Nouella Anaso
Rt. Hon. Robinah Nabbanja, the Prime Minister of Uganda will be the chief guest during the Uganda Revenue Authority’s 8th Annual Women’s Conference that will be held in Wash and Wills Hotel, Mbale on Friday the 18th of March under a theme which will look at Technology as a driving factor for business facilitation and growth.
For 8 years running, over 2000 women have attended URAs themed conferences to learn how to succeed in business with a range of diverse speakers challenging stereotypes and broadening perceptions by encouraging women to think beyond the micro-enterprises they own in order to become big entrepreneurs. URA has always believed in the equality and empowerment of women.
This year’s conference will target women in business seeking to expand their businesses into big and sustainable enterprises. After a keynote address from URAs Commissioner Legal and Board Affairs- Patience T. Rubagumya, expert panelists; Gorreti Amuriat from Women of Uganda Network, Fatuma Namutosi from Byeffe Foods Company Limited and re-known motivational speaker, Evans Mayambala will articulate the fundamentals in technology that can support and sustain business amidst the prevailing economic conditions and especially following the lifting of the lock-down.
This year’s women’s conference will be implemented both physically and online because of the nature of the target audience and the flow of the suggested activities during the conference. Some of the activities will include but not limited to real life experiences, practical sessions on URA processes such as e- Registration, eFiling, e- payments, financial literacy and tax education.
As the challenges women face in business continue to grow, it’s important that women leverage on technology to achieve their goals, be good influences and impact change in and outside of their communities. During the past two years COVID-19 stifled businesses causing economic shocks for women-owned businesses. Most businesses were aided through the use of technology.
However, now with a fully opened economy, the 2000 women from the SME categories operating wholesalers’ restaurants, Retailers of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs), women in fashion and beauty, saloon owners catering services, women in produce, textile, and decoration services will be exposed to and inspired to embrace tech solutions to facilitate their businesses.
The conference will be held in Mbale as a deliberate move from URA to engage and include women from the upcountry regions to benefit from the yearly forum. Mbale is one of the fastest growing cities in Uganda with an average population of 488,960, according to the Uganda National Bureau of statistics out of these 255,621 are female, Households headed by female are 25,765, Female with mobile phones 31,736 between the age of 18-30years, female with internet 8,793 between the age of 18-30years
The Ugandan population is dominated by women with approximately 22.46 million according to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics 2019. They present the highest percentage of the population in Uganda. According to the statistics, women make vast and positive economic contributions through business, agriculture, trade, industry, and domestic care work.
In partnership with WOUGNET, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) hopes that Technology will be embraced by the business owners as a tool of value addition which will result into their business and market expansion. URA is one of the few national tax administrations in Africa to create platforms that discuss financial literacy solutions to businesses. To accommodate many more women, the conference will be live streamed on social media channels and have live TV coverage from 11am to 1pm.
The writer is a URA media management Officer.
