Smallholder farmers in Uganda have been called upon to adopt value addition in their agricultural value chains, transforming raw commodities like onions and garlic into processed products to boost profitability, reduce post-harvest losses, and enhance market competitiveness.

Ms. Victoria Sekitoleko, founder and board chairperson of the Uganda Agribusiness Alliance (UAA), emphasized that embracing value chain addition shifts farmers from subsistence production to resilient agribusiness enterprises.

“Value addition elevates primary commodities through processing, grading, packaging, and improved post-harvest handling, enabling farmers to capture higher margins in domestic and export markets,” she stated.

Speaking on December 16 at Hotel Africana in Kampala during a national high-level event themed “Agro-Industrialization and Export: One Value Chain at a Time,” Sekitoleko highlighted key benefits like Increased Farmer Incomes, reduced Post-Harvest Losses, enhanced Resilience and Sustainability,Market Access and Competitiveness

The event, organized by UAA, brought together government officials, private sector players, farmer organizations, financial institutions, and researchers to showcase innovations in agro-industrialization and foster pathways for Uganda’s export growth.

Agriculture remains the backbone of Uganda’s economy, employing over 70% of the population and driving key exports like coffee, tea, and horticultural products. Participants from West Nile districts, including lead farmers and community facilitators from Zombo, Nebbi, and Arua, shared gains from the ongoing “Power of Voices” project.

Sabiti Lords Compassion, a community-based facilitator with the Agency for Community Empowerment (AFCE), noted: “Trainings have equipped us with knowledge on quality production, marketing, and value addition in onion chains, which we will disseminate to boost external market linkages.”

Oyikuru Muddy, an AFCE project officer, urged government support for linking farmers to markets for value-added commodities like groundnuts and coffee. Farmer Akello Evelyn from Nebbi pledged to train peers on value chain benefits to increase productivity.

The five-year Power of Voices (Fair for All) project, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by UAA in partnership with AFCE, Oxfam Uganda, and others, has built capacity for 1,388 farmers (665 women, 723 men) in onion and garlic value chains in West Nile Subregion.

Interventions include Global GAP trainings, seed support, market access enhancements, and best practices in agronomy, post-harvest handling, and business management.

As the project nears closure in December 2025, upcoming sessions will focus on garlic value chains, financial management, and sustainability to empower farmers for independent agro-enterprises.

Farmers from the region have called for an extension to further scale impacts on livelihoods.

Local authorities in Zombo District have vehemently condemned an act of stigma and discrimination perpetrated by a Parish Development Model (PDM) Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization (SACCO) in Paidha Town Council.

The SACCO ( name withheld) allegedly excluded a client living with HIV from accessing the parish revolving fund, based on the prejudicial assumption that her HIV-positive status meant she would “die soon” and thus did not merit the financial support.

Bruno Obomba Mananu, the Assistant Resident District Commissioner (RDC) for Zombo, revealed this distressing incident during the district’s World AIDS Day commemoration at Ajei Primary School Playground in Nyapea Sub-County.

The event drew hundreds of people living with HIV/AIDS and key stakeholders focused on health equity and social inclusion.

“I want to reveal to you this true testimony that happened two weeks ago. A PDM group from Paidha Town Council denied funds to a woman living with HIV/AIDS, claiming that she has been on drugs for long and might die soon,” Mananu stated, eliciting concern among the PLWHA attendees.

He further explained that upon summoning the SACCO chairperson, the official admitted to the discriminatory action.

“We told him to reinstate the woman immediately, which they did,” Mananu added, emphasizing that the decision was promptly reversed to ensure the beneficiary received her entitled share of the revolving fund.

Mananu described the incident as a grave infringement on the human rights of PLWHA, underscoring the need for greater sensitization and protection against stigma in community-based financial programs.

This case paints the glaring picture of the ongoing challenges in promoting inclusive social services, where vulnerable populations, including those affected by HIV/AIDS, face barriers to empowerment and economic participation.

Collins Canudwoga, chairperson of the Zombo Forum for People Living with HIV/AIDS, a network comprising over 8,000 members, appealed for the establishment of dedicated funds for HIV-positive clients. Such measures, he argued, would help mitigate discrimination and ensure equitable access to resources, fostering resilience and self-reliance among marginalized groups.

Launched in 2022, the PDM is a flagship government initiative for poverty alleviation through community-driven development. It empowers parishes—home to populations ranging from 450 to 30,000 across Uganda’s more than 10,000 parishes, to address grassroots needs, targeting the 15.6 million Ugandans facing food insecurity.

