Saving for consumption hampering enterprise development - Jinja MP
Mr Ocici inspects some of the products that were exhibited during the training. PHOTO BY TAUSI NAKATO
What you need to know:
- Mindset change: According to Ms Katali, government needs to continuously support enterprise development and mindset change before implementing national poverty alleviation schemes. This will help to prepare the beneficiaries for sustainable business management.
Jinja. With many people saving money for consumption, it has increasingly become difficult to fight household poverty.
The trend, according to Ms Roy Katali, the Jinja District Women MP, has made it difficult to support enterprises financed through community saving groups.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Basic Enterprise Startup Tools training in Jinja, Ms Katali said many groups, particularly in the Busoga sub-region, are failing to profitably use finances they pool for growth because most of them start such groups before acquiring relevant management skills to sustain them.
Business sustainability
“Many Village Savings and Loan Association groups, especially those formed by women save like for a year [and] share all the savings before spending it during festivities,” she said.
The training, which was organised by Ms Katali together with Enterprise Uganda, sought to equip the more than 1,500 participants with management skills to improve business sustainability.
Mr Charles Ocici, the Enterprise Uganda executive director urged participants to believe in themselves if they are to gain the ability to grow their investments.
“Wealth creation is preceded by a versatile mindset that seeks the relevant skills as well as ensuring that most of the activities you do take a commercial dimension. In so doing, you will help Uganda in her quest for a productive labour force,” he said.
The 2015 Global Competitiveness Index report ranked Uganda at the 27th position out of 144 countries in terms of labour market efficiency and productivity.
Mindset change: According to Ms Katali, government needs to continuously support enterprise development and mindset change before implementing national poverty alleviation schemes. This will help to prepare the beneficiaries for sustainable business management.
