Orient Bank passes out 35 SMEs

The Orient Bank Business Academy has graduated 35 micro and small enterprises at its second annual graduation that was held in Kololo last week.

The business academy, which is run in partnership with Makerere University Business School (Mubs), provided the graduates with knowledge in financial literacy, business management, records management and marketing, among others.

Speaking at the pass-out ceremony, Julius Kakeeto, the CEO, Orient bank, urged the participants to adapt to new methods of working when carrying out their respective businesses.

“I believe this is a start of a journey. Business growth is not a one-off activity. Businesses grow over time.”

Kakeeto pledged more support to the SMEs that participated in form of mentoring, advice and guidance, reminding them that Orient bank is empowering and equipping them to aid their efforts when accessing credit, which requires proper documentation of SME transactions.

Diana Nandagire Ntamu, the director of Mubs Incubation and Innovation Center, revealed that the participants were helped with challenges of attracting talent in their SMEs, managing finances and managerial aspects of the business to enable grow their business.

As part of the training, the small businesses were tasked with developing business growth plans, where the five best business plans were to win a total funding of Shs 60 million. The businesses that won were St. Micheal’s Food lab ,and Consultancy Jora Shoes, Pio Wines, Synergy gas and Meko engravers.

St. Micheal’s Food lab and Consultancy received Shs 20 million.

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