MKAZIPRENEUR SUPPORTS NINE WOMEN-LED BUSINESSES SECURE $20,000

MKAZIPRENEUR SUPPORTS NINE WOMEN-LED BUSINESSES SECURE $20,000

Pitch Day was a long-awaited date for women-led businesses under the Mkazipreneur hub, who on September 4, 2024, managed to pitch their businesses for a chance to secure $20,000 (Approximately UGX 75 million) in seed funding – an initiative ascribed to the joint partnership and financing from Mastercard foundation and the National Security Service Fund (NSSF) through the Hi-Innovator Program.

The event gathered eleven women-led businesses in agriculture, fashion and beauty, and food packaging and processing, who presented their business models before a meticulously selected team of investment experts, registering nine successful pitches at the end of the day. The businesses were evaluated based on so many competence features such as the business models, impact and scalability and their financial viability over the years of their operation.

The Bold Women Cohort was an initiative developed by Mkazipreneur fueled by the need to front financing for women-owned businesses across the country, due to the vast disparity that has been existing between men and women-owned businesses, the latter having less likelihood to accessing financing and business resources for upscaling profit and productivity.

“Very many women struggle to get financing for their businesses, and we all know that banks are not solving this problem. So Mkazipreneur came up with the Bold Women Cohort as a decentralized version of the NSSF Hi-Innovator Program to address this,” said Immy Nakyeyune, Mkazipreneur Team Lead.

Entrepreneurs before the investment committee in the Presidential Suite at Four Points by Sheraton

To get their hands on the prize money, the entrepreneurs had to face an investment committee, an anonymous panel that presides over the assessment of each business. The investment committee listened to the submissions of each business’s pitch deck, while soaring through an grading the intricate business elements to gauge whether the business could go the extra mile and have the capacity to not only generate profit but also boost employment opportunities and solve societal problems.

One of the entrepreneurs who pitched with the previous cohort but did not make the final selection cut finally had a breakthrough in this cohort and emerged victorious at the end of the day. She asserted that the cohort not only intends to win seed funding for the entrepreneurs, but more importantly boost the business in a comprehensive manner – which is the purpose of the program in the grand scheme of things.

“It has been a journey of clarity for myself, a redefining point for me to focus on the different aspects of business that need so much detail. To finally win after not going through the first pitch day (in the previous cohort) has been an exciting experience. I am so thankful to God and the Mkazipreneur team for making me go through this process successfully,” Flavia Rita Babirye, Mkazipreneur community winner.

Seen as a beaming success, several partners were more than thrilled with the program success and Mkazipreneur’s top tier dedication to get the women-owned business over the line to secure the seed funding they need to propel their businesses.