Stanbic Accelerator Program, Enterprise Development Program, Micro Enterprise
Development Program and Supplier Development Program; to equip them with
relevant business skills at the Stanbic Business Incubator Limited (SBIL) between
January 2022 and April 2023, have graduated.
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Speaking at the graduation ceremony held at hotel Africana, Stanbic Business
Incubator’s Chief Executive Tony Otoa said, “Small and Medium enterprises
(SMEs) are universally regarded as key engines of economic growth.
Therefore, SBIL is closely supporting SMEs to access the financial services and skills
they need to grow and thrive.” He also mentioned that the goal is to see Uganda’s
small businesses improve their operations and profits and create new jobs and
business opportunities for women and youth.
Otoa noted that the trainings emphasized three key areas namely; access to
markets, access to finance and business operational skilling, all of which are
necessary for the growth of MSMEs. “SBIL will continue supporting entrepreneurs to
exploit their potential in various ways through networking, connecting them to market
platforms and guiding them on how to be competitive locally and internationally,”
Otoa said.
SBIL developed the EDP in 2018, supporting 190 SMEs in Kampala by
building their capacity to actively participate in Uganda’s natural resource
sector.
In 2019, the SBIL received funding from the GIZ Employment and Skills for
Development in Africa (E4D) programme to enable expansion of the Enterprise
Development Programme (EDP) to support SMEs in Gulu and Mbarara districts to
become more competitive, attain sustainable growth and create jobs.
Based on the promising results recorded by E4D in 2019, a new partnership was
entered in 2021 to further upscale and expand the Incubator’s reach across the
country to cover at least 20 districts through four regional branches
Speaking on behalf of the project’s development partners, the GIZ E4D Uganda
programme, Team Leader, Donald Agaba mentioned that E4D will continue promoting
local employment through capacity development in partnership with the Incubator. He
went on to say that the role of MSMEs in a country’s social economic development
cannot be downplayed because of their contribution to Gross Domestic Product and to
creation of decent jobs. He said, “We have partnered with Stanbic Business Incubator
since 2019 and in our recent program evaluations we established the 1400 jobs were
created as a result these trainings”. Mr. Agaba applauded SBIL for the significant
achievements and solid partnership thus far.
During the graduation ceremony, Emma Mugisha, the Head of Business and
Commercial at Stanbic Bank, advised entrepreneurs to always seize training
opportunities. Ms. Mugisha said that in November 2020, Stanbic Bank launched the
Economic Enterprise Restart Fund as a private sector led response to provide
affordable funding for key sectors and groups that were most adversely impacted by
the COVID-19 pandemic. She added that capacity building and training for SMEs
through SBIL has been critical in ensuring faster business recovery and equipping
business owners to survive through turbulent economic periods. She said, “Stanbic
Uganda Holdings is building an eco-system through its five subsidiaries that include
Stanbic Bank, Fly Hub – A Fintech Company, Stanbic business Incubator, Stanbic
Properties Limited and SBG securities- an investment firm, to support Entrepreneurs
and drive Uganda’s economic growth as well as create networks and collaboratively
work with Entrepreneurs”.
The Guest of honor, Aga Ssekalala Jr, a renowned entrepreneur advised on the
need to uphold values like honesty, hard work and integrity. He said, “The real
success is not in the financial gains but in the positive impact you create as
entrepreneurs from the financial gains,’’ and “that’s the success you should
embrace,’’ he stressed.
Cathy Adengo , The head of sustainability Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited, said,
“We understand the challenges and hardships and we are here to support
entrepreneurs in their journey as we drive economic growth.” She emphasized that,
“Sustainability is a critical pillar in the Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited’s agenda
through providing easily accessible finance solutions and mentorship to
entrepreneurs especially those in the agriculture sector.”
Aisha Mayanja, an EDP graduate and founder, Ewaffe Cultural Village said, “We
forced to do market research and competitor’s analysis after the training, these are
things we never thought we needed to do. We have been trained on the importance
of being compliant and formally registered”
