FAMReports News Desk | December 2025
The seventh edition of the Rising Woman Awards concluded on Friday with renewed emphasis on expanding women focused financing, enterprise training and national mentorship networks. Organised by dfcu Bank in partnership with Monitor Publications, the initiative continues to scale its reach, this year supporting more than one hundred fifty women led businesses from across the country.
Officials highlighted a growing appetite for specialised enterprise support for women, noting that structured financing, capacity building and tailored advisory services are increasingly shaping Uganda’s entrepreneurship landscape.
Annette Kiconco, dfcu Bank’s Chief Retail Banking Officer, said the bank has deepened investments in female entrepreneurs nearly twenty years after launching its Women in Business programme, one of the earliest gender centred financial programmes in the country.
“dfcu Bank has been intentional in its commitment to empowering women entrepreneurs,” she said. “A lot of other banks are trying to copy paste, but they cannot do it as well as we do.”
Kiconco noted that the programme, introduced in 2007, has supported more than eighty thousand women with financial literacy, advisory services and customised credit. She added that the Women Business Advisory Centre, described as the first of its kind in Uganda, now regularly hosts free business clinics, training sessions and mentorship engagements for early stage and growing enterprises.
A Growing Platform Filling Gaps in Government Programmes
The Rising Woman Initiative, launched in 2018 in partnership with Monitor Publications, has reached more than sixty thousand women through regional trainings, proposal writing support, business coaching and seed capital grants. A collaboration with MTN Uganda, ATC and Innovation Village has integrated one hundred eighteen women led businesses into corporate supply chains.
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Dr Anna Nakanwagi Mukwaya, Managing Director of Mak4 and one of the keynote speakers, said the initiative emerged at a time when government empowerment interventions were reaching less than one percent of potential beneficiaries.
“Government could only reach under fifty thousand women,” she said. “You can imagine the gap at just one percent. The Rising Woman Initiative was inaugurated to bridge that huge gap.”
She revealed that more than five thousand two hundred women have benefited from the initiative over seven years, attributing much of its impact to its partnership with Monitor Publications.
“Without a partner strong enough to show it to people you would not have seen the success it is having now,” she said. “Government cannot do this alone.”
Empowering Skills, Formalisation and Responsible Growth
This year’s cycle trained participants in financial literacy, digital skills, credit management, business registration, bookkeeping and enterprise formalisation. The final twenty award winners were recognised for excellence in innovation, sustainability, growth potential and community impact.
Keynote speaker Barbara Ofwono Buyondo, CEO of Victorious Education Services, urged entrepreneurs to prioritise continuous learning and deliberate growth.
“I was once in the place where you are,” she said. “You are the master of your business. How will you guide others when you do not know?”
She encouraged women to borrow responsibly and to use networks as springboards for growth.
“Business leaders, it is lonely up there,” she said. “Join groups, you will progress so fast.”
A National Platform for Women in Enterprise
Organisers said Rising Woman has evolved into a national platform promoting women in agribusiness, manufacturing, value addition, services and digital enterprise. They emphasised that strategic partnerships will remain central as Uganda implements the government’s Tenfold Growth Strategy, which aims to accelerate economic transformation through innovation, skills and inclusive participation.
As the seventh edition concludes, both dfcu Bank and Monitor Publications reaffirmed their commitment to expanding the initiative, strengthening mentorship pipelines and ensuring more women led firms access capital, skills and market opportunities.
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