Overview:
Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) businesses contribute more than 70 percent to Uganda’s GDP and taxes. However, many are still hindered by their lack of technological implementation and according to Absa, this is an area they look to improve.
Absa Uganda has signed a memorandum of understanding with Enterprise Uganda to provide micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with business development services and financial literacy training in nine districts across Uganda.
Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) businesses contribute more than 70 percent to Uganda’s GDP and taxes. However, many are still hindered by their lack of technological implementation and according to Absa, this is an area they look to improve.
“We know that businesses face many challenges when it comes to streamlining their business operations to remain profitable in the long term,” Albert Byaruhanga, Absa Bank Uganda’s Business Banking Director, said at the function on Thursday.
“We are always looking for different ways through which we can impact more SMEs to ensure that they have the tools necessary to fulfil their potential to enhance economic growth.”
Rosemary Mutyabule Director Business advisory at Enterprise Uganda,
About 1,000 MSMEs from Jinja, Mbale, Lira, Arua, Hoima, Fort Portal, Mbarara, Masaka, and Kampala will benefit from the partnership by boosting their entrepreneurship awareness, company development, and sustainability while spurring economic development.
Rosemary Mutyabule Director Business advisory at Enterprise Uganda, said, “We are always looking for different ways through which we can impact more SMEs to ensure that they have the tools necessary to fulfil their potential to enhance economic growth.”
According to a national study done in 2022 by a non-governmental organisation Twaweza, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and Tax Justice Alliance Uganda, up to 55 percent of Ugandans who opened businesses in the past five years have closed them because of lack of capital, declining demand, high cost of inputs, Covid-19 disruptions, and heavy taxation.