UCC advises SMEs to go digital for business continuity

Jul 30, 2019

Once they embrace digitalization, they will be in a position to access tools like social media, which have become more effective for marketing.

DIGITAL   DEVELOPMENT  

KAMPALA - Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have been asked to embrace the digital world to grow their markets and remain relevant to the market.

Once they embrace digitalization, they will be in a position to access tools like social media, which have become more effective for marketing.

With digitalization, they will able to apply for certain things like certifications from the Uganda National Bureau of Standards, Uganda Registration Services Bureau, and filing of tax returns to the Uganda Revenue Authority, among others.

The call was made by the head of technical service at the rural communications fund department, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), Geoffrey Sengendo, while awarding certificates to participants who completed training in digital literacy for SMEs.

"It is clear that using ICTS will reduce the cost of operations in marketing, declaration of revenues, filing returns and save an SME the cost of hiring an expensive accountant and this saves money that could be reinvested into the business," Sengendo said.

The 10-day training was organised by the Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises (FSME) for its members with financial support from UCC at the Uganda Institute for information and communications technology-based in Nakawa on Tuesday.

Sengendo explained that UCC chose to spread the importance of ICT through SMEs because 95% of businesses in the world started from SMEs and thus represent the majority of the population.

"When we target SMEs we know that we are reaching bigger population because each of the SMEs represents a number of people they work with or employ which means they are better placed to spread the message and even share skills on how to use digital tools," he added.

TS. Mukasa,  the director of FSME explained that the training that is being carried out across the country is aimed at equipping SMEs with skills that will help them market their products better.

He, however, appealed to UCC to help the trainees with cheap laptops that they can use at their workplaces at subsidized costs.

"These people have trained but this kind of training calls for practical work, if you have a way of securing some cheaper computers, please do so that our members can put into practice what they learn and also keep up with the evolving digital world," he said.

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