Over 70 Ugandan Small and Growing Businesses benefit from Hi-Innovator Program

By Our Reporter

In an effort to address the unemployment problem in the country, National Social Security Fund (NSSF) in partnership with Mastercard Foundation has awarded Ugx5.9b as seed capital to an additional 78 Ugandan small and growing businesses through the Hi-innovator Pr0gramme.

This brings the total number of businesses funded by the Fund to 110 since the Hi-Innovator Programme was launched in May 2021, totaling Ugx10.5b in seed funding and the winners were selected from over 6,300 entrepreneurs based in the five sectors of the economy i.e. agriculture, digital economy, fashion and beauty, health and light manufacturing and ICT that enrolled in the program’s learning platform dubbed the NSSF Hi-Innovator Business Academy; an online self-directed platform where entrepreneurs obtained foundational business knowledge for a period of three months.

The Hi-Innovator Programme is an initiative by NSSF in partnership with Mastercard Foundation that aims to create an eco-system where indigenous small and growing businesses can be supported to mature into viable businesses.

Speaking at the awarding ceremony held at Mestil Hotel on Tuesday; the Deputy Managing Director Patrick Ayota said that with this initiative they believe that they are on the right track to attaining ambitious goal of creating over 132,000 employment opportunities for the youth and women in the country as well an eco-system where indigenous small and growing businesses can be supported to mature into viable businesses and it is gratifying to see that the businesses supported this year have increased from 32 to 78 which is an indication that there are innovative ideas and possible scalable businesses in the country to support.

Ayota added that each winner has been awarded USD20,000, and will now undergo a due diligence process and will be supported by other partner innovation hubs in the next four months to enable them address business hurdles.