Nile Breweries launches entrepreneurship campaign

Nile Breweries has launched a Shs 100 million nationwide five-weeks campaign aimed at giving a shot in the arm to aspiring youth entrepreneurs.

This is in view of the devastating effects suffered by most youth in the wake of the Corona Virus pandemic.

This was revealed by the Nile Breweries Legal and Corporate Affairs Director, Onapito Ekomoloit, at the NBL’s headquarters in Luzira.

To participate in the campaign, aspiring youth entrepreneurs across the country will be required to draft a brief plan on how they would use Shs 1 million to start their businesses and send the outlines to a designated email address (Nile.Breweries@ug.ab-inbev.com).

Every week 20 successful entrants will be announced on various partner radio stations across the country and they will take home UGX1M each.

“It is a gesture that we hope will go a long way in reviving or keeping afloat one of Uganda’s main income generating sectors, that’s the small businesses which employ majority of the youths in the country,” said  Onapito.

Enterprise Uganda have provided the needed guidelines to steer the campaign. These are to be downloaded from Nile Breweries website and social media pages of the partner radio stations.

“Besides being given a platform to enable these part time & unemployed youth to become self-reliant, there is need for them to be mentored in starting or strengthening their businesses,” said Rosemary Mutyabule, Director Business Advisory and Consultancy Services Enterprise Uganda.

“Enterprise Uganda will facilitate the selection of the winners and also mentor them so that they take off. Given the COVID-19 pandemic situation, we will adapt phone mentorship for the larger group of winners,” she said.

Winners will also receive vouchers that will enable them attend on site business mentorship workshops run by Enterprise Uganda in different regions of Uganda. Mentorship will be worth Shs 200 million.

The winners will be tasked to grow their businesses and employ their peers. “The job multiplier ratio is 2.2.  Every youth trained to start business will on average create 2.2 Jobs in one year,” said Mutyabule. This would mean at least double the number of jobs created directly (220)

Data reveals that while the country’s unemployment rate is hovering around 9.2%, the unemployment rate of youth aged between 18-30 years is 13.3% and they constitute 78% of the total population.

The situation could have worsened this year according to the government revelation in April that approximately 4,200 companies closed in the first month of the pandemic-induced lockdown.

According to Onapito, these and many other aspects informed NBL’s investment in a campaign that seeks to boost the law end job market that employs most youth.

“When we talk about youth unemployment, the entire load cannot be left to government though it is the number one employer and is tasked with creating an enabling entrepreneurial environment. The private sector has a role to play. It may be a lesser role but it is quite significant in stemming the unemployment levels,” he said.

Some of the benchmarks on which the entries will be examined include; the problem a particular business seeks to solve in the community and a SWOT analysis looking at the knowledge of the environment the entrepreneur seeks to operate in.