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Business development services to reduce informalities, says PSFU
Ms Damali Ssali says business development services are key in formalising innovations and entrepreneurship. Photo / File
What you need to know:
- Business Development Services are key in reducing business informalities
Supporting Business Development Services will reduce business informalities and increase private sector investments, according to Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU).
Speaking at the end of a training of more than 200 Business Development Services providers in Kampala yesterday, Ms Damali Ssali, the PSFU chief programmes and projects officer, said there is need to furnish business proprietors with right knowledge and required skills to improve and enable businesses to compete favourably.
Business Development Services, among which include business management knowledge necessary to catalyse enterprise growth as well as address limitations in the entrepreneurship ecosystem, are key in business development and formalising business operations.
Uganda has a large portion of business informalities, which limits growth in terms of access to financing.
However, under Business Development Services, which is a statutory framework, government, in addition to monetary support, is seeking to offer businesses training, technical and marketing assistance, skilling, improved production technologies and related services to build resilience.
The Business Development Service providers training titled: Growth partners’ programme, was premised on the standards of business development services that PSFU, supported by Mastercard Foundation, developed through a technical working group early last year.
Through the training, Ms Ssali said entrepreneurs must take precaution in terms of how resilient businesses are built, noting that diversifying business operations was key.
“As an entrepreneur, you must be aware that you cannot do everything. You can’t be the innovator, the lawyer, the sales person, the accountant and the marketer. Focus on what you are very good at and then work with other people to deliver quality for your customers and yourself,” she said.
The 200 participants were selected through a competitive application and evaluation process based on their placement and ability to impact enterprise development in their respective communities from more than 1,000 applicants with the desire to catalyze the development of Business Development Services ecosystem.
The programme seeks to equip businesses with the required information on Uganda’s newly formulated business development support standards, tools, mentorship and resources needed to drive sustainable business growth.
Mr Alawi Mutebi, the Eurosat Group founder and one of the participants, said the training had offered a better understanding of the small and medium enterprises’ ecosystem with a clear explanation of unique problems and how to address them.
“It is important that our houses are in order before we go out to fix problems faced by the small businesses we are supporting. With this training, I am now able to first diagnose the SME businesses’ problems before making recommendations,” he said.
