By Mulengera Reporters
Centenary Bank has disbursed more than Shs52 billion to women entrepreneurs under the Government’s Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises (GROW) Project, reaching more than 3,000 women in the programme’s first two years.
The scale of the lending is particularly notable because the bank has deployed GROW financing beyond its traditional branch network, taking credit and business support to districts where Centenary Bank has no physical branches.
Prossy Namubiru, Centenary Bank’s Manager for Youth, Women and Refugees and the bank’s GROW Project focal person, said the bank had received about Shs37 billion under the programme but had managed to disburse more than Shs52 billion by recycling repayments from earlier borrowers.
“We have been able to disburse over 52 billion in the country to women entrepreneurs in different districts,” Namubiru said.
The difference between the amount received and the amount disbursed reflects the use of loan repayments, or reflows, to finance additional women.
As beneficiaries repay their loans, the money is lent to new applicants, allowing the initial GROW capital to reach a larger pool of entrepreneurs.
The figures provide one measure of the programme’s multiplier effect: rather than the original allocation being lent only once, repayments have enabled Centenary Bank to continue extending credit beyond the initial Shs37 billion received.
Namubiru said the bank is now seeking additional funding to widen the programme over the next three years.
“We need to do more,” she said, particularly pointing to women in refugee-hosting districts, refugees and persons with disabilities as groups requiring greater outreach and financial support.
A defining feature of Centenary Bank’s GROW implementation has been its deliberate attempt to reach women in places where conventional banking infrastructure is limited or non-existent.
Namubiru said the bank had served women in districts where it does not have branches, citing Aleppo and other underserved areas.
To overcome the logistical challenge, Centenary Bank has used the programme’s Portfolio Expansion Grant (PEG) to take banking services directly into communities.
One of the most visible investments has been the purchase of five motorcycles, which are being used by loan officers to travel to areas without branches, conduct sensitisation and assess potential borrowers.
In some districts, Namubiru said, the bank had started with virtually no GROW beneficiaries. The motorcycles have enabled loan officers to travel into those communities, engage women entrepreneurs and appraise businesses for financing.
The strategy effectively changes the traditional model of waiting for customers to walk into a branch.
Instead, the bank is taking the financing opportunity closer to potential beneficiaries.
Centenary Bank has also used PEG funding to establish other channels for serving communities where there are no branches.
The bank has provided point-of-sale (POS) machines free of charge to selected women entrepreneurs whose businesses can operate as service points for customers in their communities.
This allows banking services to be accessed locally even where a conventional branch is absent.
The expansion has been accompanied by business development and financial literacy activities.
Namubiru said more than 1,000 women had been reached through financial literacy activities supported by the Portfolio Expansion Grant.
The bank has also organised Women Entrepreneurs Conferences in different regions, including Greater Masaka, Busoga and the Mubende area.
The conferences bring together district officials, women beneficiaries and other stakeholders, creating platforms where beneficiaries can share experiences and demonstrate how they have progressed after accessing GROW financing.
The programme also provides support beyond credit.
Women whose businesses are not formally registered can receive assistance through the PSFU programme to register their businesses free of charge, according to Namubiru.
She said the GROW loan also carries an interest rate of 10 per cent, which she described as highly competitive, while the wider programme provides non-financial services intended to strengthen women’s enterprises.
Centenary Bank’s implementation also includes staff capacity building, with refresher training covering areas such as environmental, social and governance considerations and monitoring and evaluation.
The GROW programme itself has three major financing components: the line of credit, which provides funds for lending to beneficiaries; the Portfolio Expansion Grant, which supports activities such as outreach and financial literacy; and the Beneficiary Performance Grant, under which qualifying women who meet specified repayment conditions can receive a benefit equivalent to 5 per cent of their outstanding loan balance.
For refugees, Centenary Bank has adopted a group lending approach, with minimum loans of Shs1 million for refugee groups compared with Shs2 million for other borrowers under the group project. The maximum loan under the group arrangement is Shs200 million.
Namubiru said refugees and women in refugee-hosting districts remain an area where the bank wants to intensify its presence.
Some refugees, she noted, operate established businesses that require both financial support and business hand-holding.
The bank’s experience also highlights the continuing gap between the demand for affordable business capital and the resources available.
Despite having disbursed more than Shs52 billion, Centenary Bank says it still needs additional funding to reach more women, conduct more financial literacy activities, expand skills training and increase outreach in underserved communities.
Namubiru did not propose a specific amount for the next allocation, saying the bank would welcome and utilise whatever additional funding is made available.
The performance of Centenary Bank under GROW therefore offers two contrasting indicators. On one hand, more than 3,000 women have accessed financing and over Shs52 billion has been disbursed, including through recycled repayments. On the other, the bank’s continued call for additional funding points to a sizeable pool of women entrepreneurs who remain outside the programme.
The programme’s next phase will test whether this outreach model—combining affordable credit, motorcycles, agents, POS machines, financial literacy and business support—can take formal finance deeper into Uganda’s hard-to-reach districts and convert more women-owned micro-enterprises into sustainable small and medium businesses.
