The Ministry of Gender has said that so far, loans worth shs18.98 billion have been disbursed to women entrepreneurs across the country as part of the shs812 billion Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises(GROW) project.
“By September, 25, 2024, shs18.98 billion had been lent out to 1,193 women entrepreneurs. Of these, 995 (83%) women entrepreneurs received loans in the category of shs4-20 million with value of shs9.03 billion; 132 (11%) women entrepreneurs borrowed amounts in the range of shs20-40 million with total amount of shs 3.97 billion while 66 (5.5%) borrowed under the category of 40-200 million with a value of shs5.987 billion. From our review, most of the loans are being made towards the priority sectors of the agricultural value chain, real estate and trade,” Aggrey Kibenge, the Ministry of Gender Permanent Secretary said in an update about the program.
The GROW project aimed at supporting women entrepreneurs in the country is funded by the World Bank and implemented by the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development in partnership with Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU).
The project aims to increase access to entrepreneurial services that enable female entrepreneurs to grow their enterprises, including refugee women and women in host districts.
It was launched by President Museveni last year.
In August this year, five commercial banks including Post Bank, Centenary Bank, Finance Trust Bank, DFCU Bank and Equity Bank were announced as participating financial institutions.
However, Stanbic Bank is also being brought on board.
Currently, the five commercial banks are offering the GROW loans at a rate not exceeding 10.5% per annum, with no loan application/arrangement fees.
The agreements signed with the initial five commercial banks are valued at shs 98.55 billion of which shs26.052 billion was advanced to the Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) in August 2024.
Kibenge also spoke about reports indicating that some commercial banks had depleted their GROW loan funds advanced to them.
He said as part of the project, government contracted an independent firm (KPMG), to undertake a due diligence and verify the loan funds given out by the Participating Financial Institutions before the release of additional funds to the specific banks that have depleted the total amount initially released.
“ In this case, Centenary Bank and Finance Trust Bank exhausted funds that were released in the first tranche. The independent firm (KPMG) has finalised the due diligence/verification exercise and government is now set to release the next tranche of funds to the two aforementioned banks before the end of October 2024,” he said
“The results from the assessments so far indicate that the funds released so far are being lent out to eligible women entrepreneurs. We are however going to require the Participating Financial Institutions to profile all the eligible borrowers.”
He said government will be monitoring to confirm and ensure that the funds lent out are indeed being used for the right purpose as intended.
“Government will also be keen to assess the contribution of the GROW loans to creation of new jobs and growth of enterprises.”
He on the other side said Post Bank, DFCU Bank and Equity Bank have not yet exhausted the first tranche of funds released, urging women entrepreneurs across the country to visit these commercial banks.