In Zombo District, the program has achieved an impressive disbursement rate exceeding 80%, with over UGX 4 billion allocated to more than 4,000 beneficiaries across 61 parishes from a total allocation of UGX 6.1 billion.

Despite these advancements, persistent issues such as fund misuse, arbitrary removal of beneficiaries, mismanagement, and extortion have marred the program’s implementation. Earlier this year, reports emerged of beneficiaries diverting funds toward non-productive expenditures.

Zombo RDC Festus Ayikobua has repeatedly called on communities to report instances of corruption, fund misuse, stigma, or discrimination by SACCO officials, emphasizing vigilance to maximize the program’s impact on household livelihoods.

National Concerns

The PDM aligns with broader national efforts to uplift 39% of Ugandans from subsistence economies into the formal sector, promoting financial inclusion, infrastructure development, and value chain enhancements in agriculture.

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has voiced strong concerns over corruption and malpractices within the program, directing swift action against implicated leaders.

Recently, parish development committees in Paidha Sub-County, Zombo District faced scrutiny from the RDC’s office amid allegations of extortion and biased beneficiary selection.

“Do not let anyone exploit you. Report any cases of extortion immediately so we can take action,” urged Mananu, reinforcing accountability in social service delivery.

However, Leaders in Zombo have praised parishes that have effectively embraced the program, citing testimonials from farmers who have benefited from its focus on sustainable development.

Recently, Hon. Henry Musasizi, State Minister for Finance, Planning, and Economic Development, announced government plans to double PDM funding from UGX 100 million to UGX 200 million per parish.

This escalation aims to combat rising poverty, particularly in rural areas , by boosting productivity, income generation, and profitability through initiatives like PDM and Emyooga.

As Uganda grapples with sustaining these interventions, the PDM remains a pivotal strategy to integrate 17.5 million impoverished citizens into the money economy, reducing income disparities and advancing socioeconomic transformation.

For now 15 years, Mbarara City-based Perfect Touch Salon owner Racheal has been a renowned salon operator in Western Uganda’s busiest and fastest growing metropolis.

She relies on her 26 employees to keep quickly attending to hundreds of women who keep flocking her much sought after salon to have their hair worked on. She always desired to expand and diversify into other business activities, but all this required patient capital which she lacked.

When she learnt of GROW project loans through a relationship manager at her Post Bank Mbarara branch, she saw the intervention as a God-sent opportunity and signed up. She was fascinated by the fact that, upon assessment, she was found to be eligible to take out Shs50m, at just 10% interest, and repayable in two years time.

She used some of the money to buy modern equipment and add value to her salon business as this was the only way to enlarge customer base by attracting new customers while retaining the old ones.

A restocked salon enabled her to become even more competitive as more customers came on since Ugandans always like trendy things. She now has two well-performing branches for her Perfect Touch Salon-one in Kizungu and another at Rwebikona.

Racheal says that another Shs25m (off the Shs50m loan from GROW) was used to diversify into the rice importation business, which she currently doesn’t regret expanding into.

Indeed, enabling female entrepreneurs expand, diversify their businesses while plunging into hitherto male-dominated business arenas is one of the core objectives for GROW project, which the GoU came up with using funding (Shs850m) from the World Bank whose top executives become motivated even more whenever they see the resultant transformation manifesting through beneficiaries like Racheal.

Using the Shs50m, Ms Racheal (who had already been exposed and used to how borrowed money has to be productively leveraged) was also able to strengthen herself into recreation (guest house and restaurant) business. She is also grateful for the fact that the GROW project funds have enabled her to increase on her overall profitability, which has made life much easier for her as a female entrepreneur.

Because collateral was initially a key mandatory requirement for all GROW project beneficiaries, Ms Racheal used her land title as collateral to secure the Shs50m loan taken out of GROW. Her two friends, who are Post Bank customers, endorsed on the loan as guarantors.

NOT THE ONLY:

Yet Ms Racheal, the Perfect Touch Salon proprietor, isn’t the only female entrepreneur who has positively been impacted by the GROW project, which the GoU is implementing through the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) whose Dr. Aisha Ruth Kasolo serves as the overall Coordinator.

There are several others like Florence, a hair dresser and cosmetics vocational trainer in Masaka City. She has been a hair dresser for 10 years and in 2023 went into vocational training too-chiefly focussing on the cosmetics industry. She also now has a vocational training centre, with 30 students currently enrolled already, to become professional hair dressers. She employs two other people to help in the training.

