Yunus Social Business, in partnership with USAID, is implementing a three-year program with the overall objective to promote economic security in Uganda through supporting Small and Medium Social Businesses to generate sustainable quality jobs, income opportunities, and access to good nutrition and related services for the Ugandan people. 

A social business is a formal entity created with the main purpose of solving a social problem in a financially self-sustainable way. Under the partnership, 1,500 social entrepreneurs will receive training, coaching and mentoring; 135 will be assisted to scale their businesses by improving their business models, conducting testing and accessing linkages to markets; while the most promising 20 social businesses—with combined potential to create more than 2,200 full-time quality jobs and networks of 1,800 suppliers and distributors along their value chains—will receive investment funds ranging from USD 200,000-USD 500,000 each.

The program has a clear focus to ensure that 40 percent of social businesses supported are women-led while 30 percent of direct employment opportunities and 50 percent of supplier/distributor opportunities are targeted for youth.

Yunus Social Business Foundation Uganda Ltd was set up in Uganda in 2014 as an entity that works on the side of the disadvantaged to bring about meaningful impact in their lives.  The foundation does this through offering non-financial support to enable entrepreneurs to become investment ready, grow and maximize their social success; providing fair capital for social businesses; and playing a catalytic role in building a conducive ecosystem for social businesses to thrive. Uganda is the seventh country after Haiti, India, Colombia, Albania, Brazil and Tunisia where Yunus Social Business is committed to be the first-stop global brand for social business entrepreneurs and investors.

East Africa Social Business Conference 2016

The theme of this year’s conference is Reaching Sustainable Development Goals in East Africa through Social Business. Together with our partners, Yunus Social Business Uganda aims to:

1. Demonstrate the power of social business as an innovative approach to meeting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 
2. Offer a platform for sharing best practices, networking and match-making among investors, social business support organizations and social entrepreneurs across East Africa region.
3. Launch Yunus Social Business East Africa Expansion Program with a network of partners and a pipeline of high impact social businesses.

The conference taking place on 6^th December 2016 at Golf Course hotel will bring together 150 social entrepreneurs, impact investors, corporate entities, governmental and non-governmental agencies, development partners as well as social business support organizations actively involved in promoting business as a sustainable solution to increasing access to affordable health care, creating quality employment for youth and women, averting carbon emission and generally empowering economically marginalized people to create sustainable incomes.

The conference will be opened by the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Hon. Matia Kasaija. The Key Note Speaker at the Conference shall be Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus. The Chairman and Co-founder of Yunus Global Initiatives, Bang Prof Yunus, is of Bangladeshi origin and has dedicated his life to actively reduce poverty, create employment and avert carbon emission in the world.  He pioneered the birth of micro-finance and has so far created more than 40 successful social businesses, including Grameen Bank.