Micro-loans to rural Women entrepreneurs in Uganda

This project aims to empower vulnerable rural women in Uganda by providing training in entrepreneurship and leadership. Through the formation of Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), the project seeks to address the financial underservice in rural areas and create a platform for economic empowerment.

Rural women entrepreneurship in Uganda faces several challenges, often rooted in socio-economic and cultural factors. These include limited access to financial services, low literacy rates, technological barriers and lack of entrepreneurial training among others. Women, in particular, lack collateral and financial history, further limiting their access to capital.

To address these challenges, farmers are organized into VSLAs where we try to offer some of these services. These groups enhance resilience, decrease challenges related to income, food, and healthcare, and provide a platform for empowering women microentrepreneurs.

Initial Assessment
An initial assessment of project members has been completed. They provided valuable insights into their needs and capabilities.

We are in discussion with  Street Business School to utilize their models and expertise in empowering grassroots women to become thriving entrepreneurs. We are in the final stages of signing up a training facilitator who will play a pivotal role in delivering entrepreneurship and leadership training to the participating women.

Next Steps

• Training Implementation: Commence the entrepreneurship and leadership training sessions as soon as the facilitator is onboarded.

• Monitoring and Evaluation: Establish a robust monitoring and evaluation system to track the progress of participants and measure the impact of the project.
• Communication and Outreach: Develop communication strategies to raise awareness about the project and its outcomes within the target communities and beyond