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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Two youth groups in Kampala district are courting big dreams for transforming their seed projects into mega manufacturing industries.
Management of the projects funded under the Youth Livelihood Programme says they are determined to overcome marketing glitches facing them to grow sales and break even.
The first group is LUSADO youth group found in Lusaze Lubya village in Rubaga division. The group ventured into making bar soap alongside an assortment of beauty and health products from Aloe Vera plant.
Florence Babirye, a member of Lubya – Lusaze bar soap makers’ project also known as LUSADO says they are stabilizing the marketing of their products through exhibitions they conduct on major public events.
Government financed the group with 9.7 million shillings in August 2017 to engage in value addition enterprise.
Joseph Mulajje, the Secretary of the group says they are planning to certify their products with Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) to unlock regional potentials.
Government introduced YLP in 2013 to combat high poverty and unemployment among the youth, a vulnerable group considered non-bankable by many institutions.
This year, the programme snaked into its second five-year implementation phase with a mixture of numerous challenges and successes in its trail.
Top of the success list is the funding of projects in the weather-dependent agriculture sector to the tune of more than 45 billion shillings followed by trade and service sectors at 36 and 24 Billion shillings respectively.
Ronald Ssekanjjako, another member of LUSADO group says he can now earn 100,000 shillings a week from marketing some of the products they produce in his community.
The group shares proceeds from the project based on how much a member has sold, otherwise, they earn commissions from the fraction left after paying off the government revolving loan.
In Makindye division, Upper Konge Youth Handbags Projects located in Lukuli Nanganda ward received 12 million shillings in July 2016. They have since paid back half of the total disbursement.
Anthony Kawuki, a graduate of Economics from Makerere University says they intend to set up marketing outlets around Kampala to drive their sales. Currently, they are only producing ladies’ handbags on orders which can be as high as 500 pieces.
Kawuki says many of the funded youth livelihood projects are facing challenges due to limited incubation and mentorship they received ahead of financing. He appealed to government to inject more funds into operationalization of the Programme for more success to be registered.
Lillian Aber, the chairperson of National Youth Council says they have petitioned government to address challenges related to preparation of selected youth groups.
The youth are now counting on the newly appointed Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development Frank Tumwebaze to overcome these challenges.
Paul Onapa, the National Programme Manager of the Youth Livelihood Programme says government has detected the challenge of incubation of new youth projects which prompted the doubling of operations funds under the programme from 10 to 20 percent. The fund is disbursed based on population and rural-urban orientation.
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