Not yet Uhuru for Ugandan women entrepreneurs

Today is International Women’s Day; a day to celebrate women’s achievements throughout history and across nations. As the theme of this year’s day: Gender agenda gaining momentum; connecting grassroots women to Development suggests, there is a global momentum for championing women equality.

But as we celebrate the achievements of women, we remain vigilant for further sustainable change. Maureen Nakatudde analyses the state of women entrepreneurs in Uganda and what can be done to improve it.

There are only a few women in Uganda who have managed to create sizeable companies and industries that employ others today. In fact, the majority of women are running businesses whose foreseeable future does not exceed their infant stage, says Dr. Gudula Basaza, the chairperson, Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Limited (UWEAL).

Veronica Namwanje, the service development officer at Uganda Small Scale Industries Association (USSIA) says that the types of businesses women take are normally smaller and less strenuous than men’s. Women are mainly into food business, baking, juices, and textiles, which, unfortunately, also do not bring in as much money as men who are into metal fabrication, motor vehicle mechanics, carpentry, and building.

As if that was not bad enough, like Basaza asserts, “Most businesses run by women are stagnant and cannot grow from one stage to another.”

Challenges

But what could the problem be? Basaza says it is a combination of factors: “Most women in business are involved in small– scale production and often use their operational money for domestic requirements instead of investing it. On the other hand, men use their money shrewdly and hence grow their businesses.”

To make matters worse, some of their husbands infringe on even the little  capital they have, making it hard for them to run sensible businesses.

“Another major problem is that most women have low formal education and lack the confidence and exposure to utilise available opportunities in banking, marketing and elsewhere,” Namyanje explains.

Because most of the businesses women operate are small, they are not registered. Businesses which are not registered and have no  proper accountability systems cannot access bigger markets and lack the potential to grow into greater companies. Both Namwanje and Basaza concur that most of businesses run by women are manned solely.

“One major disadvantage is that when the boss is away, nothing can be done. Yet this is inevitable given the social structure in our society,” Namwejje says. She adds that unlike men, women often have to deal with health-related constraints like pregnancies yet they are also charged with the responsibility of taking care of the family.

“If they have a problem at home, often times it means business will close for that day. This tends to undermine customer’s confidence in the business and customers are likely to seek for an alternative for the same services. On the other hand, it is a lot easier for men to delegate even when they have to be away,” she adds.

Sometimes the quickest way to grow the business is through quality and quantity. Unfortunately, some of the products women produce are of poor quality and cannot compete at the national or international level. Those of superior quality are produced on a small scale and they cannot satisfy a big market.

“You may have 50 high quality necklaces where the market requires 5,000. But because you lack the capacity to supply that quantity, you lose out. Farmers, for instance, offer their goods cheaply to middlemen when they could have got higher returns if they had sold them directly to buyers,” Basaza says. She argues that middlemen incur a lot of costs and challenges to get the goods to their destination, although they are normally well versed to navigate through these hurdles in order to achieve their goals.

Many women who deal in general merchandise complain that taxes are high Some women earn from selling items in temporary market places yet their returns are miserably low. “There is little that can be done since no research has been done in this area. If there is evidence that women who deal in general merchandise elude taxes because they do not profit from the business, then we can engage the Government,” she adds.

What needs to be done

Namwanje says women whose businesses are registered under USSIA can access cheap health services if they pay a certain fee to health providers AAR. “For sh394, 000 a year, all the woman’s medical, and dental problems would be dealt with,” she adds. Basaza advocates for women coming together to solve  the problem of small scale production.

“This way, they will be able to utilise economies of scale including capital and the ability to access big markets. This will inevitably lead to improvement on the quality of their products since that is what it takes to compete for bigger markets,” she explains. Basaza adds that some women lack credentials for borrowing and others fear loans. For women interested in loans, Basaza advises that they join women groups and organisations like UWEAL which will help them access loans at low interest rates.

Those who are afraid of loans will also be educated on the importance of the loans and their effective management under these groups. Since most of the women  are not educated, USSIA and UWEAL offers education opportunities for women who would want to engage in business.

This is usually in the category a woman wants to do business for instance poultry and crafts. Namwanje says after doing an examination that is marked by the director of USSIA, the women are given a worker’s permit like a certificates, which shows that they have studied and have the stated skills. Not only are skills given to the women, but they are taught how to market their businesses, access banking services and how they can translate their businesses into global ones.