The Post Bank customer was given a loan of Shs5m under the GROW project and says that this money enabled her to invest in expansion of her business operations. She is grateful that with the patient capital availed under GROW, her business sustainability is now well assured. With her sister signing off as a guarantor, Florence used her business building as collateral to secure the loan from GROW.

Another GROW beneficiary is Wakiso’s Miriam, a well-established tailor who was boosted with a loan of Shs4m repayable back within 2 years and at 10% interest.

Even when her original desire for Shs6m was diminished to Shs4m, upon assessment, Miriam is grateful that she was able to make bulk purchases of materials used in making school uniforms, which she was able to engage in and make some good money.

She mainly depends on her own children for labor whenever they are in holiday. Otherwise, she has one other full-time employee she works with. She used her sewing machines as collateral to secure the GROW loan, which had her husband serving as a guarantor.

Teddy, a Kabarole-based honey maker and weaver of traditional baskets, was also supported with Shs5m from GROW. She has been weaving and selling all her baskets to Rwenzori Sustainable Trade Centre but with GROW-enabled expansion, she is now able to have enough to sell to walk-in clients too, which wasn’t the case before. This had boosted her earnings.

She says that there is growing demand for her baskets, which she is now able to produce in larger quantities than before. She is optimistic that by the time the one-year repayment period she was given elapses; she will fully have repaid the Shs5m loan.

She says she no longer has a backlog of orders because the Shs5m loan enabled her to expand her operations and enlarge her output in a given time. For collateral, she tendered documentation relating to her kibanja as security for the loan.

Agnes from Wakiso also has a good story about GROW. She is grateful that the Shs20m she borrowed from GROW enabled her to remain competitive in plumbing, which ordinarily is a male-dominated business activity.

For more than 5 years, she has been in the business and persistence has seen her transition from using boda riders for delivery to using a motor car.

She uses her children for labor during holidays, on top of the other one employee she works with. The seller of plumbing materials (like pipes, toilet seats, sinks, tiles and ceramics) is grateful that with GROW’s Shs20m she was able to restock, expand and stabilise her plumbing business.

She easily passed the assessment task to qualify for the Shs20m because she already had a savings account with Equity Bank through which her GROW loan was processed. For collateral, she used her land sale agreement and had one other Equity Bank customer signing on as a guarantor.

There is also grocery and retail shop owner, Tusasibwe from Luwero who benefited from GROW. She was able to use the Shs5m to make the necessary investment that qualified her to become an enrolled water supply agent for West Lake Water Company.

These days, she is able to hire a truck to ferry the water which she sells to community members in Luwero. This is additional to her grocery retail shop business. She employs two people to keep her water supply business going-namely a driver and turn boy.

She says that the GROW loan enabled her to fund the transport requirement to sustain the water supply business. She had previously been borrowing from the SACCO where she was a member-meaning the GROW loan wasn’t the first time she was borrowing.

For collateral, Tusasibwe used her land sale agreement and the business license too to secure her Shs5m loan from GROW. Her husband was supportive to the extent he signed as her guarantor. He also mobilized another friend to sign as a co-guarantor.

Through the PSFU-implemented GROW project (which in full is Generating Growth Opportunities & Productivity for Women Enterprises), the government of Uganda continues to support women-owned/operated business enterprises to grow, expand and even diversify into new areas.

Every woman-owned/operated business is eligible to (at the interest of just 10% per annum) borrow up to between Shs4m and Shs200m. Even co-owned businesses, in which women own or control up to 51% shareholding, qualify to borrow money and receive other forms of support like training, skilling and certification under the GROW project.

There are three levels for GROW project loans namely level one (4-20m), level two (20-40m) and level three (40-200m). Funded by World Bank and implemented by the GoU, GROW is a five-year project worth $217m, which comes to Shs850bn in Ugandan money.

It mainly targets to benefit women entrepreneurs who are already engaged in some form of economic activity and aren’t poor enough to qualify under PDM. There is also emphasis on supporting female refugees and other women entrepreneurs in refugee-hosting districts. At least 5% of the money and all the other opportunities deriving from GROW are preserved for female refugees and women in refugee-hosting districts.

Both already existing and newly-incorporated women-owned business enterprises are eligible to benefit. Some of the women enterprises had been existing but without ever engaging with or accessing formal credit from financial institutions.

Through GROW project, such female entrepreneurs are enabled access to formal credit for the first time, which amplifies the Museveni government policy of deepening financial inclusion. Beneficiaries are also enabled to access larger amounts of credit to facilitate expansion and diversification of their already existing business enterprises.

