| 07 April 2010
“Organizing promotional events for women entrepreneurs”: Month of the Woman Entrepreneur (MOWE), Uganda 2009
The International Labour Organisation, Women’s Entrepreneurship Development and Gender Equality Project (ILO-WEDGE), with funding from Irish Aid is designed to contribute to the overall ILO Decent Work objective of creating greater opportunities for women and men to secure decent work and income.
The Month of the Women Entrepreneur (MOWE) is one such activity to widely promote the roles played by women entrepreneurs. In this connection, the ILO-WEDGE Project in partnership with Women Entrepreneur Association in Uganda organized a series of events to promote women entrepreneurs in 2009.
Unlike other ILO WEDGE Countries in Africa, Uganda celebrated the 2009 Month of the Woman Entrepreneur (MOWE) in November with a total of 880 people participated in the various activities- 40 of whom where persons with disability.
Other Countries implementing the ILO WEDGE Programme such as Zambia have marked The Month of the Women Entrepreneur (MOWE) in September with Zain Zambia as the main sponsor. MOWE is also marked every year Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia.
MOWE 2009 Uganda was attended by four deputy ministers in the Uganda government ie: Hon Aston Kajara- Minister of Finance Planning and Economic Development (Investments), Hon Aggrey Bagiire- Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries (Agriculture), Hon. Nelson Gagawala –The Minister of State for Trade and Hon. Ruth Nankabirwa – Minister of State for Microfinance and Enterprise Development.
In preparations to Commemorate MOWE, Uganda organized a 3 day capacity building workshop for partners on the MOWE guide. Organizations that were trained included women entrepreneurs associations, Government ministries- Ministry of Gender Labor and Social Development, ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry.
With the technical support from ILO WEDGE Project (along with some limited financial support), Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association Limited took lead on this under the Theme; “Unleashing the untapped potential of women entrepreneurs for economic development” .
Partners that participated included The Aids Support Organization, National Union of Women with disabilities of Uganda, Enterprise Uganda, Uganda Small Scale Industries Association, the Workers Unions (COFTU/NOTU), the Federation of Uganda Employers (FUE), Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU), and Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) Different organizations took lead in different events of MOWE. This was either because they had a planned activity along with a budget or because of their technical capacity. These ranged from international organizations like Vital Voices Global partnership to national organizations like Uganda Investment Authority’s Women Entrepreneurs Network (UIA/WEN), Women of Uganda Network and Enterprise Uganda.
MOWE 2009 in Uganda kicked of with a press conference for publicity at the Uganda Media Centre. With support of the ILO WEDGE Project, this Press Conference was delivered by Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association (UWEAL), Enterprise Uganda and Uganda Investment Authority (UIA).
Key activities during the months ranged from The Corporate Ambassadors’ Program (CAP) which delivered a three day training workshop aimed at enhancing the capacity of women entrepreneurs and leaders. The opening of this event was officiated by Hon. Nelson Gagawala –The Minister of State for Trade.
Under this event attended by 65 people (amongst them women entrepreneurs with disabilities) a mini exhibition was conducted at the training venue. Besides presenters from the United States of America and South Africa under CAP, other presenters included Sarah Kitakule, Chief Technical Advisor ILO WEDGE Project who delivered a mentorship training session, Dr. Hilda Mary Tadria from The Mentoring and Empowerment program for Young Women who also delivered a session on mentorship, Mendi Njonjo who delivered a session on using information technology creatively for advocacy and Rehma Kasule from Century Entrepreneurship Development Agency who shared her experience Mentoring and Networking.
To appreciate and recognize the efforts of role model women entrepreneurs, an awards dinner for MOWE was held after the three day CAP training in which ten women entrepreneurs received awards of different categories in recognition of their contribution to Uganda’s economy. Hon. Ruth Nankabirwa – Minister of State for Microfinance and Enterprise Development was the Guest of Honor at the awards dinner.
Global Entrepreneurship Week: Women’s Forum was yet another of the MOWE events in Uganda with the leadership of Enterprise Uganda. Activities under this ranged from simple speeches to comprehensive competitions-designed to inspire, connect, inform, mentor and engage the next generation of entrepreneurs. Enterprise Uganda held a one-day Women’s Forum at UMA Conference Hall, Lugogo. This forum was among the activities that were lined up to mark the International Women Entrepreneurs' Day, Month of the Woman Entrepreneur (MOWE) and The Global Entrepreneurship Week.
