Jane Akwero, the chairperson of Driwala United Women Market Vendors Cooperative in Arua City, raised concerns about the numerous challenges female vendors face. These include poor road networks, high market dues, lack of collateral to secure loans for business expansion, limited knowledge of forming and managing cooperative groups, and frequent thefts of their stock.
Female vendors in Arua and Kampala have been encouraged to collaborate and conduct their businesses in groups to address some of the challenges hindering their business growth.
This advice was shared during a two-day event organized by the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) in Arua, under the theme: “Building Bridges: Empowering Women in the Informal Sector.”
Jane Akwero, the chairperson of Driwala United Women Market Vendors Cooperative in Arua City, raised concerns about the numerous challenges female vendors face.
These include poor road networks, high market dues, lack of collateral to secure loans for business expansion, limited knowledge of forming and managing cooperative groups, and frequent thefts of their stock.
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Akwero elaborated that most women who operate in small
markets always have setbacks because of the thefts of goods since those markets
are not fenced.
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Florence Aciro, the coordinator of Naguru Small Scale
Traders Vendors Cooperative, said that her business journey which began in the
street, involved many challenges such as the lack of a permanent place to sell
her goods and poor infrastructure.
Aciro revealed that she only became stable after forming
a cooperative and urged fellow vendors to emulate.
Millicent Inzikuru, the Arua City Deputy mayor who also doubles as the Gender and Social Development Secretary, encouraged
the women vendors to take up the running of the markets themselves.
According to Inzikuru, women form the majority of the
traders in all commodity markets, are in charge of bringing commodities from
far to consumers, and are the ones raising revenue in the form of market dues,
therefore, they deserve to manage the markets themselves.
“When the council is awarding tenders, where are the
women? Why are they diminished? Is it because we do not have the money? We want
to be the ones to have the contracts to run our markets. Why are we doing dirty
work? Inzikuru asked.
Sam Wadri Nyakua, the Arua City Mayor, encouraged the
vendors to do continuous interactions so that they share and acquire more
knowledge from each other.
“These interactions are more than money. If you go back
and apply the knowledge you acquire here, you generate money. Networking serves
as capital,” Wadri said.
Wadri urged the women to take advantage of all the
programs initiated by the government to eradicate poverty, such as the Uganda
Women Entrepreneurship Program (UWEP), Parish Development Model (PDM), and
Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Entrepreneurs
(GROW), to get out of poverty.
He explained that poverty makes people vulnerable, which
forces them to undervalue, underestimate themselves, and be unrecognized in the
community. Wadri also encouraged the women to form groups, to
benefit from through exchange visits and information sharing.
“That's how we learn. Women who are not in groups suffer
Sexual and Gender-Based Violence more than those who are in groups. Because in
groups, you compare notes, and before you know it, you have corrected the
situation,” he said.
Consolate Olemaru, the Senior Communications Officer of
Arua City, reiterated the need for collaboration among the businesswomen,
saying it would make the women gather more capital, and acquire more skills to
make suitable products in bulk for the international market.