The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
The pension fund manages assets worth over Shs15.5 trillion invested in assets cross East Africa
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda’s National Social Security Fund has paid Shs400bn to 18000 eligible members for the mid-term access since the exercise commenced on March.17, the fund’s executive said.
The payments are in accordance with the National Social Security Act (2022) which requires that “a member who is forty-five years of age and above, and has made contributions to the Fund for at least 10 years is eligible to mid-term access to his or her benefits of a sum not exceeding 20% of his or her accrued benefits.
“So the traffic that we were getting in the initial stages of applications has reduced. We are now getting about 150 applications per day from as high as 3000-4000,” Byarugaba said on the sidelines of the NSSF Career Expo held at the Innovation Village in Kampala on April.27 themed ‘Techpreneurship: Future of Work.’
NSSF had about 41,174 members eligible for mid-term benefits access as of March 1, 2022. Currently, NSSF manages assets worth over Shs15.5 trillion invested in fixed income, equities and real estate assets within the East African region.
Meanwhile, the pension fund is providing at least US$30,000 per business idea for people who have great ideas to enable them pilot to the market to a level where it will be bankable.
“Together with mastercard foundation, we have put forward US$10million for such businesses and we hope to create about 132,000 jobs for young people in the next five years,” Byarugaba said adding that US$2.4million has already been disbursed to the prospective entrepreneurs to test their business ideas.
Byarugaba said youth need to be agile and able to adapt to new circumstances to thrive as entrepreneurs in this era of digital disruptions.
“We live in a disruptive wave of technology and innovation and these will continue to create new trends in terms of growth, gaining new skills and business opportunities for investments” he said.
“Today, disruption is the new normal and a growth mindset is key. Young people need to be hungry to learn, be resilient and adaptive to all changes. Having an idea alone is not a guarantee that your business will be successful.”
“You need to start with skilling yourself to better understand how to operate a startup in this economy. Our self-directed online learning platform is a good resource to help you with this,” he added.
Japheth Kawanguzi, team leader at The Innovation Village said having an idea is only important when it is translated into a business.
He said as a young entrepreneur, one needs to be patient during the difficult days of building an idea as success has many faces.
The best type of success is the one that comes from your customers because they are the ultimate investor and validate what you are doing. Focus on the value you create to achieve growth,” he said.
Mumba Kalifungwa, Managing Director Absa Bank also reiterated the need for entrepreneurs to be patient with their start-ups.
“To manage a business, one ought to understand the business venture, marketplaces, customers and processes to run it,” he said.
“They must also have the right skills, adapt and innovate with the changing times and remember to always think partnerships, growth and network collaboration.” NSSF has been running the career expo for the university students in their final year for the last 12 years.
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