By Sadique Bamwita
ENTEBBE
The Minister for Gender, Labor and Social Development, Gen. Henry Tumukunde, has sounded a strong warning to Chief Administrative Officers, Town clerks, Community Development Officers and District Commercial Officers against complicating the process of accessing Grow Funds project by women Enterprises.
Gen. Tumukunde said it has come to his attention that the process of obtaining Grow Funds project by women Enterprises is too long, making it hard for them to easily access the funds.
While addressing Local Government officers and Resident District Commissioners in Entebbe on October 13, 2026, Gen. Henry Tumukunde directed Chief Administrative Officers and Town Clerks to ensure that right women Enterprises get Grow funds to bolster their respective businesses, warning them against appropriating money to their own people especially their relatives.
Gen. Tumukunde challenged local government officials to ensure the money reaches the intended beneficiaries in big volume adding that lending interest rate should be fair to the borrowers.
“Be realistic about the needs of the people, you must perform where you’re, do your work. We decentralized to ensure services easily reach the people,” Gen. Tumukunde said.
Gen. Tumukunde urged women Enterprises to have proper documentation when obtaining Grow Funds and to make sure they repay the money.
Finally, he tasked District Officials to appropriate money to eligible women enterprises, protect applicants from fraudsters and extortionists, on top of supporting women to participate in women business clinics.
The National Coordinator for Grow project at the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development, said the Grow funds are available for continuous lending to women enterprises, revealing that so far the ministry has signed contracts with 183 women Enterprises with each receiving close to Shs90 million.
“We target 2600 women enterprises, ” he said.
The World Bank Coordinator for Grow project in Uganda, Serena Cavichi, said her bank is committed to the agenda of women empowerment, adding that Grow project focuses on enterprises because a business has capacity to employ more people.
The Entebbe Deputy Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Frank Kyazze, noted that women’s enterprises remain small due to limited capital, urging women in Entebbe Municipality to take advantage of Grow Funds project to grow their businesses.
RDC Kyazze reiterated that Grow project must be implemented for the benefit of women entrepreneurs, and warned unscrupulous individuals who claim to have influence in selecting the beneficiaries.
“Paying unauthorized person doesn’t guarantee access to Grow funds. The funds are available to eligible women enterprises including those with disabilities,” RDC explained.
Kyazze said for the successful implementation of Grow project, stakeholders in Entebbe Sub-region should commit themselves on the following; Promote transparency to ensure beneficiaries get accurate information, strengthen coordination with government officials, regulate monitoring to address implementation challenges, beneficiaries should learn from one another and Women should believe in their abilities.
