear records of income and expenditure. She is growing her customer base steadily with consistent suppliers and distribution outlets. We have negotiated an additional working capital from the bank under institutional guarantee arrangement because she has no asset to provide as collateral. She constantly banks her money with a neighbour who is a bank agent. That saves her from moving to the bank all the time. Hotels and restaurants pay her through the bank. It is the consistent engagement with the bank that will help her secure additional working capital in phases. Programs that focus on female entrepreneurs foster job creation, stimulate innovation, and promote gender equality by equipping women with the resources they need to scale from micro-enterprises to larger, formal businesses. Women-led businesses create jobs, drive local innovation, and contribute significantly to GDP Research consistently shows that women entrepreneurs reinvest a large portion of their income into their families and communities, directly improving access to food, healthcare, and education for the next generation. Women often face systemic barriers—such as a lack of collateral or access to business loans. Targeted development programs provide the necessary financial literacy, credit access, and mentorship to overcome these hurdles. We are appealing to our friends to support these initiatives by donating generously to support women owned businesses.

Fifteen young women have started micro enterprises with a small capital as low as 50 US dollars. In Uganda many young women are typically jobless. Many of them are house wives without any income. Many young women in Uganda face significant, structural barriers to accessing capital for starting micro-enterprises, despite owning approximately 39% of businesses in the country. While they exhibit high entrepreneurial spirit, they often receive less than 10% of formal credit from financial institutions. Kigezi Healthcare foundation has embarked on supporting some of these young women with an initial capital of only 50 US dollars. Most of them have developed their micro business to a capital of between 100 and 500 US dollars. This is quite impressive and we shall continue writing about their success stories. They buy agricultural produce from farmers and take to the market. Some of them sell from door to door in urban centres.

 Cultural and social norms are Deep-rooted gender norms often limit women's control over property, land, and decision-making power, which prevents them from using family assets to secure loans. Young women often bear the primary responsibility for household and childcare, reducing the time they can devote to building business creditworthiness. Beyond cash, there is a shortage of training in business management, financial literacy, and record-keeping, with 88% of women in some studies citing this as a key limitation. Women face bias from financial institutions, which can result in unfair evaluations of their business potential.