Pirate Mulwana
The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) in partnership with Mastercard Foundation has awarded UGX5.9 billion as seed funding to an additional 78 Ugandan small and growing businesses through their Hi-innovator Program.
This brings the total of businesses funded to 110 since the Hi-Innovator Programme was launched in May 2021, totaling Ushs 10.5 billion in seed funding.
The Hi-Innovator Programme is an initiative by NSSF in partnership with Mastercard Foundation that aims to create an eco-system where indigenous Small and Growing Businesses can be supported to mature into viable businesses.
The winners were selected from over 6,300 entrepreneurs that had enrolled in the program’s learning platform dubbed the NSSF Hi-Innovator Business Academy, an online self-directed platform where entrepreneurs obtained foundational business knowledge over the last three months.
Following a weeklong boot camp, 103 entrepreneurs were then shortlisted to pitch their ideas to an investment committee that included seasoned entrepreneurs and investors. The businesses were from five sectors including agriculture, digital economy, fashion and beauty, health, and light manufacturing.
Speaking at the awarding ceremony, Patrick Ayota, the NSSF Deputy Managing Director said, “It is gratifying to see that the number of businesses we are supporting this year through the Hi-Innovator Program has increased from 32 to 78. This is an indication that we have more innovative ideas and possible scalable businesses to support in growth”
The successful businesses were assessed using a criterion that included the potential for scalability, sustainability, good governance, and impact on the community.
“The achievements we have seen in the program so far give us confidence in this partnership with the NSSF. Through this program, we believe that we are on the right track to attaining our ambitious goal of creating over 132,000 employment opportunities for youth and women in the country,” said Arnold Byarugaba, Mastercard Foundation’s Lead Micro, Small and Medium-sized enterprises for Uganda Richard Zulu, Founding Partner and Team Lead at Outbox Uganda which is the implementing partner for the Hi-innovator program, attributed the program’s success to the partnership-led approach with several other ecosystem players who provide technical assistance and mentorship which unlocks affordable financing for entrepreneurs at scale.
The selected businesses will now undergo a due diligence process and will be supported by other partner innovation hubs in the next four months to enable them address business hurdles.
| Fine Fusion Concepts/Beanourish Provides parents and educational institutions with nutritious porridge that is needed by children. |
| Essymart An online platform connects farmers with low cost, more accessible inputs for their farms and connecting directly with buyers, leading to higher prices for their products. |
| Ismac Organic Foods Deals in the processing, production, packaging, and marketing of high-quality Irish potato crisps which are made from locally produced Irish potatoes from farmers. We also teach farmers the best Irish potato farming and organic maintenance practices. |
| Redvers E-Mobility An e-mobility Conversion Kit and battery for motorcycles which Monitors the consumption and power expenditure for enterprises. |
| Rwetech Agro Packers Produces high quality cassava flour to be blended into wheat for the bakery and pastry industry collected from smallholder farmers to increase their income and create more job opportunity along the cassava value chain. |
| Touch Express Limited Provides an alternative source of protein to red meat consumption by producing healthy, nutritious and affordable fish sausages. |
| Bugiri Female Youth Tailoring and Designing Association Provides capacity building through training youth women in tailoring and design and production of more tailored cloth to the market |
| Hellam Group Of Companies Limited Supplies customers (local processing companies in Uganda) with highly nutritious and healthy soybeans that are grown with the use of strict organic standards and practices. |
| Kacyber Bridges the gap between public transport and people who use public transport by minimizing losses for public transport for public transport operators while offering affordable transport for people for people that use public transport. |
| Katall Kankiiza Diary Enterprises Ltd Provides healthy alternatives to sugar or processed yoghurts. |
| Milk Bank Ltd Adds value to milk to drive consumption higher. |
| Scorpius Pharmacy Limited A community driven Pharmacy, bringing closer quality and affordable Health Services to people in the communities where they operate thereby ensuring customers do not have to travel long distances. |
| Mtindo Design Studio A tailoring factory that directly creates employment for women through private label production for brands locally and globally. |
| Nature Save Business Solutions Ltd Produces portable solar cook stoves and construction of inbuilt solar cook stoves that are supplied with a solar system for schools, homes and workplaces with the goal of reducing the cost of cooking and improving efficiency by at least 70% and 60% respectively. |
| Yowaste Yo-Waste leverages its digital application to connect waste generators such as households & businesses to the nearest local waste collectors in their communities for proper waste collection & disposal like an uber for trash. |
