A total of 420 returned migrant workers have been trained and graduated in business and entrepreneurship skills to facilitate their reintegration into society and enable them achieve sustainable livelihoods through wage or self-employment.
The training, implemented by Wezesha Impact, was part of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Better Regional Migration Management (BRMM) programme using the Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) methodology which provides participants with essential business management skills to foster sustainable livelihoods.
Solomon Kayiwa Mugambe, the executive director of Wezesha Impact said the participants were introduced to fundamental entrepreneurial concepts where they brainstormed and refined business ideas based on market potential, personal skills and community needs.
The participants were also equipped with practical tools for business planning and operations, covering topics such as financial planning, marketing strategies and operational management.
“These are young people who went there, worked for a couple of years and returned. We have been training them through starting up their businesses and improving them because when these young people go out there, they make some money but often times they don’t know what to do with that money or generate business ideas to invest in,” he said.
According to Mugambe, these returned migrants were in the Middle East in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Jordan and they collaborate with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development to get their contacts since it is the ministry which licenses the companies which take them while other returned migrants who enroll for the program also bring in other colleagues they know.
One of such returned migrants is Nives Wanyama who worked in Dubai as a waitress for two years before being deported back to Uganda after her visit visa got expired. When she came back to Uganda, she used the Shs 3 million she had saved with her mother to set up an ice cream business in Namugongo as well as venture into baking cakes.
She said she got to know about the program through a fellow returned migrant friend and she joined it because she needed advice, counseling, and some knowledge on how she could start up a business.
“Through this program, I have learnt the different businesses one can start up even with limited capital and the skills needed to run a business successfully. The program has also helped to build confidence in me and not to despise any business opportunity just as many youths usually do these days,” she said.
Andrew Mukulu, the ILO representative in Uganda revealed that the program aims to support the government’s efforts to drive Uganda to middle-income status which lies in young people being actively employed since they form the biggest part of the country’s population.
Mukulu added that as ILO is struggling for the rights of all workers, the key aspects of this program is for the migrants to have correct information before departure, good working conditions where they have migrated to and to return to a normal life when they come back to their countries.
As part of the program, Wezesha Impact is partnering with Finance Trust Bank to enable the returnee migrants access grants that they can use as startup capital and accelerate their businesses.
Mugambe said this is because some migrants come back with no money and in debts so they need a starting point.
“Out of the 420 returned migrants we have trained, about 60 percent don’t have the money to start up their own businesses. Most times, the people they send money to in Uganda misuse it and others their bosses in those countries didn’t pay them. So, they come back with nothing to start with.”
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