KAMPALA, May 14, 2026 — Unlike in many developed countries, where people can comfortably manage multiple jobs and income streams, many Ugandans rely heavily on a single source of income, often with little or no side business/enterprise to support them financially. This has left many vulnerable, especially after retirement from formal employment.
In response to this growing challenge, Enterprise Uganda has introduced a new business training package, targeting salary earners and professionals working typical office hours from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. The initiative is aimed at helping workers develop business ideas and alternative income-generating opportunities that can improve their financial stability beyond their monthly salaries.
The new product, dubbed Business and Enterprise Start-up Tool [BEST] Training, seeks to change the long-standing trend where many people struggle financially after leaving formal employment.
Speaking to journalists at the organisation’s headquarters in Butabika, Kampala during the closing ceremony of a five-day entrepreneurship training attended by over 1,300 participants, the Executive Director of Enterprise Uganda, Charles Ocici emphasised the importance of how workers use their time outside office hours.
Ocici noted that formal employment should not limit workers from exploring other income-generating opportunities.
He explained that office work only takes part of the day, and how people use the remaining hours outside their formal jobs often determines their financial growth and long-term stability.
“There is a challenge for most salary workers, imagine that just because they have got a salary, one, they have no time to do something else. It’s a lie,” he said.
Emphasising the importance of financial planning and building systems that allow enterprises to operate independently of the owner’s physical presence.
“Use what we call systems and reports and records, you don’t have to be at the enterprise when it is being run …,” he remarked.
Speaking after the training, Konse Lawino, a juice processor based in Kiswa, Kampala, said the entrepreneurship sessions helped her overcome the fear of approaching customers and improve the way she brands and manages her business.
“When I attended the first training, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but after going back home and putting the ideas into action, I saw change in my business. I came back for more knowledge to help me grow my juice business,” she said.
Reflecting on the impact of the training, the beneficiary said the sessions helped them identify key business practices they had previously overlooked, giving them a clearer direction on how to grow and improve their enterprise.
Derrick Emmanuel Malinga, another beneficiary, told theCooperator News that the training provided practical knowledge on business growth, target setting, and execution, emphasizing the importance of putting previously ignored ideas into practice to achieve success.
“It is really a big experience for people in the business aspect to awaken what they really had in them and knew about, but they never took it as a priority for success,” Malinga said.
Andrew Nuwagira, another beneficiary of the programme described the training as practical entrepreneurship programs designed to equip participants with the right mindset and skills needed to start, manage, and sustain businesses.
According to Nuwagira, the sessions help participants understand how businesses are started, why many enterprises fail, and how entrepreneurs can avoid common mistakes that affect business growth and sustainability.
He revealed that more than 65 percent of people who attend the trainings and were previously operating businesses often choose to close them and start new ventures after realizing gaps in their earlier business models and operations.
Nuwagira further explained that Enterprise Uganda conducts training needs assessments to identify common challenges faced by entrepreneurs before designing practical solutions tailored to their needs.
He also noted that many people start businesses as temporary survival options while searching for formal employment, but abandon the enterprises once they secure jobs, a trend the organization is trying to change through mindset transformation and entrepreneurship education.
“Some of them are running a business simply because they have failed to get a job, … once he gets a job, whether it is not paying well, he ends up doing it and closing the business,” Andrew said.
The programme comes at a time Uganda continues to grapple with rising unemployment, financial uncertainty, and the realities of retirement. Through the dual career programme, the organisation hopes to inspire more salary earners to embrace entrepreneurship not only as a side hustle but as a long-term financial security strategy.
https://thecooperator.news/msc-disburses-shs-over-600bln-to-ugandan-enterprises/
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