![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/bee3-1024x768.jpg\")
The group of 15 (fifteen) members\nreceived Shs 12 million from UWEP which they invested into their enterprise.\nThey also grow the fruits on their farm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abigail Mwesigwa, the group chairperson,\nrevealed that the fruits including strawberries and bananas are solar dried and\nsupplied as raw materials to a fruit factory in Jinja, which then adds value\nand exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said their intention is to grow\ncapacity to start processing all their products, eliminate middlemen and bring\nmore rewards to members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She appealed to the Ministry of\nGender, Labour and Social Development, which implements UWEP, to help them get\nstandards certification to open up the market for their products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Upper cell women poultry farmers\ngroup in Mbarara municipality, the MPs were impressed to learn that out of the Shs\n11.2 million got from UWEP, the group had accumulated profits worth Shs18.7\nmillion and still have a stock of 900 (nine hundred) broilers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The chairperson, Muhumuza Hajara\nKyomuhendo, revealed that they had over the last one and half year churned out\n9,600 birds, which fetched them a total of Shs 96,090,000 (ninety six million\nninety thousand shillings only). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur biggest costs arise from feeding\nthe birds and procuring them but luckily the business is self-sustaining,\u201d\nMuhumuza said, adding that they had so far paid back Shs6,580,000 of the money\nthey got from UWEP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She further revealed that they\nresolved to give out Shs800,000 to each member every four months as dividends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe money goes to supporting members\nin their personal needs at home. This has supported members to pay fees for\ntheir children and also take care of other needs at the household. We are\ntherefore grateful to the Government for initiating UWEP.\u201d She noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n UWEP has been running for the last three years and to date, over 6,700 women groups have received funding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The programme is fully financed by the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development. Besides the direct interest-free credit, the beneficiaries are equipped with basic financial management and entrepreneurship skills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Women Members of Parliament have called for the elevation of Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme (UWEP) groups to increase production with an eye on the export market. The MPs noted that many of the women groups they have visited are engaged in sectors whose products are popular on the world market. They made the observation while […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":7225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/bee2-1024x768.jpg\")