This article was produced with support from UDB
Patricia Ojangole, Managing Director of Uganda Development Bank (UDB), sees helming the bank as more than just a job; it’s a powerful platform for empowering women. Since taking the helm in 2012, she has been a passionate advocate for gender equality within UDB. Her optimism is contagious, and under her leadership, the bank has seen a notable increase in the representation of women. “45% of the bank’s staff are women, with over 20 women serving in various management roles,” she told African Business.
Ojangole attributes this progress to the bank’s culture of inclusivity and meritocracy, which he says helps foster a work environment where all employees, regardless of gender, can thrive and reach their full potential.
“I don’t believe that women are less capable than men when it comes to work, so I give them the same opportunities and have the same expectations that I would have of my male colleagues. This is our culture and work environment, which is respectful of everyone,” she says.
Importantly, UDB promotes gender equality not only within the company, but in the broader Ugandan society. UDB does this through a suite of financial products and services designed specifically to cater to the unique needs of Ugandan women. A shining example is UDB’s Women in Finance division. Established in 2021, the division is dedicated to developing gender-sensitive financial products and services. Its mission is three-fold: supporting women entrepreneurs, investing in sectors that primarily employ women, and addressing women’s consumer needs.
UDB’s signature women-focused lending product is Women Prosper Loans. Ojangole notes that the product is a key component of the bank’s gender lens investment plan. “Women Prosper has emerged as a powerful impact investment strategy that combines the pursuit of financial return with the pursuit of gender equality and social well-being.”
She believes the product’s early success highlights its relevance in addressing an unmet market need: “In 2023, one year after rolling out the product, 16% of funded special program projects were women-owned as defined by the bank’s criteria.”
Ojangole noted that the bank allocates up to 20% of its core capital for lending to eligible companies under the bank’s “special program” provisions to support small and medium-sized enterprises, women-led enterprises, and youth-related ventures. Beyond its own financial commitments, UDB aims to galvanize new sources of financing and bring in financial innovations, such as the introduction of loan guarantees, to support collateral-challenged women-owned enterprises. In this regard, UDB and the Africa Guarantee Fund (AGF) entered into a partnership worth 16 billion Ugandan shillings (about $4 million) in January to enhance sustainable lending to eligible companies under the bank’s special program proposals.
Training is another key element of UDB’s proposal to women-owned businesses. Through its Business Accelerator program, UDB provides training to both existing and prospective clients. Ojangole says that over the last 18 months, more than 2,000 women have benefited from the initiative. “UDB employs a combination of training and incubation programs, advice and technical support to meet this goal.”
Studies have shown that training programs equip women entrepreneurs with essential business skills such as financial management, marketing and strategic planning, which allows them to make informed decisions and run their businesses more effectively.
UDB has also entered into partnerships with several women’s organisations across the country to increase its appeal and capture more female potential customers. “The bank has partnered with women’s organisations, which have a combined total of 2.5 million women member businesses, on a mutually beneficial basis,” the bank said.
Digital financial services are a game changer for women, rural people, and other groups traditionally ignored by the formal financial system. UDB is one of the companies leading this effort in Uganda, focusing on expanding digital services to women farmers.
The bank has partnered with fintech companies to enhance access to credit for smallholder farmers. Its partnership with fintech firm Ensibco Technologies provides short-term seasonal loans to smallholder farmers in remote areas who need funds as low as 50,000 Ugandan shillings (about $12). The entire process from application to approval to disbursement is digitized, and funds are deposited directly into farmers’ electronic mobile wallets. The fintech solution, called AgriConnect, aims to provide credit at scale to underserved populations. Ojangole noted that these digitalization efforts are complemented by traditional options such as the UDB Women Prosper Loan.
However, Ojangole argues that despite the rapid increase in adoption of digital financial services by women in Uganda, continued efforts are needed to bring them to parity with men. According to the National Financial Inclusion Strategy developed by the Bank of Uganda and the Ministry of Finance, women lag behind men in the use of digital financial services. There is a stark gender gap in the use of mobile money, with only 25% of Ugandan women using it compared to 38% of men.
Additionally, women are at a disadvantage in owning accounts, transacting digitally, saving, borrowing and understanding financial services. According to Ojangole, this gender gap still exists in both digital and non-digital financial inclusion. She believes the answer to getting more women to use digital financial services lies in investing in innovative financing solutions.
“Most financially excluded women are in the informal sector and hard-to-reach areas and innovative financing solutions are needed to reach them. Hence, digital financial inclusion innovations with a specific focus on women are needed to improve women’s financial inclusion status.”
Ojangole said women entrepreneurs in Uganda should not be afraid to dream big, and with support from lenders like UDB, they will be able to scale their businesses and make a bigger economic and social impact.
“The Government of Uganda has supported women to start small businesses through initiatives such as the Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Programme, but to drive Uganda’s industrial transformation we need more women entrepreneurs to move into larger business sectors.”
Ojangole believes African financial institutions can follow UDB’s lead, implementing women-specific lending and business development services to help women become financially independent. But they can do more than that, Ojangole argues, by monitoring and recording their progress in empowering women and holding themselves accountable to their commitments. “Every month, the bank tracks sustainability indicators, with a focus on achieving inclusive prosperity.”
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