By Our Reporter
KCB Bank Uganda kicked off its financial literacy drive yesterday in Mbale by training over 40 Small and Medium Enterprise players in business and financial management.
The training is part of a countrywide drive that will see over 340 SME business players empowered with business management skills and information in the areas of Lira, Gulu, Arua, Jinja, Hoima, Fort Portal and Mbarara.
“This training is timely in addressing one of the needs of the small business owners, money management; a normally neglected part of managing a business in favor of practical skills,” said Eunice Wekesa, the National Chairperson, Uganda Small Scale Industries Association(USSIA), who organized the training.
SME financial literacy participants in Mbale listen to Eunice Wekesa the National Chairperson Uganda Small Scale Industries Association (USSIA).
The KCB Foundation has over the past 5 years invested over Ushs 1 billion shillings in communities in the areas of health, education, humanitarian support and enterprise development.
The Brand and Communications Manager, Emmanuel Njuki said Ushs 82 million will be invested by the bank this year in facilitating enterprise growth.
“As a bank we are appreciative of the benefits of financial literacy. As a result we invest 40% of our Foundation budget each year to promote business growth,” he said.
KCB Group invests 1% percent of its profits each year in communities where its people live and where it does business.
According to the Uganda Investment Authority, Micro, Small, Medium, Enterprises (MSMEs) are the engine of growth for the economic development, innovation and wealth creation of Uganda. Over 2.5 million people are employed in this sector, where they account for approximately 90% of the entire private sector, generating over 80% of manufactured output that contributes 20% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).