Every business product derives sales from extent of visibility within target audience. Among mechanisms, marketing is employed by entrepreneurs through numerous platforms, with media being the most strategic.
Uganda Media Women’s Association (UMWA) with support from Urgent Action Fund conducted a series of trainings of grassroot women entrepreneurs. This was on communication skills and media use.
Conducted in early September 2021, the capacity building aimed at helping female entrepreneurs grow their small businesses.
With over 70 women trained, Kalanzi Lawrence one of the facilitators said that grassroot women engaged in any form of business ought to tap into their audiences to market and grow their businesses.
“The passed-on skills in communication and media use will help these women makeuse of the various media spaces for marketing but also gain customer care language through the communication skills we have just trained them on” said Kalanzi
Trainings were conducted in Kampala, Nakaseke and Buwama Districts, that involved hosting targeted participants on radio to appreciate the importance and the power of Media in their businesses.
Namubiru Teddy a local food vendor in Kyebando, a Kampala suburb and one of the business women trained related that the training empowered her with business marketing ideas she least knew before.
‘’Today’s training has taught me a lot of things that I didn’t could hinder my business’s growth. The trainer has emphasized the issue of discipline and respect to all people including those that are not your customers.” Namubiru said.
The woman entrepreneur added that she used to thinkthose that don’t buy food from herwereher enemies however she has a changed mind set. She furtherobserved lessons attained: that it’s a matter of respecting customer choice and treating them well.
Therefore Namubiru reflected that her first action upon work resumption would be making amends with all people in her conflict in order to harmoniously prosper her business.
Nakayenga Gorret a resident of Kulambiro a boutique owner and part of the UMWA trainees also noted that the training helped her linkup with new business partners that she hopes will strengthen her business partnerships.
“I have been able to get new clients and partners in today’s training on top of the communication skills that we have been taught. During the training, we were tasked to talk about our businesses and in among the fellow participants I have already got members who have approached me for business.” Said Nakayenga
The trained business women collectively agreed that media especially their residence community radios are to turn into marketing ‘stalls’ for their products.
Uganda has over six community radio stations and over 200 licensed diverse radios that can be affordably accessible for small scale businesses.
Media reaches out to the majority of the Ugandan adult population with radio (87%) and mobile phone (74%) in their household. Only a third had a working TV (34%) and only 13% of the adult population had access to the internet within their household according to the BBC Media Action report 2019.
This series of business women training is one of the many capacity building activities UMWA conducts in empowering women.
Executing this with Urgent Action Fund, Urgent Action Fund is a feminist fund that protects, strengthens and sustains women and non-binary human rights defenders at critical moments.
Authored by
Kabali Paul
