By Uganda’s State House has warned graduates of a government-run vocational training programme against misusing start-up loans issued through their local savings and credit cooperative societies (SACCOs), saying further funding depended on responsible use of existing money.
State House Comptroller Jane Barekye said President Yoweri Museveni intended to increase funding to the SACCOs set up for graduates of the Presidential Industrial Skilling Hubs, but only if beneficiaries showed financial discipline with the funds already disbursed.
“The president is going to add more money to these SACCOs. What we need from you is financial discipline,” Barekye told beneficiaries, urging them to invest first and only spend profits on personal needs such as bride price.
She cautioned specifically against spending loans on alcohol and bride price payments, which she said were not the intended use of the funds.
Barekye made the comments on Tuesday during a stakeholders’ meeting at the Tooro Zonal Presidential Industrial Skilling Hub in Kyenjojo District in western Uganda, which serves graduates from six districts including Kyegegwa, Kamwenge, Fort Portal City, Bunyangabu and Kabarole.
The Presidential Industrial Skilling Hubs are a government programme that trains young Ugandans in vocational trades such as tailoring and carpentry and then provides start-up capital through district-level SACCOs to help them launch businesses.
Barekye said the government had injected 50 million Ugandan shillings ($13,415) into each district’s graduate SACCO as a pilot intervention, intended to help trainees convert their new skills into income-generating enterprises.
She said State House was reviewing the scheme jointly with local leaders to determine whether the funds were reaching intended beneficiaries and to identify obstacles hindering access.
A finance manager, Ronald Aroho, has been deployed to strengthen oversight of the SACCOs and monitor how loans are used, Barekye said. Aroho pledged to work with district commercial officers rather than set up a separate reporting structure.
Barekye also called on local governments to award graduates contracts to supply goods such as school desks and beds, and said contractors handling larger jobs should be encouraged to hire youth trained at the hubs.
SACCO leaders at the meeting reported mixed uptake of the loans. Mulungi Kenneth, chairperson of the Kabarole District Hub SACCO, said 36 graduates had accessed the revolving fund so far, but said some beneficiaries lacked national identification cards, limiting their eligibility.
Akampulira Everest, chairperson of the Kamwenge District Hub SACCO, said 13 beneficiaries had received loans and invested them as intended, though he said registration requirements including access to mobile money services remained a barrier for youth without national IDs.
SACCO leaders asked State House to ease identification requirements for graduates whose identities and completion of training could otherwise be verified, warning that the funds risked sitting unused in SACCO accounts while trained youth struggled to access capital.
Several graduates described how the loans had helped them start businesses. Kabasiita Janet, a tailoring graduate from Kitagwenda, said she received a loan of 560,000 shillings ($150) after completing her training, though she said the amount was not enough to buy a sewing machine, pay rent and purchase materials for a fully equipped business.
Abenitwe Jordan, a carpentry graduate also from Kitagwenda, said he received 1.35 million shillings ($362) and used it to set up a workshop making beds, which he sells for between 250,000 and 350,000 shillings. He has since expanded into poultry and pig farming.
Atuyambe Hannah, from Katunguru in Kyenjojo, said she enrolled at the hub in 2023 after her father suggested she travel abroad for domestic work, an option she said she did not want to pursue. She completed her tailoring course in 2024, received a 560,000-shilling loan and now earns between 250,000 and 300,000 shillings a month from a business that has expanded into selling household goods.
Museveni introduced the revolving loan fund after graduates of the skilling hubs said they lacked capital to start businesses despite having acquired vocational skills, according to State House. Under the scheme, beneficiaries are expected to repay loans so that other graduates can access the fund.
Local officials at Tuesday’s meeting, including Bunyangabu Resident District Commissioner Nicholas Kamukama and Kyenjojo Resident District Commissioner Ayesiga Julian Sarah, said the programme had helped instil financial discipline among graduates, while calling for measures such as irrigation for a model farm attached to the hub to sustain output during dry seasons.
