Women get training in business skills to help grow the economy

By Prossy Nandudu

The Government has been asked to eliminate barriers that are hindering the growth of women-led businesses so as to achieve the Vision 2040.

 The call was made by Norton Kingwill, the managing director of Century Bottling Company, while launching a training programme for women in business at their offices at Namanve.

“About 80% of businesses are set up by women entrepreneurs, but most of them are not sustainable due to barriers the women face,” said Kingwill.

The barriers include lack of capital, inadequate business skills, lack of access to finance and equipment.

“Removing such barriers through training and provision of startup kits is what we have decided to do as a company, especially for our women distributors and vendors of different products that we make,” said Kingwill.

He said women, if well supported, have the capacity to sustain their businesses because many of them reinvest capital back into their business unlike their male counterparts.

The programme is in line with the Government’s economic growth programme of Vision 2040.

“We have committed ourselves to developing women entrepreneurs who will grow their businesses and later invest in their families, which will enhance the economy,” Kingwill noted.

“We want to see more women growing in business.”

A total of 42 women from the central districts have been trained and given startup kits, which include coolers, ice boxes, ridges and two creates of soda. The programme is targeting 100 women across the country.

Erastus Kibugu, the managing director of Technoserve, the firm running the training, said the training will help businesswomen in Uganda become competitive both locally and in the region.

“We see women as key in driving Uganda’s economic development, so there is need to create a formula to enable us work with them to achieve the targeted goal,” said Kibugu.