The government through the Microfinance Support Centre (MSC) has so far invested total of 285.63 billion shillings into the Emyooga programme; an initiative aimed at fighting household poverty across the country.
This was revealed by James Muhwezi, Spokesperson/ Manager of Partnership and Resource Mobilisation at MSC while appearing on NBS Television during the SpotlightUG Show under the topic: “Government of Uganda’s funding for development.”
“This is why this Emyooga programme becomes very, very important and so far as of March (this year) actually, we have invested up to Shs 285. 63 billion into the population and I want to emphasise that this is not money, that is invested to come back to the MSC,” Muhwezi said.
“We seed it to the Emyooga Saccos that are constituency-based and it is a revolving fund at that level and does not return to the microfinance support centre,” he added.
Muhwezi said the President in his countrywide tour found that 68% of Ugandan households were out of the money economy hence a programme to support them.
“We target all cooperatives, self-help groups, and SMEs. We don’t seek profits in our dealings. We have to provide financial services that are affordable to communities to run enterprises and better their lives,” he said.
He explained that the initiative was introduced with an intention to transition the people from the subsistence economy, to the money economy, and market-oriented production. The project came with four objectives including transformation of 68% of Uganda’s households into the money economy and market-oriented production, encouraging savings, sharpening the entrepreneurial capacity of the beneficiaries among others.
“Because we want the participants of this programme to be able to come up with products that are acceptable, both locally, regionally and in other markets. We have products that speak to the needs of people, you just have to come and we see what we can assist you with,” he said.
Launched in August 2019 by President Museveni as a presidential initiative on wealth and job creation, Emyooga targets Ugandans, especially those in the informal sector who come together in the form of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs), which are categorised into 18 clusters.
Each of the 18 Emyooga-specific SACCOs receives Shs 30 million per constituency per SACCO as seed capital while the elected local leaders’ constituency SACCOs receive Shs 50 million per constituency per SACCO to catalyse the creation of revolving funds for on-lending to the members in the parish groups.
The programme targets 18 categories of Ugandans including boda boda riders, taxi drivers, restaurant operators, welders, market vendors, women entrepreneurs, youth leaders, people with disabilities (PWDs), journalists, performing artists, carpenters, salon operators, tailors, mechanics, produce dealers, veterans, fishermen and elected leaders.
