The fifth cycle of UGEFA’s Catalyser Programme just finished, with 14 inspiring enterprises successfully completing the Catalyser workshops. To date, more than 190 enterprises have completed the UGEFA Catalyser Programme, underlining the large scale of this programme. Cycle five already looked promising in the application stage. Of the 107 enterprises that handed in their application, 14 were chosen.
In the last four months, participants of two cohorts in Kampala polished their business models, prepared for growth, improved their financial management, created investment plans, extended their impact monitoring, and prepared their loan applications. However, not only was the development of tangible documents and key outputs very beneficial, but also networking, peer-learning opportunities, and invitations to events.
At the end of cycle five, collected feedback showed that the participants found the Catalyser workshops very useful. When asked, “How likely are you to recommend the UGEFA Catalyser to a peer enterprise?”, 100% answered, “Very likely”. When asked what has changed in your enterprise due to the UGEFA support, one participant replied: “The new knowledge and information on investment and financial management we have received has helped us to rethink our business model and develop strategies for growth and continuous improvement”.
Shedding more light on the sectors of Cycle five enterprises, 4 are operating in Clean Energy, 7 in Green Manufacturing, 2 in Sustainable Waste Management, and 1 in Sustainable Tourism. Looking at the enterprises' growth plans, the most common growth strategy was market deepening, followed by market development, product development, and diversification.
Experienced business development service providers facilitated all workshops using interactive step-by-step tools. In preparation for this, more than 48 business advisors were trained in Training of Trainers workshops with the UGEFA methodology and toolkits, of which 24 have delivered the UGEFA Enterprise Support.
Hear it directly from the workshop participants in this video.
Giving a glimpse into what comes next for the Catalyser cycle five enterprises: the participants interested in advancing their growth plans through debt financing are matched with one of UGEFA’s partner banks. During the Catalyser Programme, UGEFA also organises a “Partner Bank Meet and Greet Session” so that enterprises can ask their most urgent questions to the partner banks and decide which bank they would like to be matched with. So far, UGEFA’s Funding Facilitation Facility has unlocked more than 4,500 Million UGX (1,100,000 EUR) for green enterprises from past UGEFA cycles.
