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Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | The European Union plans to invest over Shs 420 billion in small and medium enterprises that are environmentally friendly in the coming few years, according to Cedric Merel, the head of corporation at the European Union office in Uganda.
Merel was speaking on Sept. 05 at Sheraton Hotel during the SEED East Africa symposium where six businesses (three from Uganda and three from Kenya) were recognized for being outstanding in the eco-inclusive enterprise development.
He said that this support aims at boosting an inclusive green economy through creation of descent jobs for youth and women and, ultimately reduce income inequality and fight poverty.
“We are still identifying specific areas where to invest this money,” he said.
Merel added that this support comes in handy to manage the problem of access to finance for small companies.
Meanwhile, the award winning companies for the 2017 SAG-SEED awards supported by EU and Switch Africa Green included; ICOSEED Enterprises, Kencoco Ltd and Horizon Business Ventures – from Kenya and – Brent Technologies, Gorilla Conservation Coffee and Masupa Enterprise – from Uganda.
Masaka based Brent Technologies won SAG @SEED_SustDev award for recycling waste motor oil using innovative low-cost tech. #SDG9 #SDG7 pic.twitter.com/A4tiuAQ4Ae
— UNDP Uganda (@UNDPUganda) September 6, 2017
Proprietors of these companies said they were looking for financial support to meet their long term expansion plans.
Magdalena Kloibhofer, the enterprise support specialist from SEED said the winners had benefited from training that focused on strategic planning, marketing, risk management among other things.
Going forward, she said the winners would continue to have one-on-one sessions with local partners like Enterprise Uganda to update and upgrade their business plans in addition to becoming part of the SEED community. SEED would also connect them to sources credit, Kloibhofer said.
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