This paper sought to investigate the characteristics of MSMEs and to suggest ways of improving performance, particularly tackling constraints faced by women and youth entrepreneurs in Uganda
Agent Accelerator Survey 2016
FINANCE among Micro-Sized, MSMEs, Medium-Sized & Small-sized Enterprises
Customer satisfaction and needs assessment Survey for the insurance industry 2016
Starting Monday 30th October for one week, people all over the world are going to celebrate Financial inclusion. According to Center for Financial Inclusion the focus will be on exploring how new financial products and partnerships are empowering customers. While all of this is going on, I imagine the first question anybody would ask, as I often do, is this: Honestly, why should I care about financial inclusion? Here are 4 reasons why:
By Jacqueline Musiitwa,
Former Executive Director, Financial Sector Deepening Uganda
The poverty level in Uganda is shockingly high. According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics in the 2016/17 Household Survey, about 27% or 10 million people are poor. Although there are many ways to climb out of poverty, access to and usage of financial inclusion is one of the critical. The Survey also found that about 33% of Ugandans keep money at home or a secret place. That is the most common way people save money. This is followed by Village Savings and Loans Associations at 16%. With such a high number of people excluded from formal financial services, it is hard for them graduate from one income level to another.
Note to reader: For the safety of the refugees and following guidance from UNHCR, no names or pictures have been used in this piece.
Thursday 2nd November 2017 was the start of a two-day immersion in the Gihembe Refugee camp in Northern Rwanda. Our task – to develop financial services products that are relevant, affordable and accessible to the over 85,000 adult refugees in the country. For many in our party, which included representatives from six leading financial services providers (FSPs) in Rwanda, this was a first visit to a refugee camp. While the previous day’s briefing and clear instructions at the entrance provided some guidance, we really did not know what to expect.
Partnering in digital payments to strengthen financial inclusion in Uganda
Kampala, Uganda – 2nd November 2017: Over half of Uganda’s adults are forced to keep their savings at home because of a lack of access to formal financial services. Not only is this not safe, but it slows the country’s growth as large numbers of citizens remain financially excluded from formal financial services.
The concept of the missing middle and needs of SMEs goes beyond access to finance. There is need for support in governance, business development and mentorship.
To take this forward financial institution have been challenged to innovate financial products for affordable private schools which experts say have a huge but untapped revenue growth potential for lenders.
A new report by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation warns that the 2013 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets will not be achieved based on the current course of action by world leaders. One of the SDG goals is achieving 100% access to the electrical grid.
The financial services industry – banks, mobile network operators, insurance providers and others – have historically sought to work independently in achieving their profitability goals. With the recent global and regional influx of Fintechs – companies that leverage technology and innovation to compete in the financial services marketplace – this industry is getting significantly more competitive. Working collaboratively with fintechs, these bigger and more traditional financial services providers stand to improve their ability to respond to established and emerging challenges to growing their customer numbers and improving their bottomline performance.
By Joseph Lutwama
Former Policy, Legal and Regulatory Specialist, Current FSD Uganda Director of Programs
Can my money ever be safe? Can I trust the bank to keep my money safe? I am sure at some point in your life you have asked yourself these questions when deciding where to keep your money. Five out of every ten adult Ugandans keep their money at home in a “safe place”. Only 5 out of 100 adult Ugandans actually keep their money in a commercial bank.
Agents are optimistic about the business, with the majority seeing themselves continuing as an agent in one year’s time according to the survey report published today by Financial Sector Deepening Uganda and The Helix Institute of Digital Finance.
FSD Uganda and the Uganda Bankers Association have entered into a partnership to improve, extend and strengthen access into financial services with specific focus on undeserved
Chattels refer to “someone’s possessions, not including any houses or land that they own.” These can be items of movable personal property, such as furniture, livestock or vehicles. When accessing credit in Uganda, in most cases the borrower is required to advance collateral either in form of a title of undeveloped land or already existing real estate property. This applies to both individuals and companies accessing capital from financial institutions. So chattels open up access credit to a whole other section of society.
What does it take to make digital credit gender inclusive?
Savings and Investments by the Low Income Segment in Capital Markets: A Case Of XENO
Supporting refugees to find freedom by expanding access to finance
Bridging the gap between youth and access to financial services
Embracing digitalisation in agriculture for inclusive growth
Ensuring Resilience in the Supply of Agricultural Finance amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons from the Integrated Cooperative Model.
