The Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development (MGLSD) on International Women’s Day signed a memorandum with various Government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
The MOU was part of MSLD’s work with the Generating Growth Opportunity and Productivity for Women Enterprises (G.R.O.W) project. The GROW project aims to help women entrepreneurs around the country and it was launched in January 2023. World Bank funded the project with USD217 million and it partnered with MSLD, Private Sector Foundation Uganda.
The project since its launch last year has been meeting different women’s entrepreneurial groups around the country and with the MOU in place, the project is said to benefit more women this year with the help of different government Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI), which is one of the partners of the GROW project, was tasked with empowering 1,540 women in entrepreneurship by providing technical skills in production, garments, manufacturing, food production and value addition among others.
During the signing of the MOU, there were already 500 women who had applied for the training and they are ready to benefit from the project.
Hon Betty Amongi, the Minister of Gender, during the signing of the MOU mentioned Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) as the other partner which is also aiming to certify 500 products owned by female companies. This is to help enhance product quality and market competitiveness for women entrepreneurs and the GROW project is ready to help in covering costs of the certification processes.
Other MDAs that will play a vital role in the GROW project include Uganda Registration Service Bureau, Makerere University Business School, Directorate of Industrial Training, and National Agricultural Research Organisation among others.