PROFILING THE IMPACTED BENEFICIARIES:

As we illustrate in the following reporting, several individual women entrepreneurs have already been impacted and have been able to expand and diversify their businesses-courtesy of the GROW project loans. Beneficiaries are mainly from Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area and other regions of Uganda like Greater Masaka, Acholi, Lango, Busoga and Ankole etc.

The disbursement of the funds, which must be utilized within the designated period of five years, is being effected by the six Participating Financial Institutions (or banks) which were selected through a very competitive process. They include Centenary, Finance Trust Bank, Post Bank, Equity Bank and Stanbic.

Besides Pride Microfinance, Opportunity Bank and a few selected SACCOs (like UGAFODE, CBS PEWOSA etc) whose inclusion the President directed not very long ago, these six PFIs are mandated with operationalising the GROW Financing Facility (GFF) out of which all these project loans continue being disbursed.

From the reviewed literature, it’s clear that the GROW project overall objective is to increase access to entrepreneurial services that can enable women entrepreneurs grow, expand and diversify their business enterprises.

RELEVANT STATISTICS:

On average, 40% of the beneficiaries of the GROW project loans are first time borrowers; with 62% of the borrowers being married people compared to 30% who are single mothers and 4% who are widowed or divorced.

The other interesting demography that merits being noted is that majority of the borrowers (actually 56%) are aged between 36 and 50 years. 21% are aged 18-35, and 22% are aged 50-75 years. And as of last December, for education level, 46% of the borrowers had at least completed S6/UACE.

Looking at sectors, as of last December, 25% of the beneficiaries who borrowed and took out the money were in agriculture-related business enterprises, 8% in business services, 11% in manufacturing, 10% in construction, and 37% in trade & commerce.

Level one borrowers (taking out between Shs4m and Shs20m) are the majority, accounting for 75% of the monies disbursed as of last December. Level two borrowers (20-40m) accounted for 13% and level three (40-200m) accounted for 12%.

WHO TOOK OUT WHAT?

From the social services the sector, the GROW project beneficiaries’ story is illustrated as follows:

From Wakiso in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area (GKMA) is vocational training school owner Annet, who has been in the training & skilling business for now 15 years. Employing 25 other people besides herself, Annet has deals to train young women imparting on them skills to produce or make soap, bleach, shampoo and to also engage in industrial scale knitting for sweaters.

Currently, this GROW project beneficiary has a contract to skill 682 girls under the Makerere-based Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI)-funded “Dreams Project.” From the GROW project, Annet is grateful to have received an easily repayable loan of Shs75m payable within a period of 2 years and just 10% interest.

The already well-established entrepreneur says that she used the money from GROW to purchase of bar soap-making equipment, which was all she needed at that point in time to strengthen her business operations.

She used a land sale agreement and two guarantors as collateral to secure her GROW project loan. Annet, who already was a customer with Post Bank, is nevertheless thankful to the President for the GROW project initiative.

Innocent, a medical practitioner operating in the same Greater Kampala area specifically under Wakiso district, is another GROW project beneficiary who is grateful to the GoU and its and partners chiefly the World Bank.

The medical professional, who took out Shs20m from GROW, has since the year 2007 been operating two private health facilities in form of clinics. One is located in Bulaga-Nakabugo village in Wakiso district along Mityana Road and another one at Bwaise in Kampala City. She employs four female medical personnel, and also runs a private school as an additional source of income.

Equity has always been her bank and she has ever taken out loans before. From GROW, she was advanced a loan of Shs20m, contrary to the Shs50m she had initially applied and asked for.

She says she is now proud to have productively used the Shs20m loan to replenish and expand her clinics business. One guarantor and a land title was all she used as collateral to secure her GROW project loan.

THE F&B SECTOR:

Yet that isn’t all. The GoU’s GROW project has also positively impacted female entrepreneurs operating within the food & beverages sub sector. One of the beneficiaries is Hadija, a business lady who runs a lucrative restaurant & outside catering business in Nakasero, Kampala.

She started small by vending tea and she says she has been at it for now 30 years. She confesses that she has always operated on loans, making it clear that the GROW project’s isn’t the first loan she has thrived on.

She employees 10 young women to whom she pays a daily allowance. These help with moving around taking orders and delivering food to customers who are scattered all-over the Nakasero market neighbourhood.

A long-term customer of Equity Bank, Hadija says she is proud to have related with and maintained one same loans officer who has seen and supported her grow from the very small tea vending business she started out with. She used to borrow from an MDI before switching to Equity Bank.

She is grateful that under the GROW project arrangement, she was allowed to borrow Shs20m at interest of 10% and with a repayment period of 18 months. She found this to be cheaper and more patient capital than what she had all along been exposed to.

