Dr Ruth Aisha Biyinzika Kasolo, the GROW Project Coordinator at PSFU
HABARI DAILY I Kampala, Uganda I Over 2,549 women entrepreneurs have accessed the Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises (GROW) loans, boosting their productivity and outlook to life.
The loans, whose duration range from 1-2 years are being financed with a $217m grant from the International Development Association of the World Bank.
Being administered by the Ministry of Gender Labor and Social Development (MGLSD) as the lead implementer and Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) as an implementing entity, they became effective on 20th January 2023.
The Project which boasts of interest rates of 10% by the six banking institutions, aims at increasing access to entrepreneurial services that enable female entrepreneurs to grow their enterprises in targeted locations, including Refugee Host Districts.
The report was issued by Dr Ruth Aisha Biyinzika Kasolo, the GROW Project Coordinator at the PSFU during the 2-day Gender-Inclusive Financing Innovation Expo at Motiv in Industrial Area yesterday.
She said that 28% of women accessed up to Shs 17 billion under level 1 of between sh4m to Shs 20 million. 18% received Shs 11 billion under the category of between Shs 20 million-Shs 40 million, while 53.8% received up to Shs 33 billion in the category of between Shs 40 million-Shs 200 million.
Among the beneficiaries, 93 beneficiaries came from Acholi, while 41 came from Arua. Lango registered 44 beneficiaries while 4 came from Madi. Greater Kampala/Mengo registered the highest number of beneficiaries numbering at 1,100, while Greater Masaka had 215. 62 beneficiaries came from Greater Mubende, 38 from Greater Luweero, while 100 came from Bugisu.
Busoga had 133, Bukedi 46, Sebei 15 and Teso 68. Ankole produced 208 borrowers, Bunyoro 18, Kigezi 88, Rwenzori 60, Tooro 125, and 29 came from Karamoja.
“By region, the majority, composed of 45.4% are in Greater Metropolitan Kampala/Mengo Areas. Of these 24.5% are in Kampala City. Greater Masaka region or 9.7%, Ankole region is 8.5%,” said Biyinzika.
Concerning the age of borrowers, the majority, composed of 53.2%, were aged 31 – 55 years, while only 4.2% are young women aged 18-30 years, which a true representation of the active working age of the women, while the majority of the women borrowers are married, and are composed of 54.8%.
The report further said that 98% GROW loan borrowers are individual women entrepreneurs, while 5 were people with disabilities, and that 28% of beneficiaries had never borrowed before.
When it came to disbursement of GROW loans, Centenary Bank came on top, having issued Shs 21 billion, followed by dfcu Bank with Shs 11 billion, and Equity Bank at sh11b. Finance Trust on its part issued out Shs 12 billion, and PostBank gave out Shs13 billion.
