MSMEs Project in Uganda

Enhancing Financial and Business Skills for Small Scale Entrepreneurs in West Nile region, Uganda – East Africa

The major focus of the project was on professionalization and formalization of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) by strengthening their financial and business capacities for the sake of development towards formalized tax payable entities in Uganda. This was intended to be achieved through the project objectives below:

1. Strengthening the financial and business skills of micro-entrepreneurs
2. Providing micro-entrepreneurs with Business Development Skills and linkage of enterprises to financial services providers
3. Ensuring long -term sustainability for micro-entrepreneurs by providing a platform for individual advisory services for micro-entrepreneurs
4. Enabling growth options for small and medium sized enterprises through strategic and financial planning

Two different categories of trainings were conducted- Entrepreneurship & Business Development Skills training for selected micro-enterprises and Strategic & Financial Planning training targeting various MSMEs at various levels of business growth.

The project commenced in September 2021 until end of February 2022 operating in six districts of Arua, Terego, Madi Okollo, Obongi, Moyo and Adjumani in West Nile region, Uganda. DSIK in Uganda trained 101 MSMEs in total from both the host community and refugee camps. Beneficiaries included entrepreneurs from different sectors like TVET, Agro-processing, trade, tourism, animal and crop husbandry among others. 65 MSMEs were trained in Entrepreneurship and Business Development Skills while 36 SMEs were trained in Strategic and Financial Planning training.

DSIK conducted entrepreneurship training with the aid of the Micro Business Game (MBG) – know how sessions on forecasting, know your customer, supplier management, product introduction and marketing, growth strategy and pricing, personnel management, technology, competition and competitive strategies, saving, investment, loan management, insurance and IT were discussed in detail together with the business development module approach which linked SMEs to various Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) and Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) which provide easy access to financial services.

The project contributed to the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIs) 2017-2022 with a holistic strategy for promoting financial inclusion.

During training MSMEs were also introduced to the Uganda Cooperative Savings and Credit Union (UCSCU), one of our partner’s Business Hubs for further research, new products development and expand market for their products and services. This serves also to provide a platform for individual advisory services for micro-entrepreneurs. DSIK also trained MSMEs in the development of their strategic and financial plans, business plans and action plans.

This project was sponsored by the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ).