By Felix Brian Oketcho
The Minister of State for Gender and Culture, Hon. Peace Regis Mutuuzo, has urged financial institutions to make women’s access to finance a core strategic priority, rather than a side initiative.
She emphasized that with women making up 52% of Uganda’s population, supporting women entrepreneurs is a direct pathway to reducing poverty and driving national development.
She made the remarks while officiating at the launch of Women Entrepreneurs Finance Code (WE Finance Code), a national initiative aimed at expanding women’s access to affordable finance and accelerating the growth of women-owned businesses.
Minister Mutuuzo also urged men to support women in their development endeavors, highlighting the progress women have made in business and other sectors.
Mutuuzo called on financial institutions to design innovative financial products, including not only credit facilities but also financial literacy programs, business development support, and alternative forms of collateral.
She further encouraged government agencies to continue removing barriers to women’s economic participation by streamlining regulations, easing access to markets and technology, and promoting the formalization of women-owned enterprises.
The Minister urged women entrepreneurs to embrace technology and platforms such as TikTok to market their enterprises and take advantage of the opportunities presented by the WE Finance Code to acquire financial resources, build skills, and expand their businesses with confidence.
In her remarks Dr. Francisca Ayodeji(Ayo) – Country Manager, World Bank noted that globally, leaders now recognise that women’s economic empowerment is essential to sustainable development.
She noted that women-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) face a global financing gap exceeding US$1.7 trillion, and improving women’s access to finance leads to stronger economies, healthier families, and more inclusive financial systems.
Richard Byarugaba, Executive Director of Finance Bank of Uganda described the initiative as a “milestone in Uganda’s financial-inclusion journey saying We Finance aligns with Uganda Vision 2040, the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, and Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality).
In Sub-Saharan Africa, women start more businesses than men, yet earn only two-thirds of what men do. This gap is due to gender-specific barriers, not ability – Mr. Richard Byatugaba, Executive Director, Finance, Bank of Uganda
Byarugaba highlighted government interventions including the GROW Project, Agricultural Credit Facility, Small Business Recovery Fund, and Parish Development Model that have expanded financial inclusion, helping raise Uganda’s inclusion rate to 81% in 2023, with a narrow gender gap of just 2 percentage points.
According to him,women-owned or led enterprises account for 1.32 million businesses, representing 52% of all enterprises in Uganda, yet only a quarter currently access credit.
He argued that expanding credit to women-owned SMEs could generate an additional USD 277.6 million in financial-sector revenue nearly 90% of which would come directly from women-led businesses.
PSFU CEO, Stephen Asiimwe pledged full support towards the WE Finance Code in Uganda emphasizing institutional leadership on women’s financial inclusion, Improving collection and use of sex-disaggregated data on financing for women-led enterprises and driving coordinated public-private actions to close financing gaps for women ententrepreneur