KAMPALA — 25 women in business-led start-ups have pitched their ideas in the agriculture value addition chains— seeking funding to scale up their operations.
Speaking at the end of the pitching exercise at dfcu headquarters on Tuesday June 13, Ronald Kasasa, the dfcu Head of Business Banking said most entrepreneurs lack skills to pitch for funding.
Through a Agribusiness Development Centre, he said dfcu Bank is looking for a group of startups involving youths with proposals and well-researched ideas.
“Most of the pitchers are looking for grants because of financing costs. We have products that are quite well- priced. We have seen the potential and some may benefit from the grants and others will fit in the banking financing programs,” he said.
“Each pitcher has been able to tell us their vision, their mission, and their financing needs and also the actual problem they are solving. What is impressive about these people is that each picture has been able to tell us a real problem.” Kasasa added.
Starts will be supported based on their capacity to take on a debt.
“If we say that, you know, you’ve asked maybe for UGX 1 billion, but your capacity is for 50 million, we shall tell you that you don’t have the capacity. But if he gave you 15 million probably to make him more efficient. And then you grow in phases and give it time to grow until you reach that level of one billion.” He explained.
Lynette Mugisha, the managing director of Raw & Organic Investment Limited and one of the pitchers said that the beauty of this program is that they first teach you how you’re supposed to use the money before they actually give it to you.
She highlighted lack of capital as their main challenge and said that when they get such accelerators, they have to use them for they equip them with the knowledge at zero cost.
Lynette pitched for USD20,000 for her business to be able to make it reach her target and also to employ many jobless ugandans.
The women-led businesses will receive support from the Agribusiness Development Centre (ADC) following the launch of its Business Acceleration Program (BAP) last year.
ADC, powered by dfcu limited and Rabo foundation launched BAP to help Agribusinesses to get out of the ideation phase and offer them a business acceleration opportunity that should enable them to attract markets and funding for the growth and sustainability of their operations.
The accelerator program was launched to enable 350 agribusinesses (40% women-led) to become self-sufficient, create new jobs, and link at least 50% of these agribusinesses to financing and markets.
The other startups include Wilan Development Co. Ltd, Aroza Group Limited, Shalom Organic Firms among others.
