Centenary Bank, NSSF, Pearl Bank, Pepsi, finance ministry, boost Pakasa Forum 2025 sponsorship

_________________

The Pakasa Forum 2025, which is slated for Saturday, November 22, at the Enterprise Uganda training centre in Butabika, opposite Butabika Hospital, is promising to be the most vibrant ever, after several new sponsors have come on board.

To be held under the theme: Opportunities and Ideas for Growing Businesses, the event, which is scheduled to kick off from 8:00am to 5:00pm, is expected to bring together hundreds of entrepreneurs from around the country, as well as mentors and capital trusts.

Speaking during a press conference with some of the sponsors on Thursday, Don Wanyama, the Vision Group CEO, said that the strategic partnership with Enterprise Uganda, Centenary Bank, the Finance Ministry, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Pearl Bank (Formerly Postbank), Pepsi, and the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) will help us to make this year’s Pakasa Forum bigger and more impactful.

“Since Pakasa prioritises promotion of local businesses, our partnership with the leading native banks (Centenary Bank and Pearl Bank) is congruent with the Buy Uganda Build Uganda agenda,” he said.

He also commended NSSF for the various initiatives through which it creates economic opportunities not only for its members but also for university students through the Hi-Innovator Programme, which equips the youth with innovation and entrepreneurship skills.

Wanyama said that the finance ministry is also playing a leading role in the economic transformation of Uganda and improving the economic welfare of Ugandans.

Empowering local businesses

The Vision Group boss further said that he has no doubt that the Pakasa Forum 2025 will empower Uganda’s business community, especially the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMES), through sharing with them valuable information, opportunities, and ideas which can enable their businesses to grow.

The 2025 Pakasa Forum is free for everyone.

“It will be the climax of the celebrations for the Global Entrepreneurship Week, which usually takes place in the third week of November every year,” said Wanyama.

He revealed that this year’s forum will involve sharing of vital information on Government’s key priority sectors and interventions in the tenfold growth strategy, what successful entrepreneurs share in common, the importance of formalising businesses, how to run successful family businesses, financing opportunities for SMEs, and inspiring stories from successful entrepreneurs.

“Reports indicate that, whereas Uganda is one of the most entrepreneurial countries in the world, with a high rate at which people start businesses, the failure rate for businesses is equally high. This justifies the need for capacity building interventions like the Pakasa Forum to get guidance from successful entrepreneurs and business experts on what they need to do to run successful businesses,” said the Vision Group boss.

University graduates

He noted that with only 20% graduates churned out every year from universities and tertiary institutions succeeding to get jobs, there is a high rate of unemployment among Ugandans.

“It is upon that background that Vision Group started the Pakasa products, including the Pakasa Forum to give vital information to Ugandans on starting and managing successful businesses,” Wanyama explained.

Vision Group Pakasa product, which is featured both in New Vision (on Monday) and on Bukedde TV (On Thursday at 8:00pm), is mainly premised on promoting entrepreneurship and growth of businesses.

This is done through sharing inspirational business success stories, best practices, opportunities, and ideas which guide Ugandans in starting and growing businesses.

Barbara Arimi, the NSSF Head of Marketing and Corporate Affairs, said that since they exist to ensure that they make savings a way of life for more people, Pakasa Forum gives them a platform to speak to hundreds of people.

“It’s within this framework that we want to ensure that we support the creation of their capacity to sustain their operations through our Hi-Innovator Programme, through which we equip start-ups in this land,” she said.

She said that through Hi-Innovator, they equip small businesses with basic management skills.

“At the Pakasa Forum, we will have the space not only to ask people to save, but also to encourage them to establish enterprises to enable them have something to save,” she said.

She noted they will give them compelling products like Smart Life Lexy, where they can save as little as 5000 and earn interest on their daily balances.

Arimi said that they will continue to explore the bigger opportunities that they believe are still adept in this space of small and growing enterprises, which the Pakasa Forum 2025 will bring together.

Laura Bahemuka, Pearl Bank’s head of SME Banking, said that the reason why they chose to jump on board is to empower SMEs to scale, thrive and collaborate.

“We do that through our two high-impact goals where we drive sustainable financial inclusion, but also stimulate entrepreneurship and services,” she said.

Dr Evans Nakhokho, Centenary Bank’s Head of Agribusiness, said that although they manage to reach out to about 300,000 borrowers a year, Pakasa Forum will enable them have an interface with many more local entrepreneurs and prospective investors.

“Centenary Bank has about 3 million accounts that sit in these spaces and across sectors. So, coming onto this forum is important for us. It will support our cardinal objective of support the transformation of SMEs in this country,” he said.

Isaac Shaka, a communications officer for the finance ministry, said their ministry will fully participate in the Pakasa Conference and share relevant information on the various development programmes Ugandans are supposed to benefit from, including information on the tenfold growth strategy of Government that seeks to drive Uganda’s economy from the current $61b to over $500b in the next 15 years.

“We encourage Ugandans in business and those who plan to start business to come for the Pakasa Forum and learn from successful entrepreneurs and business experts to guide them on what they need to do to start and run successful businesses,” Shaka stated.

Moses Mulondo, the Vision Group Pakasa editor, said the choice of the location of this year's Pakasa Forum was meant to take Ugandans to the new business training facility, which is meant to support all of them.

"Enterprise Uganda, which is a public-private partnership, got funding from the Ministry of Finance and development partners and established a multibillion business training facility at Butabika, which I have been told is the first of its kind in Africa,” Mulondo explained.