Kampala, Uganda – The Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) in partnership with Mastercard Foundation successfully hosted its second annual Women’s Day Katale at the UMA Multi-purpose Hall on March 10-11, 2023. The event was aimed at empowering, and recognizing the contribution and potential of women and girls as entrepreneurs.
The event featured a series of business clinics that provided training and skills development opportunities for women and girls entrepreneurs. The clinics were facilitated by industry experts and covered a range of topics, including business planning, financial management, marketing, and customer service. As an important addition, the business clinics were facilitated by;
- One-Stop-Centre facilitated by URA, URSB, UNBS, and Opportunity Bank designed to offer financial skills, business development, tax education, access to finance, and business registration among others.
- Beauty clinic facilitated by Movit Uganda designed to help clients feel confident.
- The Boss Babe Business clinic facilitated by Claire Muhire designed to offer insights on entrepreneurship, leadership, personal branding, and business growth strategies for female entrepreneurs.
- Creative Business Clinic facilitated by Zeus the Agency designed to offer branding and design, digital marketing, innovation consulting, and creativity to help businesses unlock their potential and thrive in the increasingly competitive marketplace.
- Tech Clinic facilitated by SafeBoda designed to offer safe boda app, safety features, digital payments, customer support, and social impact initiatives.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, the guest of honor Ms. Minsa Kabanda, Minister for Kampala and Metropolitan acknowledged the progress that has been made toward gender equality in business, but also highlighted the challenges that women entrepreneurs still face.
“Women are now participating in economic development, but their businesses still remain at subsistence level, low productivity, and profitability,” said Ms. Minsa Kabanda. She further pledged on behalf of the government to collaborate with all stakeholders involved to foster an atmosphere that supports the economic development of women and girls. This entails, among other things, developing and implementing more policies and initiatives that encourage the expansion and development of enterprises owned by women and girls.
PSFU CEO, Mr. Stephen Asiimwe, thanked all the partners, sponsors, and participants for making the event a success. He emphasized the importance of empowering women entrepreneurs, stating that it not only benefits the individuals but also contributes to the growth and development of the economy as a whole.
“Empowering women entrepreneurs is not only the right thing to do, but it’s also smart business. Women-led businesses contribute significantly to the economy. That is to say about 40%. We need to support and enable them to reach their full potential,” said Mr. Asiimwe.
PSFU Women’s Day Katale 2023 was attended by the general public from various sectors, including the government, private sector, civil society, and academia. The event provided a platform for dialogue and collaboration toward achieving gender equality in business.
According to Ms. Damali Ssali, the chief of programs and projects at PSFU, PSFU intends to make Katale regional and more digital beginning in western, northern, and eastern Uganda. “Through regional markets, we seek to influence women from all around Uganda. We are also conceptualizing a digital women entrepreneurs’ marketplace that is always open” she said.
Over 250 women and girl entrepreneurs showcased their businesses at the Women’s Day Katale These include among others;–Hot Loaf Bakery Ltd, Bird Uganda Safaris, MacDough Foods, Abbas Chicken, Iganga Municipal Council Emyooga Tailoring Sacco, New Man’s Food LTD, KawaCom, Crafts with Lizzy, and Yalelo. The exhibitors alluded to the great opportunity provided to them to showcase their businesses, network, access the market, and acquire other financial skills, marketing, tax education, and leadership skills among others. They expressed their gratitude and promised to participate in similar events in the future.
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