The theme for the Women’s Forum was "unleashing the potential of women entrepreneurs" and was attended by a total of 358 SMEs mainly operated by women. These included 85 young female students from four secondary schools, that is; Gayaza High School, Kololo Senior Secondary School, St. Joseph High School Namagunga and Nabisunsa Secondary School. The invitation to students was geared at creating an enabling environment for them from which they could learn and get inspiration from the testimonies of those who have tested the entrepreneurial waters.
The main objective of the forum was to enable women entrepreneurs mentor the young girls through experience sharing. The young girls were exposed to knowledge, skills, networks and values needed to grow innovative and sustainable enterprises that have a positive impact on their lives. Through this initiative, we expect new generations of entrepreneurs to be inspired and emerge.
The Women’s Forum was officially opened by the Norwegian Ambassador to Uganda, Ms Bjorg Leite, who reiterated that networking, should be embraced by business people as a key marketing tool to develop their businesses. She further implored that inadequate networking skills, especially among women entrepreneurs, remain a major impediment to business development. The Ambassador argued that it was through networking that businesses could widen their clientele bases and acquire knowledge for enhanced skills development.
Activities under this included an exhibition where 30 women SMEs participated, testimonies from the women entrepreneurs, and a session on running a family business.
Key Outcomes of the Forum were that Women entrepreneurs managed to show case their products and services, business linkages were created and young people (the students) appreciated entrepreneurship and seemed ready to take on new opportunities.
As part of activities to mark the Month of the Woman Entrepreneur (MOWE), ILO WEDGE Uganda organized a 6 day GET Ahead Training of Trainers (ToT) Workshop in November 2009 that was attended by 24 Trainees, 11 Women and 13men. 7 others were either guests or trainers.
Out of 35 applications that were received in response to a GET Ahead ToT advert, a selection process was undertaken and only 25 trainees were selected. The selection was based on competencies, training experience and their level of involvement in gender based activities.
The workshop was facilitated by a team of three trainers: Mr. Stephen B. Kyalibulha, Consultant & Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) Master Trainer, Ms. Elizabeth M. Simonda, National Program Coordinator ILO WEDGE -Zambia and Mr. Stephen Opio, National Program Coordinator, ILO WEDGE-Uganda.
The graduation ceremony of the GET Ahead ToT was officiated by the Principal Labour officer- Productivity, Ministry of gender, Labour and social development, Ms. Nabiwande Nuluyati (also Chair of PAC). In her remarks, she noted that, the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development are happy to note that ILO WEDGE Project is aligned to the Uganda national gender policy, especially objectives one that intends, “to reduce gender inequalities so that all women and men, girls and boys, are able to move out of poverty and to achieve improved and sustainable livelihoods.”
Uganda Investment Authority/Women Entrepreneurs Network (UIAWEN) was one of the key partners who organized a networking dinner for its members and dedicated it to MOWE. Set up in 2001 and with over 300 women entrepreneurs in varied SME and large enterprises UIA/WEN aims to strengthen the participation of women in the national development process and improve their standard of living UIAWEN seeks to expose women entrepreneurs in Uganda to greater business opportunities and to programs aimed at enhancing competitiveness in their operations. The membership of UIAWEN is women in business, professionals and corporate chief executives who meet regularly to share experience and success stories.
This networking Dinners emphasized the importance of women in food production as a potential way to portraying Uganda as the food basket for the Great Lakes Region.
This dinner which was attended by 230 ladies was graced by; Hon Aston Kajara- Minister of Finance Planning and Economic Development (Investments), Hon Aggrey Bagiire- Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries (Agriculture), Stephen OPIO- NPC for ILO WEDGE Uganda, Executive Director for UWEAL and a cross section of Business ladies, 95 % of the participants were women from networks like UWEAL, Uganda Muslim Women Association, Corporate ladies from Financial Institutions, Uganda Investment Authority’s Entrepreneurship Training Program networks.
Other activities included training in Information Communication Technology and business by WOUGNET and a consultative/advocacy workshop for conducive legislative environment for WEA’s.
One of the major challenges though was the inadequate time to enable timely planning of desired activities. MOWE was organized within one and a half months. Consequently, the challenge of inadequate funds for the different desired activities arose and as a result, not all the planned activities were implemented. This can also be attributed to the lack of commitment from some stakeholders that caused a set back in the implementation process.
Ends
