Tourism state minister Martin Bahinduka Mugarra has launched the e-commerce portal Craft Shop Uganda for crafts practitioners to sell their products.

This was during the first Uganda Arts and Cultural Crafts Expo 2022 organised by the National Arts and Cultural Centre (NACCAU) in partnership with other stakeholders like the MasterCard Foundation through the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU), Uganda Tourism Association (UTA), the tourism ministry, and the Uganda National Cultural Centre (UNCC).

Mugarra commended the exhibition for being a platform for displaying beautiful work.

He added that with the new digital developments in business, the scope of customers’ ability to purchase the products has been widened.

“You can see a lot of passion from all the participants that have come up with these products that we are able to see at this exhibition today,” Mugarra said.

Alwala Olum Udota, the chairperson of Pacer Blacksmithing Wood Art and Crafts Association in Pakwach district said they are sending children to school using money they get after selling their products.

“We inherited this business from our grandfathers, our children grow up learning the skills of making these products and this has also helped them get some money and buy for themselves shoes and uniforms at school,” Udota said.

Nuwa Wamala Nyanzi, the NACCAU vice chairperson, said they have engaged in a number of projects for promoting and uplifting the crafts industry in Uganda.

He however appealed to the government to give them extra support citing the fact that as NACCAU, they do not even have a budget allocation in its mother industry despite the several bills that they have to cater for including ground rent and taxes among others.

Francis Kisirinya the PSFU chief membership officer thanked the different stakeholders for coming together to showcase their work which gives an opportunity to Ugandans to appreciate art.