Successful emyooga groups in Fort Portal to receive additional funds

Fort Portal, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | 20 Emyooga SACCOs in Fort Portal city have been selected to benefit from an additional seed capital of 20 Million Shillings each from the government.

Angalia Kasigwa Godwin, the Resident City Commissioner of Fort Portal says that the SACCOs were selected to benefit from the additional capital, after they adhered to the program guidelines.

Kasigwa said the success of Emyooga is measured by the repayment and savings levels of the beneficiaries.

Michael Karwani, the Fort Portal City commercial officer says that in each quarter, 10 SACCOs will be given the additional capital.

Karwani says that some of the best-performing SACCOs which will get the additional capital include Saloon operators, Market vendors, Women entrepreneurs, Local leaders, and Fish vendors from North Division. Others are Welders, Mechanics, Local leaders and Produce dealers from Central Division.

Dorcus Kobugabe, the Chairperson of Fort Portal North Division Emyooga Women Entrepreneurs’ SACCO says that the members have been able to grow their businesses from the loans they acquired.

She says that since her members were organized and sensitized on how to use the money, they paid back the loans on time. She adds they will ensure to put to good use the additional capital, so as to get more money from the government in the future.

Karwani says that the 36 Emyooga SACCOs in the city have generally performed well, with only a few individuals who have failed to return the money.

Emyooga is a presidential initiative on job and wealth creation that targets 19 clusters including restaurant owners, boda boda, women entrepreneurs, carpenters, salon operators, journalists, People with Disabilities, fishermen, mechanics, performing artists, and taxi operators.

Under the program, each SACCO is supposed to receive up to 30 million Shillings to be accessed as a revolving fund by members to boost their respective income-generating ventures, at an interest rate of as low as 8% annually.

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