Prof Maggie Kigozi one of the outstanding Women Entrepreneurs in the country has called upon fellow women to always yearn for knowledge in all businesses they intend to start up so as to become successful in all their ventures.
While addressing women at the the National Dialogue on Women in the Economy held at Hotel Africana in Kampala , Kigozi noted that some women have been left in the dark because they are ever busy in their businesses , children and house work which leaves them with little time for research as well as following up on current affairs on both Radio and Television.
“For any business venture to be successful, you need to do research about it before deciding to start. This helps you to know your competitors, the market, pricing and of course the financial cost. Due to multitasking, most women do not have time to do research and hence end up starting businesses that end up failing and in losses,” she said.
She added that although some women led businesses are succeeding, there are a lot of challenges that face women entrepreneurs that need addressing.
“Although some women are doing well in a number of sectors, we still have challenges like lack of affordable business loans whereby only 9 percent of the business loans issued by the banks go to Women, they still don’t have rights to land which is another collateral used by banks when issuing out loans.”
She also noted that she has been able to utilize her influence and experience inorder to inspire other women to work hard and achieve more in their businesses.
” In the past girls were never educated as their counterparts ( boys) because they didn’t expect any good thing from the females whom they looked at as materials for marriage.”
She further added that with the exposure women have gained confidence to control their own businesses to the extent of being listed among the most the top rich people in the country.
Sara Opendi the Tororo Woman Member of Parliament expressed the need to put in place legal frame work systems which can favor women like as it’s for men also to own land which is a very their Main factor is productive.
She applauded the Parish Development Model that this is one of the Government initiative which is going to directly benefit the women at grass root level.
“We urge Government to ensure that at least women have access to affordable credit financing which can help them to finance their businesses. It’s from these loans that they can use to acquire their own land which is the main factor of production in the farming business.”
Opendi further expressed her concern on the high tech illiteracy level among women whereby although many have smartphones, but a few of them can operate them for productive businesses
Patricia Munabi, the Executive Director for Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE) revealed that this year’s National dialogue was organized under a theme ‘ Gender Equality for a sustainable tomorrow’ with a view of finding means through which women in the business sector can favorably compete with their Male counterparts in the sector.
“We are proud to have been part of the advocacy team that saw Uganda become the first country in the world to have the certificate of gender and equity in our Public Finance and Management Act . Although substantial gains in women political sphere have been attained in Uganda, we note that their number at Local Government level is still low. We have a third in Parliament 46 percent representation at Local Government level , at district level we have only 3 out of the 146 district Chairpersons and this requires immediate intervention,” she said