Margret Nanyonga Mpoza showing Pollina Wake Wine and JuiceB10
By George Bukenya
Benefiaries of Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme (UWEP) and the Youth Livelihood Programme have shown case on how they have benefited and changes their lives and a few other people they employ in their businesses.
Lydia Nawala from Tororo Central Market who is the chairperson of the savings group called Central Ward Odi Processing AND Selling Group says they started saving within their group of only five women and started dealing in processing ground nuts selling it to people who came to buy other items from the market.
They acquired a loan of shs 5 million having realized that their business was expanding at a steady rat from the government initiative of UWEP and used it to buy a second hand motorcycle at shs 2.5 million to ease their transportation of their products to distant places.
After a grace period of three months given to them by UWEP, they commenced servicing the loan with shs 800,000 per months because their business was thriving on well.
According to Nawala the business has since expanded and they have acquired grinding machines worth shs 3 million but have deposited 1 million and they are paying the balance in instalments. They have also bought two more motorcycles and are in the process of acquiring a Tukutuku which they plan to use as a mobile Supermarket. To implement their future business plan, they have paid shs five million as part of the first instalment on the Tukutuku.
Due to the market expansion, they have been able to employ five eight other people, 3 motorcycle riders who transport their products to distant markets at Maraba, Mbale and Busia, and 4 old women who help their project in sorting out the groundnuts and 5 others in packing.
“ Since we started this business with the help of UWEP funds, we can ably afford our basic needs like feeding our children and paying school fees,’’ Nawala asserted.
However, she said that they wanted to borrow more funds so as to expand further their business by paying fully for the Tukutuku but they have been told money isn’t readily available now the District office from where they are supposed to access it.
Nanyonga Margret Mpoza from Mukono- Nabuti Village said through their savings group of 14 women they borrowed shs 10 million and started producing wine and Juice under their brand name of Pollina Wake Wine and Juice Processing.
They used the money to purchase 3 big sauce pans and are now producing Wine and Juice from pineapples and hibiscus fruits. Their business so far employs only 10 workers.
However, Nanyonga says their product lacks Uganda National Bureau of Standards Q-mark and this limits them from marketing their products well and she called upon government to come up with a policy which can help such producers to acquire the UNBS mark at ease.
A youth Basket Making group have also benefited from Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP); under their group, called B10 Band Magic Basket Making Group (BMBG), they make baskets using the climate smart technology in Banda the suburb of Kampala.
The unique baskets are used to cook smart and they help to protect the environment as one using it just need to boil say matooka e bit and put it in the basket and cover it for some time to get ready for eating.
The Basket can also act like a food flask as it saves energy and is time efficient, the group also trains other young people to make them and they are only limited by funds to scale it up and take the skills to other parts of the country.
Government have so far disbursed cumulatively a total of over shs 40.744 bn since the inception of the UWEP and YLP programs to 24, 115 group projects of which 66% are women and of the total funds released 54% have been recovered according to Winfred Matsko the National UWEP Cordinator.