geo/uganda
African telecom firm Africell plans to spend part of a $100 million U.S. credit line on expanding its infrastructure and fintech services. Africell founder and chief executive Ziad Dalloul told Reuters the money would help fund infrastructure investments for its operations in Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia and Sierra Leone.
As part of its strategy to expand across the African continent, 4G Capital is delighted to announce the opening of offices in Kampala and launch of award winning financial services designed to empower micro and small enterprises (MSMEs) across Uganda.
4G Capital has supported the sustainable growth of MSMEs in Kenya since 2013 by providing important financial literacy training blended with unsecured working capital credit.
Digital bulk payments have the potential to connect millions of poor farmers to digital financial services. This report from CGAP and UNCDF recounts UNCDF's efforts to digitize payments to coffee farmers in Uganda, where just 29 percent of adults actively used mobile money in 2014. It shares lessons for donors, financial services providers and agricultural firms that are interested in digitizing agricultural value chains.
Access to affordable credit is one of the biggest challenges Uganda is facing, which if not addressed, could hinder the country from attaining a middle status target by 2020. Experts say only 20 per cent of Ugandans own land titles which are majorly used as collateral and the 80 per cent of population have been excluded from accessing credit because they do not own titles. Yet this larger group of Ugandans is running small businesses and own movable assets which is capital locked up and can be used as security.
The impact of microcredit in reducing poverty has been debated for over 40 years with the article, ‘Microfinance: Good for the poor?’ that appeared in the Independent (Aug 28 – Sept 03 2015) being another voice. The article recognises the positive impact of microfinance in poverty eradication and suggests changes to enhance this impact.
In Uganda, there has been a call for a women’s bank. A cross-section of women have called upon the government to provide a bank that will handle the financing of their large and small scale businesses.
Access to finance is a problem faced by many women in Uganda. DFCU Bank, a commercial bank in Uganda, helps women entrepreneurs overcome this challenge. It runs a 'women in business' programme, which supports over 4000 businesswomen. CDC, the UK's development finance institution, is a long-term investor in DFCU. Its investment allows the bank to provide long-term funding to support small and medium businesses (SMEs), including those run by women, enabling them to grow and provide sustainable jobs.
It all started with a group of women. Driven by the dream of financial freedom, they carried the hopes of other women and many low income people in Uganda that someday a small microfinance institution would usher many into a life of plenty. Inspite of the wars that had rocked the country in the 1970’s, cultural prejudices and relatively low incomes, they still trudged on toward their goal.
Many African governments continue to outdo themselves trying to attract bigger investors, while leaving small and medium enterprises to their own devices. Professor Matthew Tsamenyi, president of the African Accounting and Finance Association, thinks this must change.