With the Shs20m, she says, she has been able to purchase equipment which she badly needed to add value, modernise and expand her outside catering business. Her residential property and restaurant served as collateral for the loan, besides the two guarantors who co-signed and endorsed onto the loan documents.

Ice cream maker Dorothy of Kawempe Kampala is another jubilant beneficiary of the GROW project loan product. The self-employed lady has been into the business of making/producing juice, ice cops, ice cream and ice cream cones for some good time. And speaking specifically she says this has been her thing for the last three years.

She employees 9 fellow young ladies as temporary workers whose pay is allowance-based. Being a first-time borrower, the DFCU bank customer took out a loan of Shs12m from GROW and was allowed a repayment period of 1 year.

She says she used the money to purchase value addition machinery, which she badly needed for her ice cream business and to also upgrade to 3-phase electricity supply. For collateral, she gave rental property which is in the names of her husband as the registered owner. Her husband also co-signed onto the loan as a guarantor.

Edith, a restaurant business owner from Mbarara City, is grateful for the Shs5m loan she received from GROW project funds. What she started as a small tea vending business in the year 2021 has since grown into a viable restaurant business.

She also offers outside catering and ushering services on top of preparing tea and juice for sale. She employs six workers who help her in running her rapidly-growing food & beverages business.

She is a customer of Centenary Bank where she had her bank account long before getting involved in the GROW project business. She was given a whole year within which to pay back the Shs5m.

She says the Shs5m enabled her to purchase value addition equipment including a juice dispenser, sauce pans, tea bowls and other utensils at the time she needed them most to be able to modernize and beautify her business operations. For collateral, she used her land title valued at Shs60m plus her husband who signed off as the guarantor of the loan.

Gulu City’s Sanyu is another GROW project beneficiary under the Food & Beverages sub sector. She first got into the restaurant business 8 years ago in Kampala from where she relocated the moment she established that Gulu was also becoming an equally busy Ugandan City.

Currently employing 35 workers, Sanyu was given a loan of Shs70m under the GROW project arrangement. She partly used the money to purchase and install furniture to enlarge the sitting capacity of her restaurant in Gulu City and buy other equipment besides diversifying her business foot print into offering accommodation services whereby she these days owns and operates a high-end guest house in Gulu town.

Besides being grateful to the GoU for the GROW project initiative, Ms Sanyu is convinced that the viability of all this investment and risk she took will gradually become clear and manifest for everyone to see and appreciate, as the profitability of her restaurant and guest house business grows.

Mbarara City’s Ms Nuriyat is another GROW project beneficiary. The female entrepreneur, who has owned and operated an auto (spare) parts business in Mbarara City for the last 10 years along Victor Bwana Road, is grateful for the Shs20m that was lent to her and thereby enabling her to remain viable and competitive in this otherwise male-dominated spare parts business arena.

Besides restocking and expanding her auto parts shop by having more stuff so that she reaches more customers, Nuriyat has also since relocated to take up bigger operational space, besides expanding into chicken roasting business, along Mahembe G’ente High Street where she currently has two stalls.

She has been a borrower and customer for Centenary Bank for the last 17 years, which is why there is certainty that repaying the Shs20m lent to her under GROW won’t be a challenge, moreover at 10% interest and in the repayment period of 18 months which she was given.

For collateral, Nuriyat (who continues to be celebrated for effectively and profitably breaking into such a male-dominated field) provided her rental property in the Rwobuyenje neighbourhood of Mbarara besides her husband and sister who signed off as guarantors for the loan.

ALICE’S 200M LOAN:

Yet that isn’t all about GROW project beneficiaries. For Alice, the Bukedi Tororo Municipality-based general merchandizer, wholesaler and construction dealer, the GoU and its partners basically the World Bank deserve all the praises in the world for having come up with the game-changing intervention called GROW.

Alice says she has been an effective business entrepreneur doing her business for the last 25 years and employs four people at her business premises in Tororo Municipality. The four work in her wholesale shop and another 20 workers in her construction business.

She has been a long-term customer and borrower for Centenary Bank, which raised her business pedigree and suitability as such a credit-worthy person, to the level that there was no hesitation lending to her Shs200m under the GROW project arrangement. She remains eternally grateful for the affordable interest and the two-year repayment period she was given under GROW.

She says she used the Shs200m to expand her general merchandise shop and to also replenish her construction business at the time this was very much necessary in especially the post-COVID period. The very experienced female entrepreneur, who used her land title for collateral, is optimistic that GROW’s Shs200m will result into her business expansion and growth in profitability too.