Africa-Press – Uganda. YOUTH|SKILLS|EMPLOYMENT
The majority of the youth and women who go through the government skilling programmes have started their own businesses, a new study has revealed.
The study, carried out by lecturers from Makerere University and experts from the private sector, found that 64% of people surveyed were able to come up with business startups after benefiting from the government skilling programmes. Dr Anthony Tibaingana, the principal investigator of the study, who is also a lecturer at the College of Business and Management Sciences (COBAMS) Makerere University, said through the skilling programmes, the youth and women have been able to develop business ideas. Other members of the team are Dr Faisal Buyinza and Emmanuel Ssemuyaga from COBAMS, Catherine Tumusiime from the National Oil Company, Ronnie Mulongo from the Private Sector Foundation Uganda and Rita Atukwasa, the executive director of Institute for Social Transformation (IST). The study, themed the Impact of skilling the youth and women in household enterprise startup and performance in Uganda, examined the contribution of the skills attained from five government programmes in stimulating startup businesses.The findings were launched at COBAMS, Makerere on Friday (December 11, 2020). The study covered Wakiso, Kampala and Mukono districts and data was collected from 240 beneficiaries. The study was done last year and concluded this year in August. The programmes examined include the Private Sector Foundation Uganda, Enterprise Uganda, Presidential Initiative on Skilling the Girl Child, Africa Institute for Strategic Service and Development, and Uganda Industrial Research Institute. The study noted that these startups make an average monthly income of sh952,000, but their growth is affected by overdependence since the majority of the owners are the breadwinners of their homes.
