Peter Kafuko of Enterprise Uganda Presenting Outcomes of the NUYEP
Preliminary outcomes of the Northern Uganda Youth Entrepreneurship Project (NUYEP) reveal that females are more willing to undertake entrepreneurship ventures than males due to their positive response to training. This was evidenced in Karamoja region where lifestyle activities such as nomadic pastoralism deter men from participating in development programs and yet they in most cases take away the gains garnered by their spouses.
Presenting the outcomes at a seminar held at the EPRC, Peter Kafuko of Enterprise Uganda, the lead implementer of NUYEP said that females tend to be influenced more by opinion leaders and peers in their business decisions. While presenting business distribution by sub regions, Kafuko explained that Lango region leads with 1,762 youth businesses followed by West Nile’s 1,185. Teso registered 1,176, Acholi 1,071 and Karamoja held the bottom position with only 726 businesses. The trends were attributed to different levels of commitment by the populace.
According to Kafuko, NUYEP led to increased confidence among the youth, improved ability to choose right businesses, avoidance of loans as startup capital and development of skills required to run different businesses. The outcomes also pointed to increased income levels and creation of waged jobs. For example, per household, youth income levels were approximately UGX 154,500 before NUYEP interventions and these rose to UGX 468,550 during the program’s third follow up.
NUYEP aimed to create and expand 5000 youth and family enterprises in the areas of Acholi, Lango, Teso, West Nile and Karamoja through offering tailored and personalized support. The support was delivered in six cycles that included creation of awareness on potential business opportunities, equipping of youth with Business Enterprise Start up Tools (BEST), one on one mentoring and formation of saving and investment clubs.
Participants raised the need for great mobilization to lure youths into entrepreneurship programmes. They also suggested building of collaboration among rivaling communities through community dialogues so as to avert conflicts in areas like Karamoja.
Other recommendations included mindset change to encourage youth to attend training programs without using incentives, establishing reasons for high business failure among youths through research and reinforcement of messages geared towards promoting youth Entrepreneurship.
Speaking at the seminar, Dr. Sarah Ssewanyana the Executive Director EPRC, appreciated the collaboration with Enterprise Uganda and expressed willingness to offer further support in the areas of research design and impact evaluation. She also announced that EPRC was going to launch activities on women entrepreneurship before end of 2015, emphasizing the Centre’s eagerness to team up with Enterprise Uganda.