By HERBERT MUSOKE
Women have been advised to startup enterprises especially in the agriculture sector that will earn them money as a way of improving their household incomes
This massage was from Agness Kimbugwe the coordinator of Twambuke Women Farmers and Manufacturers Association and the leader of the women in all the 18 counties of Buganda while sending off three of their members to India for a short course and welcoming those who had completed their training at Entebbe International Airport.
She says that the association is creating partnerships in search of opportunities for women that can improve their skills and knowledge about entrepreneurship development and management as a way of improving household incomes for community empowerment and development.
Debora Nkutu, Grace Namale and Rehemah Nakayondo were sent off for a three weeks training at the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India in the entrepreneurship training and starting of businesses in cultural and traditional spheres more common to the locals.
“We got these scholarships through the ministry of external affairs and we are still looking for more from other countries that have such opportunities of training women into entrepreneur skills. Many women have been starting up businesses but fail to take off for lack of technical skills and knowledge to manage them,” she says.
The courses are short-term ranging between 3-weeks to a month with all expenses paid in startups, management, transformation and expansion.
Allen Ntika Nakamwagi the chairperson of the association says that they are optimistic that in return these women will share the skills and knowledge acquired with other fellow women in the communities they leave which will foster increase of household incomes and community transformation and development.
“We encourage more women to join the association such that we work together as women by empowering each other. We still have opportunities for women because embassies have them but it is much easier to get them if we are organized as a group,” she says.
Expectations
Dorah Nkutu, one of those who traveled to India for the training, said she was optimistic that the training would enable her to help the women she is leading at Nabweru parish to transform their lives through income creation.
“As leaders we should strive to stabilize families because they are the foundation for a stable and progressive community and nation. For instance, we want to show women that they can grow vegetables in the back yard and save money,” she says.
Grace Namuleme said that her expectation is getting skills on how to get capital which has for long been a stumbling block to many women who would wish to start up businesses.
“We get a number of women who would want to start businesses like poultry, rabbitry, mushroom growing among others but they are always failed by startup capital. But with the course lay out, I expect to find ways of getting easy and cheap capital,” she says.
What is next after the training
Rosemary Nalutaaya and Phoebe Nadunga returned home after completing and attaining a certificate in the course of Promoting startup in Developing economies through innovation and incubation at the Entrepreneurship development institute of India under the ministry of external affairs of the government of India.
Nalutaaya explained that the during the training they were given skills on how to get startup capital like through savings, government grants like the several programs it has been coming up with like the Myooga, Prish Development Model which many have been misusing but can be a source of capital that can start up a business that can exist for generations.
“To interest us more, we visited a number of small-scale enterprises and cottage industries, especially adding value on agricultural products like yogurt from milk, tomato source, coffee among others. This triggered my brain that there are many businesses that we can do but we didn’t know,” she says.
Nadunga says that they are going to use that knowledge and skills acquired to empower other women in their communities to see transformation and development.
