The African Agribusiness Incubators Network has launched a nationwide business incubation and capacity-building programme designed to support 25,000 young women across Uganda, with a deliberate focus on refugees, women with disabilities and those living in rural communities where access to jobs, capital and markets remains limited.
The initiative is being implemented under the Sustainable Inclusive Youth Employment Pathways programme, a five-year national youth employment intervention led by a development agency with backing from an international foundation focused on youth livelihoods. Within the consortium, the network is responsible for strengthening business incubation systems so young women can transition from skills training into dignified and sustainable work.
The programme targets young women aged 15 to 35 and applies clear inclusion thresholds to ensure marginalised groups are not left behind. A defined proportion of beneficiaries will be refugee youth and young women living with disabilities, while most participants will come from rural and peri-urban communities where unemployment and underemployment are most severe. Overall, the consortium plans to support at least 17,500 of the 25,000 participants into decent and fulfilling employment.
The incubation phase officially commenced in Kampala with a national training and curriculum review meeting that brought together 25 anchor incubators from across Uganda’s Central, Eastern, Northern, Western and West Nile regions. At the meeting, incubators reviewed a new Business Incubation Management Curriculum Framework developed by incubation experts from Uganda and other parts of Africa.
According to the network, the curriculum is designed to strengthen Uganda’s incubation landscape while ensuring that support services translate into real benefits for young women entrepreneurs at the grassroots. “The intention is to enrich incubation support systems and build the capacity of incubators, but the ultimate goal is to cascade this curriculum to young women entrepreneurs across the country,” a representative said during the meeting.
The organisation explained that its mandate under the youth employment programme is deliberately inclusive, prioritising groups that face the greatest structural barriers. “We are intentional about reaching refugees, young women with disabilities and those in rural communities because these groups consistently struggle to access skills, finance and markets,” the representative noted.
Under the programme, participants will receive a blend of technical skills training in selected trades, business mentorship and coaching, alongside competitive business booster packages for enterprises with growth potential. The focus sectors include agriculture and agribusiness, creative industries and home-based cottage enterprises, reflecting areas where women-led MSMEs can scale with the right support.
Access to finance, long identified as a major constraint for women entrepreneurs, is being addressed through partnerships with selected financial institutions. The network said it has signed agreements to promote youth- and women-friendly credit products that can help small businesses become viable and bankable. “We want financial institutions to engage these young women directly so their businesses can grow beyond subsistence,” the representative said.
Market access is also a core part of the intervention. Through aggregation models coordinated by anchor incubators, products from rural entrepreneurs will be pooled to reach larger and more reliable markets. “Many young women cannot access markets on their own. With aggregation and mentorship, their products can reach buyers they would otherwise not penetrate,” the network explained.
Civil society organisations working in refugee-hosting areas have described the programme as timely, particularly as humanitarian support declines. A representative from a women-focused development organisation working in northern Uganda said refugee women are under increasing economic pressure following reductions in food rations. “Many men have returned to South Sudan in search of food, leaving young women behind with children and little means of survival,” she said, adding that income-generating opportunities for these women are extremely limited.
She noted that the incubation programme will help identify and support vulnerable young women to start small businesses that can cushion them against worsening economic conditions. “These women are among the most disadvantaged and struggle to meet basic needs. Supporting them to build small enterprises is critical at this moment,” she said.
Once the curriculum review process is completed, the Business Incubation Management framework will be rolled out across partner incubators nationwide. The network said this will lay the foundation for a stronger and more inclusive incubation ecosystem, enabling young women to move beyond training into sustainable livelihoods, while contributing to the growth of women-led MSMEs in Uganda’s economy.
