A Wealthy Woman A Wealthy Nation

Practitioners Questions on Promoting Female Entrepreneurship

Dorothy KanduhukyeMonitoring and Evaluation Officer

Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association Limited (UWEAL)

A Wealthy Woman A Wealthy Nation

About UWEAL

•History: established in October, 1987 to promote business women in Uganda

•Vision: a wealthy woman responsibly contributing to national economic development

•Mission: to empower women entrepreneurs to create wealth through capacity building, networking and advocacy

Our Ultimate Goal

‘A wealthy woman A wealthy Nation’

A Wealthy Woman A Wealthy Nation

Our Membership

We target women entrepreneurs, aspiring business women, professional women and women groups and businesses that are managed by women

In over 15 district chapters

Have a membership of over 1000 women from all over the country

sectors – Education, agriculture, manufacturing, art and crafts, textiles, trade etc

Our Core Pillars

Capacity Building Networking Advocacy

Capacity building Programs

Entrepreneurship and Business Management Trainings

The Mentoring Program

Entrepreneurs in Handcrafts Program

ACCESS! for African Women to International Trade

Supplier Readiness ProgramBreakfast Meetings(Members & Corporate)

Month of the WomanEntrepreneur (MOWE)

Practical Hands on Skills Training(Value Addition)

Networking

•B2B Exchange Visits

•Annual Entrepreneurship Awards Dinner

•Seminars, Conferences and Workshops

•Other networks

•East African Women Entrepreneurs Exchange

Network (EAWEExN)

•East African Business Council

•Africa Businesswomen’s Network

•Month of the Woman Entrepreneur (MOWE)

•Annual Awards Dinner

Advocacy• Creating a favorable business environment for

women in Uganda to do business in a competitive manner

• Supporting Public Advocacy through Regional Competitiveness (SPARC) - aims to increase women’s economic engagement in the labor force and entrepreneurship, while simultaneously creating a more enabling environment for women’s economic engagement and greater poverty alleviation in Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya.

Advocacy

UWEAL’s SPARC Campaign is Targeting Allocation of 50% of Agricultural Resources towards Women in Agriculture with Particular Focus on Government

of Uganda’s National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS)

The Next 5 Years

Targets • An Incubation Center• An Enterprise Institute • A Women Enterprise Fund• Active Participation of Women in the Oil

Sector

Status of Women in Uganda

• Women make up 52.5% of the labour force and are an important pool of potential talent to help Uganda meet its development goals. However, it is generally known that women face more challenges since they are more disadvantaged than men due to established cultural norms and attitudes about women’s roles, less mobility, and the unequal demands of domestic responsibilities on women’s time

• 44% of business establishments• 86.2 are self employed• 3.8% of working women are in formal employment, compared to 27.9% of

working men• Women have significantly lower percentages of businesses with employees

than men (38% vs 55% )in established businesses Source (ILO WED Assessment report)

Status Key Questions for Promoting Women Entrepreneurship

• How to bridge the rural urban divide in Women Entrepreneurship development– Self esteem– Dreaming big– Mentoring spirit and drive– Family businesses

• In the past there existed a fighting spirit among the rural youth and uneducated and are today very successful entrepreneurs. How can we use the same inner spirit that helped them survive and grow to where they are now. Most rural entrepreneurs have lost hope in business and resorted to begging Government their relatives and the CSOs

Status Key Questions for Promoting Women Entrepreneurship

• How can technology be used to improve access to information for women entrepreneurs– Research– Market access– Networking opportunities– Training needs (self education)– Associations– Government support

• How can we help women access key factors of production

VALUE CHAIN

Status Key Questions for Promoting Women Entrepreneurship

• How can we bring/involve men as partners in– Reducing violence– Supporting their spouses into business– In building capacity where need be or working alongside their

spouses other than fight them– Attitude change– Cultural dimensions-bring both women and men on board

• How can the women political leaders work with women business leaders to influence Government in formulating policies that are favorable women entrepreneurship.

Status Key Questions for Promoting Women Entrepreneurship

• How do we ensure that affirmative actions/programs by government and other state actors deliver the required empowerment for women in a sustainable way– Policies and regulations– Gender sensitivity– Financial program and how they affect women entrepreneurship

• How can the media be influenced to motivate women and young girls to take on entrepreneurship through positive reporting.

Can Research Provide and answer

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•Access to funding-Proposal writing

•Policy Analysis-Performance &

Implementation

•Information sharing

•Inform new business models and strategies

for women entrepreneurship development

•Advocacy and lobbying

Existing Knowledge

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Packaging

• Documentaries• Policy briefs• Advocacy messages• Success stories• Reports• Easy to understand

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