Matching grant facility third call due this month

The next round of calls for the matching grant facility, a component under the Competitiveness and Enterprise Development Project (CEDP) project, will be made this month, Daniel Kazibwe, the project's grants manager has revealed to the New Vision.

"The design of the matching grant is that we support enterprises undertaking business process outsourcing activities, which will ultimately result in the improvement of productivity. We also want to see more jobs created, we are also looking at increasing exports," he explained.

The grant which co-funded by the World Bank and Government of Uganda and is implemented by Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) aims at improving the competitiveness of Ugandan companies by improving management skills.

The CEDP Matching Grant Facility aims to improve enterprise capacity by facilitating beneficiaries (including MSMEs) access to matching grants of up to 50% towards the use of sector-specific Business Development Services (BDS) and improving quality standards at the firm level. Already, two rounds have been issued out.

To qualify for a grant, an enterprise must have a well-developed proposal, proof of registration of business, contract with service providers, directions to physical business address/location, supporting documents relating to activity and proof of availability of funds.

So far, $2.3m has been committed to supporting enterprises after just two rounds of the grant. The five year facility has up to $7m that local businesses can have access to.

One enterprise can access up to $100,000 over the entirety of the fund.