Access to finance hinders young entrepreneurs - Citibank chief
Left to right: The head of corporate and investment banking in Europe, Middle East and Africa, Mr Manuel Falco, Citibank Uganda chief executive officer Sarah Arapta, and the head of EMEA public affairs Jeff French at the media conference in Jinja on Monday. PHOTO BY DENIS EDEMA
What you need to know:
- Ready. The bank is putting aside about Shs1 billion to support young entrepreneurs in Uganda.
Jinja. Young entrepreneurs in Uganda’s economy that constitute nearly 90 per cent of the private sector in the small businesses and entrepreneurship are limited from accessing friendly and soft financial support from banks because of high interest rates.
Citibank Uganda chief executive officer Sarah Arapta said young entrepreneurs in Uganda are not supported financially and given training opportunities in areas of business planning to expand their businesses.
“Uganda`s private sector is made up of 90 per cent young entrepreneurs who are not directly supported and not trained in book keepings (and) marketing skills, ” she said.
Ms Arapta made the remarks during a press conference in Jinja on Monday.
She was introducing a team of Volunteer Africa experts who are in Uganda to support young entrepreneurs in business planning strategies and branding of their products in Jinja and Mbale districts.
The head of corporate and investment banking in Europe, Middle East and Africa at Citibank, Mr Manuel Falco, who led the group of about 24 volunteers from Europe and other parts of Africa said the bank is putting aside about Shs1 billion to support young entrepreneurs in Uganda.
“This is not the first time we are doing this. We have been in Kenya and it was success. We are now in Uganda targeting over 500 youths to benefit from this money from what they have started to do as business. We will guide them to improve and add value to their products,” he said.
Project objective
Mr Falco further said the main objective of the project is to motivate young entrepreneurs to be innovative, creative in areas of saloons, art and crafts.
Citibank is in partnership with Baloon, an NGO that recommends and verifies the selections of young entrepreneurs, and how much they should get in support as soft loans to boost their businesses.
Volunteer Africa
What they do. Citi employees worldwide use their professional skills, expertise and time by volunteering directly with community partners to promote progress. Volunteer Africa collaborates with employees to support volunteer activities.
