Over 5,000 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) across the country have been equipped with digital skills to enable them to compete effectively in today’s digital era.

Conducted by the Federation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (FSME), in partnership with the Nakawa Vocational Training College and funding from the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), the digital literacy skills for SMEs programme saw SMEs get basic ICT skills to smoothen their digital transition journey.

The FSME executive director John Walugembe said the training sought to equip SMEs, especially those in the informal sector, with digital literacy skills, having seen that majority were not prepared for the transition and were being threatened by the new shift.

Walugembe addressing graduates at Nakawa Vocational Training College

“Businesses are being disrupted by digitalisation and SMEs have not been spared. During the total lockdown, they were affected most because the majority did not have digital skills and could not market their products online. So, we decided to equip them with skills that can enable them to survive in the new normal,” Walugembe said.

He was speaking at the graduation ceremony of the Applied Skills Master Trainers under the digital literacy skills for SMEs programme at Nakawa Vocational Training College recently.

Those trained, Walugembe said, were mainly in light manufacturing including carpentry and joinery, metal fabrication, tailoring, mechanics, and hairdressers and salon operators, which he said has the potential to reduce Uganda’s high unemployment rate.

“We believe as a country that light manufacturing offers a lot of opportunities for job creation. So, we thought that the above industries needed to transition soonest but we shall support other sectors,” he said.

The SMEs were equipped with basic information and communication technology (ICT) skills such as using a computer to run their enterprises, digital marketing, opening websites and using social media, among others.

“You find that some mechanics knew how to use a computer but they did not know how to use it to diagnose the mechanical issues on a vehicle. They have been taken through all that to enable them to diagnose the vehicle using a computer and then repair the vehicle,” Walugembe said, adding that it is much faster than the manual system, which in most cases is a try and error method.

Some of the Applied Skills Master Trainers during the event

He alluded that they plan to take SMEs through specific applications that are useful to their businesses such as tailors using computer Applications (Apps) to take one’s measurements instead of using a tape measure.

Resource centre

Given that the majority of SMEs are resource-constrained, Walugembe said FSME intends to establish resource centres across the country, which will be equipped with modern equipment and ICT gadgets, to enable members to access them to produce products competitively.

“These centres will assist our members to access tools to work; we know that with the acquired skills, they will need equipment, some of which are high-tech equipment which they cannot afford on their own.

“So, we are looking at piloting this scheme through the centres where they can access this equipment jointly,” Walugembe said.

The UCC director for Rural Communications Development Fund (RCDF) George William Nyombi Thembo applauded FSME on the idea to establish resource centres and pledged to support in equipping them.

“We were thinking of how we can to do interventions in these areas but I think digital tools will be our major focus. For instance, the carpenters and metal fabricators – there is 3D printing which can make you imitate anything; design it and fabricate it,” Thembo said.

UCC director for Rural Communications Development Fund (RCDF) George William Nyombi Thembo

He added: “You know that ICT is disrupting all the world’s spaces; we may not need drivers in the coming years because they are now manufacturing self-driven cars, which will soon be on our roads. You have heard of the Internet of Things (IOT), everything is going to be connected and software-driven. So, repairing cars will also be more of a software issue than a mechanical issue.

“You will only need to sit on your computer to diagnose the issues on the car and be able to deal with them. So, we need to alert you that the disruption has come and you should not allow to be left behind. Without the new skills which are needed in this technological era, you will neither thrive nor survive.”

He, however, noted that while Uganda has improved greatly in internet connectivity, it is still challenged with the problem of access to devices such as Smartphones.

The Nakawa Vocational Training College Principal Fred Muwanga alluded that the college cherishes collaborations where it works with the private sector in assessing the gaps of industries and the job market and develop programmes to address them.

Nakawa Vocational Training College Principal Fred Muwanga

“We are flexible to work with the labour market to produce people that satisfy the job market needs.

We know that digital skills are key in this day and age for enterprises to be able to compete favourably in the labour market and that is what exactly we offered these trainees,” he said.