New UDB incubator plan targets 290 entrepreneurs
UDB officials and representatives of their partners pose for a photo at the launch.
The Uganda Development Bank, Uganda's national development finance institution, has announced the launch of an incubator programme designed to prepare hundreds of young entrepreneurs for the funding they need to scale up their businesses.
The programme, being implemented under UDB's Enterprise Development Product (EDP), was designed to train over 290 enterprises to become big businesses that create jobs.
Speaking at the launch of the programme at their offices in Nakasero, officials noted that the training programme was pertinent in light of the fact that whereas small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) constitute 90% of the private sector; contribute 80% of all manufacturing output; and provide over 2.5 million of jobs to Ugandans, only a fraction of these businesses manage to survive beyond their third year of operation.
- The initiative shall provide capacity-building training and offer technical support to develop and implement the required processes in the businesses.
"The objective is to have professionally run businesses that survive the test of time, and that are investor ready," said Allan Joshua Mwesigwa, the director of strategy and corporate affairs at UDB.
He added that the initiative is being implemented in collaboration with several partners including Makerere University Business School Entrepreneurship Innovation and Incubation Center (MUBS EIIC), the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB), Uganda National Bureau Of Standards (UNBS), Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), Uganda Investments Authority (UIA), National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and Uganda Women Entrepreneurs' Association Limited (UWEAL).
- Over the years, UDB has played a pivotal role in line with its mandate to accelerate socio-economic development in Uganda by supporting projects within the private sector that demonstrate potential to deliver high socio-economic value, in terms of job creation, improved production output, tax contribution and foreign exchange generation, among other outcomes.
The Bank's financing interventions are mainly in agriculture, agro-processing, and manufacturing, which account for about 80%of its investment portfolio.
It however undertakes specific interventions in other sectors including tourism, human capital Development and ICTs.
Barbara Kasekende, the head of Business Advisory at UDB, described the incubator as the heartbeat of the bank, adding that the enterprise development product (EDP) was created to bridge the gaps between SMES and access to finance.
The programme would offer training under a customized curriculum designed to cater for the specific needs of the enterprises and the environment in which they operate, according to Kasekende.
- Some of the modules include; management best practices, debt management, good governance, record keeping, and financial management among others.