The Minister of State for Labour, Employment, and Industrial Relations, Hon. Esther Anyakun, has called on all women entrepreneurs who have received the GROW Loan to pay back in time. This was said on Friday during the Grow loan beneficiaries meeting that took place at Hotel Africana.
Hon Anyakun confirmed that the GROW loan is here to help women and if well handed, it will enable more women to access financing and help to further grow their businesses. The reason for paying the loan in time according to Hon Anyakun is to build a strong credit history, opening doors to future financial opportunities.
The meeting brought together World Bank representatives, officials from the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD), the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU), participating financial institutions, over 500 women entrepreneurs, and other key stakeholders to review the progress of the Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises (GROW) Project, a Government of Uganda initiative funded by the World Bank.
The Grow loan was launched in February last year by Vice President Hon Jessica Alupo and the major aim of the loan was to respond to the needs of women entrepreneurs who want to grow their businesses, sustain their self-employment and create more jobs. The loans are given to strictly women owned enterprises and these range from a minimum of shs4,000,000 to a maximum of Shs400,000,000 and can only be accessed from 6 participating banks that include Centenary Bank, Finance Trust Bank, DFCU Bank, Stanbic Bank, Equity Bank and Post Bank.
