Q&A with PSFU’s Stephen Asiimwe: Why supporting women entrepreneurs is good business and why the PSFU Women’s Day Katale in Jinja is a must-attend Uganda’s population is almost evenly distributed along gender lines. In 2022, Uganda's female population amounted to approximately 23.85 million, while the male population amounted to approximately 23.4 million inhabitants. However, this distribution is not reflected in business. On one hand, women dominate the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises while on the other hand, men dominate the big and multi-national businesses. One way of addressing these differences is through deliberately supporting women to innovate and scale.

As we gear up to this year’s International Women’s Day celebrations, Mr. Stephen Asiimwe, the CEO of Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) makes a case for supporting women entrepreneurs. He notes that supporting women is not a competition of men vs women but rather a thing of affirmative action in the business sense. He explained that PSFU is spearheading Women’s Businesses’ Growth through several projects including the annual PSFU Women’s Day Katale which is due from 15^th to 17^th March 2024 at Dam Waters Rugby Ground in Jinja. 

Decode for us the PSFU Katale Concept. What is it? Why is it important? Why now? 

The full meaning of Katale in our view is a marketplace; a marketplace of innovation., of networking, of digitisation, of crosscutting demand and supply opportunities, doing business better and training. But also telling the young lady out there, the girl child that you can do it. 

We held the first PSFU Katale in Luwero. It was very successful; a big hit with innovation at its highest, drawing over 100 women-founded and women-led businesses. We saw women creating unique recipes such as samosa with enkejje, and rolex with nsenene, as well as several crafts among others. It was fantastic. 

We said we don’t want a one-hit-wonder scenario. We wanted to create something that would grow further than the current situation. So, we made it an annual calendar activity for us in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.  

The second year – 2023, we held it here in Kampala at UMA show grounds and again, it was very successful. The second edition, hosted in Kampala in 2023, witnessed the participation of more than 250 women enterprises who showcased their products and services. the Kampala edition gave women from all walks of life a chance to showcase their skills including creatives such as women deejays and musicians. 

As part of our strategic rollout of footprints across the country, we decided to send it far away from Kampala and the first place was to go to the east. There was no better place than Jinja. Coincidentally, we were blessed with the new queen – the IneBantu, who is going to grace this occasion and encourage Women in the Busoga region to be part and parcel of this initiative and all other economic transformation activities. So, in brief, that is what PSFU Women’s Day Katale is and how we intend to use it to uplift women entrepreneurs. 

In the first two years of the Katale, what stood out for the Women Entrepreneurs and PSFU? What were the key successes and learnings from the 2022 and 2023 editions? 

The factors that impede, and somewhat threaten women entrepreneurs such as the cost of finance, access to finance, markets and networks were all exemplified in the first two Katale editions. Participants walked away with business, better networks and more knowledge to improve their businesses. In Katale Two, many people walked away very excited and satisfied with the endless opportunities the platform offered them. I know of many who have said they are willing to book their stalls in the Katale for the next 10 years. 

We also got a lot of positive media buy-in. The stories that came out were stories of hope, success, growth, expansion and efficiency. But for the first time, banks started coming in and said ‘Guys, we have a lot of money here, how can we deploy it to support women better.’ Development partners such as UN Women and many others also took note and came in. So, everyone now wants to be part of this initiative because we have opened their eyes to the opportunities available in the Women’s space.

As PSFU, we are excited with these outcomes, because they sit well with our day-to-day objectives. We can’t play small scale, we have to open the door for this country. The President is talking about Value Addition. At both the 2022 and 2023 Katale episodes, we saw Value Addition at its best and we are hoping that every Katale gets even better outcomes.  But most importantly, to be in Luwero for the first Katale, was a big blast for the Women Entrepreneurs in that sub-region. 

Minus the Katale, which is an annual event, what follow-up activities that PSFU undertake to ensure that the ladies that have benefited from the Katale continue to grow their businesses and transform their communities? 

As PSFU, we have a big membership drive because we are a member-based organisation. We have eased the process of enrolling new members, especially those that are upcountry-based. So, we intend to incorporate all the women who participate in the Katale into our database for continued follow-up and support. We also have more projects that support women entrepreneurs such as GROW with the World Bank and Ministry of Gender; we have the Young Africa Works supported by Mastercard Foundation; INVITE – Investment for Industrial Transformation and Employment and UN Women programs among others. We also have several calendar events that support women. This very month, we have just closed a big summit, the EU-Uganda Business Forum where Women Entrepreneurs will still have a chance to further grow their businesses. In all, we continue to support Women in Business to scale. 

As we conclude this interview, why must the Women Entrepreneurs in Jinja not miss this Katale? Why must the people of Jinja attend this activity? 

I would like to implore as many people from Jinja and Busoga to come for the Katale. We have a lot of transformative activities lined up. We are going to teach and equip. Financial institutions are going to be there and our membership, projects and technical teams to ensure that all participants benefit. I would like to call upon the leadership of Jinja and the Kingdom of Busoga to be part of this. We won’t be coming to Jinja in a long time as we have to spread this Katale across over 100 districts, the 20 sub-regions if you like. So, 2024 is for Jinja and I implore the leaders to rally their people to participate. PSFU is a home to everyone doing business. If you are a business person, intend to do business or want to do business better, the PSFU Women’s Day Katale is your event.