A total of 48 entrepreneurs graduated from the Stanbic Business Incubator Enterprise Development Program after nine months of intensive training, mentorship and business development.
The graduation ceremony held at the Uganda Business Facilitation Centre marked the culmination of a transformative journey aimed at creating bankable, scalable and investor-ready enterprises that will drive Uganda’s economic development.
The program run by Stanbic Business Incubator featured 14 comprehensive modules and over 200 hours of hands-on training delivered by 16 industry experts from key institutions including Stanbic Bank, MTN Uganda, Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU), TotalEnergies and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Trainees were equipped with critical skills in financial management, business planning, leadership development, marketing and operational excellence with the overarching theme of “Being Bankable and Investor-Ready.”
Catherine Poran, CEO of Stanbic Business Incubator, described the graduation as a celebration of the next generation of Uganda’s economic champions.
“We are not just graduating 48 entrepreneurs. We are unveiling visionaries who are now equipped with the clarity, confidence and competitiveness needed to scale their businesses and transform communities.”
Since its inception, the incubator has trained over 11,400 entrepreneurs and supported more than 3,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs). According to Poran, a recent national impact assessment showed a 125 per cent increase in employment among supported businesses with an average of seven new jobs created per SME.
Additionally, the alumni accessed over Shs 20 billion annually in funding with 43 per cent of this going into agriculture and agro-processing. Damoni Kitabire, the board chair of Stanbic Uganda Holdings, reaffirmed Stanbic’s commitment to addressing the challenges faced by SMEs, particularly around access to finance by making the enterprises ready to absorb and manage capital.
“That is where Stanbic Business Incubator steps in and instead of turning away businesses that are not ready, we are nurturing them. We are working to equip entrepreneurs with the skills, government structures and financial discipline which is required to attract financing, not only from Stanbic but also impact from other financial institutions in Uganda,” Kitabire said.