Start groups to secure funding and grow fast, Wakiso CDO tells skilled graduates
“Many community organisations have started in Wakiso district under my watch, but many do not have tangible work on the ground in terms of generating employment opportunities to solve community challenges,” Kyejjusa said.
Community Efforts for Child Empowerment (CECE) and Kampala Area Federation of Communities (KAFOC) graduates celebrate 23-year-old support from non-governmental organisations under Child Fund support while cutting a cake at Wakiso Early Childhood Development Centre (ECD) on Friday, November 6, 2026. (Credit: Isaac Nuwagaba)
WAKISO - Skilled graduates should form groups and start their own companies to create their own jobs instead of waiting for government jobs that are too few to absorb all job seekers, the Wakiso District Community Development Officer, John Kyejjusa, has advised
Kyejjusa was speaking at the second joint graduation ceremony of Community Efforts for Child Empowerment (CECE) and Kampala Area Federation of Communities (KAFOC), non-governmental organisations under Child Fund, an international organisation in charge of children and orphans.
The ceremony was held on Friday, November 6, 2026, at the Wakiso Early Childhood Development Centre
The graduates acquired skills in bakery, motor vehicle mechanics, brick laying and construction, salon management, painting and woodwork, business management and entrepreneurship, tailoring, plumbing, shoe making and electrical installation, among others.
“Now that you have graduated, do not work single-handedly; you need to form companies and grow as groups in a company formation,” Kyejjusa advised
According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) 2024 report, the graduate unemployment rate currently stands at 15.2%. Figures from the education ministry indicate that Uganda’s universities and other tertiary institutions churn out at least 400,000 graduates annually.
Uganda’s public service employs about 400,000 workers. However, a recent report revealed that there are about 250,000 unfilled public service positions.
Kyejjusa said many community-based organisations (CBOs) exist on paper but have failed to translate their registration into employment, services and visible community transformation.
“Many community organisations have started in Wakiso district under my watch, but many do not have tangible work on the ground in terms of generating employment opportunities to solve community challenges,” Kyejjusa said.
According to Kyejjusa, working as a company, rather than as individuals, gives young people better bargaining power, access to tenders, access to credit and credibility with clients, government and development partners.
“When you are alone, you are limited. When you are a company, you can bid for bigger jobs, you can employ others, you can open a bank account, and you can be trusted by customers,” he said.
Kyejjusa noted that he has for many years been facilitating the registration and promotion of community development and social welfare groups while promoting social protection, equality, equity, human rights, culture, decent work conditions, and empowerment of vulnerable groups to contribute to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and national development.
“Companies lift each other's capacity to work under strict financial systems, streamlined recruitment systems and growth strategies, which are recognised internationally,” he noted.
The Wakiso District Community Development Officer (CDO), John Kyejjusa, challenged skilled graduates to form their own companies to create jobs for themselves while speaking at the second joint graduation ceremony on Friday, November 6, 2026, at Wakiso Early Childhood Development Centre (ECD). (Credit: Isaac Nuwagaba)
Graduates advised on financial discipline
Henry Mayengo, an employer with KAFOC and Business Enterprise Uganda, told graduates that education should help the youth identify community problems and solve them, instead of waiting for government jobs.
Mayengo warned graduates against borrowing expensive loans to start businesses before they have customers, saying many promising start-ups collapse because of debt pressure in the first year
“There is not enough money to start with, and this must not be the excuse when you finish your education. Start with purpose and learn to stay away from quick loans. Financial discipline determines whether your start-up capital, no matter how much, will stand the test of time and growth because many businesses die in infancy,” he noted.
Mayengo urged graduates to start small, use skills to earn trust, save, and reinvest profits.
Over 1,600 children supported
“We are here celebrating 73 graduates from Wakiso Early Childhood Development Centre at Ssala zone in Wakiso Town Council, Wakiso district, and other adjacent Greater Kampala Metropolitan Areas,” she emphasised.
Nalukenge said the graduates include young people who have completed vocational skills and others who have completed university degrees after years of sponsorship.
“As you graduate today, you need to create and maintain your social networks that you have created with all the people around you, including your international sponsors who have looked after you since childhood to adulthood,” Nalukenge stated.
She said sponsors, mentors, teachers and fellow beneficiaries form a valuable network that graduates should keep for business, employment and moral support.
Beneficiary speaks out
Terezah Namutebi, 24, a resident of Kasenge cell in Wakiso sub-county, is among the beneficiaries supported under the skilling project since the age of three years when her late father, John Kizito, got ill and later died in 2010
“I was picked among the vulnerable children because my father had spent five years bed-ridden,” Namutebi said
She said her family struggled to survive after her father's death, with her mother taking on casual work to feed the children.
“We started receiving Designated Fund Certificate money, which we used to buy a wheelbarrow that we rented out for sh3,000 per day,” she said, adding, “When these people came to support us with water tanks, that's when my life changed because we would sell a jerrycan of water at sh200 to generate daily income when the wheelbarrow could not get customers.”
Namutebi, who graduated with a Bachelor of Social Sciences from Makerere University after spending 23 years with Child Fund support, has now registered her own company, Pinnacle Cognitive Styles, which seeks hair cutting tenders in schools around Wakiso and Kampala.
Kyejjusa said Namutebi's story is proof that graduates can move from vulnerability to self-reliance if they combine skills, discipline and company formation.