Practitioners Questions on Promoting Female Entrepreneurship
Dorothy Kanduhukye
Monitoring and Evaluation Officer
Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association Limited
(UWEAL)
A Wealthy Woman A Wealthy Nation
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
Breakfast Meetings
(Members & Corporate)
Month of the Woman
Entrepreneur (MOWE)
Entrepreneurs in Handcrafts
Program
ACCESS! for African Women to
International Trade
Supplier Readiness Program
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
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.
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
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An Incubation Center
An Enterprise Institute
A Women Enterprise Fund
Active Participation of Women in the Oil
Sector
Status of Women in Uganda
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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
•Access to funding-Proposal writing
•Policy Analysis-Performance &
Implementation
•Information sharing
•Inform new business models and strategies
for women entrepreneurship development
•Advocacy and lobbying
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Existing Knowledge
Academic
information
Associations and
representative
bodies
Stories of
successful women
entrepreneurs
Research by other
agencies
Media
Government
development
programs and
projects
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Packaging
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Documentaries
Policy briefs
Advocacy messages
Success stories
Reports
Easy to understand
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