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PSFU promises non-collateralised credit fund as it launches 2024 Women's Day Katale
Ms Kagingo speaks during the launch of the third session of the Women's Day Katale in Kampala. Photo / Courtesy
What you need to know:
- The Katale provides women and youth a platform to network, expand and connect with potential customers.
Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) has said it is working with partners to create a fund through which youth and women-founded businesses will be supported with non-collateralized loans and patient capital.
Speaking during the launch of the third session of the Women’s Day Katale due at Dam Waters Rugby Ground in Jinja City next month, Ms Sarah Kagingo, the PSFU vice chairperson, said financial institutions have to reassess their financing models to offer small and medium enterprises patient capital to allow growth of such businesses, noting that banks should as well develop products that support small businesses.
“As PSFU, we are working with partners to create the Catalytic Fund ... that will offer non-collateralized loans and patient capital to youth, women, and high-growth SMEs,” she said, adding: “We continue to urge banks to develop more products that support SMEs. We are telling financial institutions to give people patient capital that will grow their businesses.”
The Women’s Day Katale has since 2022 supported verification, certification, and validation of more than 500 women-developed products, but even with such success, women and youth, who are the majority in the informal, small and medium enterprises, continue to play second fiddle due to the absence of well-tailored financial solutions to accelerate businesses, inaccessible capital, and lack of collateral.
The third edition of the Katale due on March 15 and 17, will allow women entrepreneurs from eastern Uganda to showcase their innovativeness, improve their management skills, grow their business networks, exhibit their products, improve revenues, and celebrate International Women’s Day and Month.
The Katale, organised by PSFU and supported by Mastercard Foundation through the Young Africa Works (YAW) Lead Firm Structure programme, provides women and youth a platform to network, expand and connect with potential customers.
Mr Stephen Asiimwe, the PSFU chief executive officer, noted that Jinja had been selected as the ideal host for the Katale due to its strategic location and abundant untapped opportunities in key sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism, which offer a substantial pool of unemployed youth with opportunities to contribute to economic growth.
“This region, though brimming with potential, faces considerable economic challenges. By hosting the Katale in Jinja, we aim to empower local women entrepreneurs, contribute to regional development, and bridge the economic divide,” he said.
