WORLD BANK ALLOWS WOMEN TO ACCESS MONEY FROM THE BANKS WITHOUT COLLATERAL

By: Rose Kasigwa

The World Bank has officially cleared the government to allow women without collateral to access loans under the  Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises (GROW) Project. 

This decision is expected to benefit thousands of women, especially those in rural areas, who were previously locked out due to strict security requirements.

GROW  is a Government of Uganda Project, funded by the World Bank, implemented by the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development and the Private Sector Foundation Uganda in all districts, Municipalities and Cities.

The project aims at increasing access to Entrepreneurial Services that enable female Entrepreneurs to grow their Enterprises from micro to small and small to medium in targeted locations, including the Refugee host districts.

While appearing before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, project coordinator Ruth Aisha Musoke Kasolo revealed that the government is now engaging microfinance institutions and SACCOs to help distribute these loans, especially in remote areas where banks are unavailable.

At press briefing on October, 10,2024 Minister Of gender labor and social development, Betty  Amongi provided an update on the GROW loans saying government signed  agreements with the initial five (05) Commercial Banks valued at UGX 98.55 billion of which UGX 26.052 billion was advanced to the Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) in August 2024. “By 25th September 2024, UGX 18.98 billion had been lent out to 1,193 women entrepreneurs Financial Institutions (PFIs) in August 2024,” she said.

“Of these, 995 (83%) women entrepreneurs received loans in the category of UGX 4-20 million with value of UGX 9.03 billion; 132 (11%) women entrepreneurs borrowed amounts in the range of UGX 20-40 million with total amount of UGX 3.97 billion while 66 (5.5%) borrowed under the category of 40-200 million with a value of UGX 5.987 billion,” she added.