Speaking at the launch of the initiative, Stanbic bank chief executive officer Anne Juuko said participating women will get financial literacy training, access cash flow and advisory services through the Stanbic Business Incubator.
The bank will offer four different benefits including savings, investments, transactional and borrowing linked products tailored to common profiles of women in business and aimed at addressing credit related bottlenecks.
For instance, women in business will be borrowing loans at 12.5 per cent through their Saccos and at 15.5 per cent interest on direct business loans while being exempted from any charges in the event of early settlement.
To encourage a savings culture among women entrepreneurs, Stanbic bank will offer Educare, an insurance and savings product for children, medical and home insurance aimed at securing women in the event of loss of income or natural disasters such as death.
According to IFC statistics, Ugandan women own about 39 per cent of businesses with registered premises, yet they receive only nine per cent of commercial credit. Officials are optimistic the intervention by Stanbic bank will boosts efforts geared towards reversing this situation.
In the other incentives through the initiative, women entrepreneurs will get opportunities to invest in treasury bills and bonds from as low as Shs 100,000. Stanbic bank will ensure they have access to a dedicated financial and wealth advisor, fixed deposit earnings of up to six per cent per year with flexible investment periods.
Dan Kasirye, IFC’s resident representative for Rwanda and Uganda based in Kigali, Rwanda lauded Stanbic bank for recognizing the need in empowering women-led enterprises as they play a critical role in driving economic activity hence growth.
“Studies have revealed that access to finance barriers, cultural norms, and other unfavourable regulations significantly limit the success of women-run enterprises; IFC is pleased to collaborate with Stanbic Bank to champion this important initiative which we believe will contribute towards finding solutions to many of these bottlenecks,” Kasirye said.
Aggie Konde, vice president for programme development and innovation at Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), who was the keynote speaker at the launch event, urged women to manage their lifestyle expenditure and save more from all the small sources of income they might have.
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