France fuels green innovation in Uganda with major grant for Stanbic Business Incubator

The Stanbic Business Incubator Limited (SBIL) signed a new grant agreement with the Embassy of France in Uganda to finance the Green Tech Incubator and Accelerator for Entrepreneurship Program.

The program, which targets the youth and women in the Kampala Metropolitan Area and the Albertine Region, aims to promote the development of a green, resilient and highly innovative economy.

The French Ambassador, Virginie Leroy and Catherine Poran, the SBIL Chief Executive signed the agreement at the Embassy in Kampala on Tuesday.

“The project will support more than 200 Ugandan youth and women Small and Micro-Enterprises in sectors like sustainable cities, green mobility, circular economy, waste management, renewable energies, water and health, and smart agro/agri technologies, by strengthening their capacities, facilitating their access to finance and markets and creating an environment that fosters their growth,” Ambassador Leroy said.

The Stanbic Green Tech Accelerator is a two-year initiative and is estimated to cost €687,833, including the French Embassy grant of €450,000 (about UGX1.8 billion) of which €131,351 will be released in the first installment. SBIL on its part is committed to co-financing the project to a tune 0f €237,833 (34.5%).

Poran said, “We are deeply grateful to the French Embassy for their vision and trust in supporting us and making this program a reality. Your investment is creating a transformative change in Uganda. Through this program, we anticipate to support north of 300 entrepreneurs to pilot and scale solutions, directly training over 1,000 entrepreneurs, ensuring at least 60% are women and youth”.

The Incubator was established in 2018 to help nurture and empower SMEs in Uganda to become resilient and sustainable businesses. It is the enterprise development subsidiary of Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited which is part of the pan-African, Standard Bank Group, the continent’s biggest lender by assets.

To date, SBIL has trained over 11,400 entrepreneurs and businesses in management strategy, specifically financial management, and risk management. It has also supported them to formalize and access finance as well as facilitated access to millions of dollars in funding and marketing opportunities.

Aaron Akampa, Head of Enterprise Banking at Stanbic Bank said, “Our commitment to the initiative is to be there to provide some of the pipeline of SMEs that will be participating in this initiative. But beyond that, I think sometimes beyond the training is access to liquidity.”

He said, “Thanks to the Uganda Energy Credit Capitalisation Company, there is funding, but we as Stanbic Bank also have quite a big pool of liquidity on top of what they already have to provide to these SMEs with the funding that they need. Renewable energy and green finance is a very important priority right from the Standard Bank Group. It’s one of the top three most important things that the Group will be driving over the next five years.”

Acceleration (3-6 months)

130 SMEs in the green economy have a coherent business plan, amarketing strategy, and an HR recruitment plan.

130 homesteads (50% women/30% young people) have acquired the knowledge and contacts necessary to develop their order books (creation of partnerships and strategic alliances)

Incubation (6-18months)

70 selected entreprenuers (50% women/30% young people) in the green economy are able to develop their projects in the green technology (green tech) sector:

Products improved following technical support from innovation hubs, Development of a coherent business plan and a marketing and communications strategy.

Facilitating access to financing

At least 60 Ugandan SMEs in the green economy have access to financing in the form of loans, grants, or investments to develop their business (€300,000 blended finance facility).