UWEAL's PROGRAMS

» ACCESS! Training Women in Export Trade 2007-2008
Pro€Invest is an EU-ACP (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific) partnership programme developed and undertaken by the European Commission on behalf of the ACP countries. It is financed by the European Development Fund (EDF) and its implementation has been entrusted to a Management Unit within the Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE) under the supervision of the Europe Aid, Co-operation office on the European Commission. Pro€Invest has awarded a grant for the implementation of exporter training and business counselling for women entrepreneurs in Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

UWEAL, Uganda's leading women entrepreneur organization, is Uganda's focal point and implementing agency of the program. While Centre for African Women Economic Empowerment (CAWEE) and Small Industries Development Organization, Women Entrepreneurship Development (SIDO -WED) are the implementing agencies for Ethiopia and Tanzania respectively.

PRO€INVEST's mandate is to work closely with the beneficiaries, to provide them with technical assistance that will strengthen their capacity to run their own initiatives on a longer and lager scale. The program aims at building capacity of women entrepreneurs to participate effectively in international trade and therefore has the following components;
    1. EXPORTER TRAINING WORKSHOPS.
    The training will focus on providing information and skills on international trade for new exporters and expansion to new markets for experienced exporters.
    2. BUSINESS COUNSELING AND MENTORING PROGRAM.
    A selection of successful and experienced women exporters will mentor and counsel the trainees.
    3. WEB PORTAL DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT.
    A web portal with information about trends, products, markets and other business related information will be designed and implemented to equip women entrepreneurs with a wide range of export information. The trainees will have their businesses profiled on the web portal.
    4. EXPORTER AWARD
    Business awards will be given to excelling enterprises in the export sector.

» Financial Management and Marketing Traing for Women Entrepreneurs in Uganda
The East African Development Bank in conjuction with the Nordic Development Fund offered a grant to UWEAL to under take the training of women entrepreneurs in various areas in Uganda. Areas where the trainings took place include; Mbarara, Gulu, Mbale and Mpigi.

    Objectives of the training:
  1. To strengthen the capacity of women entrepreneurs to use appropriate financial management and marketing skills.
  2. Facilitate the participants with business support services.
  3. Monitor and evaluate the performance of the trained entrepreneurs.
    Beneficiaries:
  1. Women owned Small and Medium Enterprises.
  2. Women owned co-operatives and associations.
  3. Women Managers.
  4. Women secondary school leavers.

» Gender & Growth Assessment
The Gender and Growth Assessment Coalition launched on the 14th August 2006 by the World Bank Country Representative explored a gender perspective on the legal and administrative barriers to investment in Uganda.
The Coalition is hosted by the Council for Economic Empowerment for Women in Africa Uganda Chapter. It has a core membership of 6 women civil society organizations and the private sector namely: Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU), Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA-U), Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association Limited (UWEAL), Uganda Women's Network (UWONET) and the Africa Women's Economic Policy Network (AWEPON)

The Coalition in its implementation for the last seven month has carried the following activities:
Capacity building of business women in the small, medium and large businesses through networks such as; Uganda Investment Authority Women's Network, UWEAL and market vendors, Uganda Revenue Authority taxation clinics. This is so that women's businesses are formalized, the role of tax administration appreciated, improvement in records and accounts management, have mortgages and its effect on their businesses, property and land ownership.

UWONET together with the coalition has published the recently simplified Labor Laws. The women's desk on taxation clinics has also been established within three coalition point that is at UWEAL, CEEWA-U and FIDA-U; this has been done in collaboration with Uganda Revenue Authority who is supporting in terms of trainings in taxation administration.

» ICEIDA Program
The Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) on behalf of the Government of Uganda received funding from the Icelandic International Development Agency (ICEIDA) to support entrepreneurship development in Uganda. This funding was as a result of studies carried out by two consultants; Dr. Wiium and Mr. Thor Clausen (Director Continuous Education - Reykjavik University), who assessed the local entrepreneurship environment and developed the project identification document (PID) respectively

Consequently an Entrepreneurship Training Programme was developed with the aim of making the existing training program more relevant and responsive to the needs of the target group (Small and Medium Enterprises and Women Entrepreneurs). The program is being coordinated by five institutions namely:

  1. Makerere University Business School [MUBS]
  2. Management Training and Advisory Center [MTAC]
  3. Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association Limited [UWEAL]
  4. National Curriculum Development Centre [NCDC]
  5. Uganda Investment Authority [UIA]

The program has so far been able to train over 200 entrepreneurs in various districts in Uganda, namely;

  • Mbale
  • Soroti
  • Aduku
  • Pakwachi
  • Lira
  • Kitgum
  • Kampala
  • Mbarara

    • » Girl Entrepreneurship Program (GEP)
    The GEP program is an initiative to create awareness about business and entrepreneurship in Secondary schools, Tertiary Institutions and Universities. Successful business women entrepreneurs visit these institutions and share their business experiences with the students and teachers.

    The main objective of this program is to inspire the young women to have an entrepreneurship spirit and start businesses of their own at an early age.

    Schools and Universities that have enjoyed the benefits of this program include;
    Secondary Schools:
    • Mariam High School
    • St. Mary's Namagunga
    • Bugema Adventist
    • Taibah High School
    • Gayaza High School
    • Makerere College School
    • Old Kampala Senior Secondary School
    • Trinity College Nabingo
    • Mengo Senior Secondary School.

    Universities:
    • Makerere University Kampala
    • Makerere Buisness School
    • Kyambogo University
    • Mukono University.
    Achievements of the Program:
    • A GEP hub was formed at Taibah High School and its being run by patrons.
    • Trinity College Nabbingo invited GEP for a curricullum fair day with a theme " Relevence of a Curricullum to career Development".
    • Formation of a GEP club at Makerere University.
Webmaster Esther Sekindi                                                      Uganda Women Enterprenuers Association Limited - Copyright 2007