Twenty-eight women agribusiness entrepreneurs graduated from the 1st cohort Business Accelerator Program (BAP) implemented by the Agribusiness Development Centre (ADC), dfcu Limited, and the Rabo Foundation.
Launched last year, the program’s objective is to train 350 agribusinesses (40% women-led), link at least 50% of them to financing and or markets and enable them to grow and create new jobs. During the training, the women entrepreneurs were exposed to different aspects of business management from, business canvas modeling, governance, risk management, marketing, financial management, and much more.
Speaking at the award event last month, Josephine Mukumbya, Executive Director, ADC, said the participants were engaged in exposure visits like the Trans-African summit that was organized by Women Economic Forum with the aim of showcasing their products to a broader African market and enabling wider networking. They were also exposed to field visits at CURAD, the consortium for enhancing university responsiveness to agribusiness development, and the Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI) to expose them to services that can be used to build capacity and add value to their products.
“A multi-dimensional approach entailing a combination of training, self-paced learning, mentoring, and exposure visits was used for the program. I wish to congratulate each of you for your resilience and commitment to this day,” she said. In a bid to expose women to more business opportunities across borders, different regulators were also invited to sensitize the entrepreneurs to encourage legal and regulatory compliance.
Speaking during the ceremony, Robert Wanok, Ag. Chief Commercial Officer of dfcu Bank reiterated the bank’s commitment to women’s economic emancipation and enterprise development. “As an enabler of socioeconomic transformation, supporting women entrepreneurs and agribusiness development is paramount. The first cohort inspired the launch of two more cohorts and because of this, we are proud of the journey so far and are confident of the future. Because of your collective achievements, you have paved a way for more women to benefit from the program,” he said.
“Our goal is to empower more women involved in the entire agribusiness value chain and we do this by partnering with like-minded individuals, organisations, and government to deliver on our commitment to transform lives and communities,” he concluded.
For more information on this initiative visit www.dfcugroup.com
