UGANDA EMPOWERS RURAL WOMEN TO SCALE ECO-FRIENDLY ENTERPRISES

Uganda launches WEEG project to help rural women grow eco-friendly businesses and enter bigger markets.

Uganda Women Empowernment Business Weeg Entrepreneur Project Africa Transformation.

Uganda launches WEEG to empower rural women

Uganda is betting on women entrepreneurs to power its green transformation, launching a nationwide project that positions rural women at the heart of the country’s climate-smart economy.

The Women’s Economic Empowerment for the Green Transformation Project (WEEG), unveiled this week by the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Betty Amongi, will provide financial support, technical training, and market access to more than 5,000 rural women engaged in eco-friendly businesses. About 600 women’s groups will benefit directly, building on the successes of the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program (UWEP), which already supports over 22,000 organisations.

From recycling waste into charcoal briquettes, producing banana wine, crafting shoes from discarded tyres, to promoting eco-tourism and herbal medicine, women-led enterprises are being recognised not just as small-scale ventures but as engines of inclusive industrialisation.

“Every little support you give to rural women in terms of capital, they utilize it much more than us in offices,” Minister Amongi said at the launch. “If you empower a woman, the benefits stay at the household level and support the whole family. That is smart economics.”

The WEEG project forms part of a broader continental initiative, Women’s Employment Promotion for the Green Transformation of Africa (WE4D), funded by the German government in partnership with the European Union (EU) and Norway, and implemented by GIZ. German Ambassador to Uganda, Matthias Schauer, said the initiative would simultaneously tackle unemployment and environmental degradation.

One of the key interventions under WEEG is helping women entrepreneurs meet certification and branding standards. Without approval from the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), most women’s products struggle to access major supermarkets or international markets. The project will support compliance, branding, and packaging to make women’s products more competitive.

In Masaka, for instance, the Bakyala Tukole Amanda Mukasasiro Group has expanded from 10 to 40 members since its formation in 2018. Their eco-friendly charcoal briquettes, made from organic waste, now sell for UGX 2,500 each, with one briquette lasting up to eight hours. Group secretary Diana Babirye said WEEG will give them the tools and market access they need to grow further.

Officials say the programme supports Uganda’s Vision 2040, which prioritises inclusive and sustainable development. “Uganda has one of the highest rates of women’s business ownership in Africa, yet most remain small-scale. This programme will help them scale up,” said Angela Nakafeero, Commissioner for Gender and Women Affairs.

The Commissioner for Equal Opportunities, Barnard Mujini, described the project as “industrialisation at the household level,” pointing to its focus on branding and certification.

Minister Amongi urged both government and private sector actors to support women-led green businesses, calling women’s empowerment a driver of national development. “When we invest in women, we invest in families, communities, and the nation. Women’s economic empowerment is not charity; it is smart economics,” she said.

With WEEG support, Uganda hopes to elevate women-led enterprises from village markets to international value chains, ensuring that women’s innovation and resilience contribute to economic growth while safeguarding the environment.

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UGANDA EMPOWERS RURAL WOMEN TO SCALE ECO-FRIENDLY ENTERPRISES

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