| Genesis Systems Limited Has built and tested Go Smart POS, a high-performance business management software inbuilt with the capability to record point of sale invoices integrated with accounting and inventory features whose goal is to enable businesses like supermarkets, hardware shops, hospitals |
| Arua City Food House The company majorly processes maize and cassava flour into highly nutritious and affordable maize and cassava flour ready for human consumption which is supplied within Arua and surrounding districts of Maracha, Terego, Yumbe, Koboko and Madi-okollo. |
| Sham Oils and Nutritional Products Ltd Produces nutritional supplements made from extraction of natural food oils from plant materials such as pumpkin seeds and sunflower. |
| Apa Original Kisubi Tea Limited Produces 15-gram packaging of different tea flavors in different quantities of 30 gram, 100 gms, 250 gms and 500 gms sachets while targeting the value segment. AND hopes to introduce a variety pack In an effort to increase the trialability of our diverse range of flavors for the premium market. |
| Westnile Garment and Printing Services Ltd A tailoring workshop that manufactures high quality and durable clothing (uniforms and corporate attire) through knitting, branding with embroidery and screen printing. |
| Aroza Group Limited Promotes access to safe and healthy peanut products through safe sourcing, safe storage and safe processing using stainless steel mac |
| Bella’S Fresh Kyenyanja Through social media and social gatherings, provides access to fresh and clean fish, AND simplifies the rather cumbersome exercise that involves picking out, scaling, dressing, and delivering fresh fish to the doorsteps of city dwellers |
| Huran Media And Logistics Limited Founded by skilled professionals in design and brand marketing, provides a range of services, provides local skilling, retains the local revenue, improves upon local brand quality, and creates a better product presence |
| Malticard/Creamwave A technology enabled business cards that bring you an exclusive, fully customizable, and interactive way to instantly share your contact details, social media profiles, websites and so much more. |
| Darling Coffee Limited Produces affordable, pure, high quality and easily accessible coffee products that are marketed and distributed majorly in rural and semi-urban areas to low- and middle-income earners. AND sensitizes the population about health benefits of coffee such as boosting energy levels, burning fat and improving brain performance through physical and online community engagements. |
| Camelot Agroecology Farm The business uses chicken manure as the main ingredient in manufacturing cheap and health friendly briquettes. |
| Krystal Ice makes nutritious treats that are fun to eat from locally sourced organic fruits like mangoes, pineapples and oranges |
| Hfarm Ltd Provides the logistics, technology and credit to pig farmers and aggregators. This creates consistent supply to commercial consumers. Customers grow faster as farmers predict pricing thus creating a sustainable supply chain. If the industry is not organized this way, the country risks a take over from foreign interests of the pork supply chain thereby rendering farmers and other stakeholders. |
| Teresa Systems Limited Teresa Systems Limited improves people’s lifestyles by processing, packing and marketing the Raphacado seed powder as an authentic organic product which could otherwise have been thrown away. |
| Crisgrow Crisgrow provides nutritious and healthy avocado products to health-conscious individuals while promoting sustainable production. |
| Ageek Consultancy Firm Creatively designs climate smart organic gardening products that suit client’s urban gardening needs that enable our clients grow their herbs and spices in spaces as small as balconies hence a constant fresh supply of vegetables, herbs, and spices |
| Merchandise Uganda An online business community platform helping SMEs cheaply set up their own stores for better visibility and direct interfacing with consumers. |
| Luroku Enterprise Outsources chicken from our own established farmers, processes and packages chicken meat in different products including drumsticks, thighs, whole chicken among others. We focus on bulk buyers through partnership with restaurants, eateries, hotels and outlets for direct sales. |
| Rolex Guy Serves over 18 different unique types of Rolexes made using locally sourced items |
| Ecofield Services Improves livelihoods through ecologically sustainable commercial cage fish farming |
| Walimi Agro Limited Tech-enabled fresh produce warehouse using blockchain to provide traceability |
| Kipekee Solutions Limited Manufactures high quality teas from actual fruit, herbs and spices, dehydrated using solar drying technology that retains the oils, flavors and nutrients with no artificial flavors. |
| Chomsky U Ltd Chomsky seeks to offer affordable orchard management services that are easily accessible to orchard farmers, in order to increase the quality and quantity of orchard fruit yields by 70% |
| Rada Shoes Manufactures and sell durable, affordable and environmentally friendly shoes from purely Ugandan leather for school children |
| Ebenezer Clinic And Diagnostic Centre A private medical facility in urban Uganda that provides quality health care |
| Maarifasasa Limited Maarifasasa Academy provides cutting-edge digital learning programs and personal mentoring support to guarantee success as a digital freelancer or in digital careers. |
| Mome Gen Selling good quality shea products whose profits give a better-quality life to people in Northern Uganda. |
