Private sector agency targets northern business community
May 27, 2011
THE Private Sector Foundation (PSFU) has secured a sh50b funding from the UK Department for International Development to support formal businesses and agro-based organisations in northern Uganda.
By David Sempijja
THE Private Sector Foundation (PSFU) has secured a sh50b funding from the UK Department for International Development to support formal businesses and agro-based organisations in northern Uganda.
PSFU will work with the Prime Minister’s Office in implementing the five-year programme.
It will support organisations to undertake value-addition, improve post-harvest handling and storage facilities, acquire equipment, and access business development services to boost competitiveness and profitability.
The initiative has already been launched in Gulu.
David Kisekka, the PSFU’s manager for Business Uganda Development Scheme, said the support will be accessible by eligible business entities in the northern region covered under the Post-Conflict Recovery and Development Programme. It will be on a cost-sharing basis where up to 60% of eligible costs will be reimbursed in grants to prospective clients.
Francis Okiror, the national chairman for Northern Uganda Manufacturers Association, noted that the PSFU intervention in the region of 64 districts would help mitigate the challenge of limited access to financing and lack of appropriate business management training.
“We are sure this initiative will not leave us the same. Interventions like these will breed a vibrant manufacturing sector,†he said recently. NUMA has a membership of 400 small scale manufacturers in the region 100 are in Gulu.
“Many of us are involved in manufacturing value-addition and agro-processing machines. The north also is endowed with fertile soils for agriculture. Those willing to invest in mechanised agriculture can transform the region into a food basket,†Okiror pointed out.
THE Private Sector Foundation (PSFU) has secured a sh50b funding from the UK Department for International Development to support formal businesses and agro-based organisations in northern Uganda.
PSFU will work with the Prime Minister’s Office in implementing the five-year programme.
It will support organisations to undertake value-addition, improve post-harvest handling and storage facilities, acquire equipment, and access business development services to boost competitiveness and profitability.
The initiative has already been launched in Gulu.
David Kisekka, the PSFU’s manager for Business Uganda Development Scheme, said the support will be accessible by eligible business entities in the northern region covered under the Post-Conflict Recovery and Development Programme. It will be on a cost-sharing basis where up to 60% of eligible costs will be reimbursed in grants to prospective clients.
Francis Okiror, the national chairman for Northern Uganda Manufacturers Association, noted that the PSFU intervention in the region of 64 districts would help mitigate the challenge of limited access to financing and lack of appropriate business management training.
“We are sure this initiative will not leave us the same. Interventions like these will breed a vibrant manufacturing sector,†he said recently. NUMA has a membership of 400 small scale manufacturers in the region 100 are in Gulu.
“Many of us are involved in manufacturing value-addition and agro-processing machines. The north also is endowed with fertile soils for agriculture. Those willing to invest in mechanised agriculture can transform the region into a food basket,†Okiror pointed out.