Equity Bank’s Tupange well received in Lira, next stop is Mbarara

Lira, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The northern city of Lira was abuzz Wednesday afternoon as many business owners flocked to attend the TUPANGE business forum organised by Equity Bank Uganda Ltd.

The Tupange engangement targets Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), with an aim of sharing tips on business growth, financial assistance, and market expansion.

“Your business has a high rate of growth when you meet the right people. We need to network more and grow strategic partnerships for our businesses to grow and succeed in the future,”  said Canon Kenneth Adur, who was the guest of honor at the session at Pauline Hotel in Lira.

He added that, “As SMEs, we must see how to position ourselves to tap into government opportunities, and Equity Bank has assisted us in identifying through which opportunities are available, especially in the Lango Sub Region.”

Adur explained that the overall level of financial inclusion is high in Lango Sub Region, meaning more people are getting into the financial and banking sector. “This means savings alone ain’t enough to grow your business but rather look for Equity bank to support you grow and succeed,” he said.

“We need to find ways of attracting new customers plus do assessment on why we are losing or getting many customers. As an SME business owner, you also need to be checking into loopholes of the business, and also embark on competitor analysis to see that you perform better,” said David Opio Okello, Former Deputy Governor Bank of Uganda.

Peter Ssemakalu, Equity Bank Regional Manager for Greater North argued that SMEs are so important to the economy because they pay taxes in the country, support the business ecosystem, including distributors, offer the market to corporates, and create the biggest employment in the country.

“This year has been quite a challenging year for the banking sector, which is why we are getting down on the ground to engage with you and see how we can support SMEs grow as we grow. As we get into bridging this gap, we will have our financial teams come to you and continuously see how to support you better,” admitted Robert Wanok, Head retail banking at Equity Bank Uganda.

Tupange Business Ne Equity engagement has so far reached over 600 SME proprietors across the country, offering them advisory services, improving their financial knowledge, and providing networking platforms. The meetings also aim to scale up customer engagements with the retail SME segment at the regional level.

The initiative follows the successful ‘Abakyala Ku Ntikko’ regional meetings, where Equity Bank interacted with women entrepreneurs across Uganda. The engagements align with Uganda’s growth strategy for the new financial year, which focuses on the full monetisation of Uganda’s economy through commercial agriculture, industrialization, market access and digital transformation.

The campaign is also in line with the Bank’s effort to support critical sectors to fully recover post-COVID-19 crisis, through its Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan. The critical pillars include agriculture, trade, extractives and oil, manufacturing, MSMEs, social and environmental transformation, and technology-enabled economy.

“The ‘Tupange Business Ne Equity’ initiative is timely, reflecting the growing influence of SMEs in the government’s policies, which promotes locally manufactured goods and skills,” said David Opio Okello, former Deputy Governor of Bank of Uganda.

Tupange shifts to Mbarara today.