Featuring: *Lease Financing in Uganda *Finance Lease and Operating Lease Main Menu Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 This presentation is designed and organised by the New Vision Internet Department. Editor Davis J. Weddi dfcu leasing empowers rural areas By Alex Balimwikungu Most of the economic activity in Uganda’s rural areas is subsistence and based on manual labour. Despite government’s efforts to indulge the locals in economic activities, many lack the expertise, means and confidence to indulge in the economic activities. Moses Kibirige, the general manager, development finance, says dfcu has a vision to lead Uganda to a modern country through financial means. He says development of infrastructure and expansion of small businesses in rural areas is one area dfcu has taken over with great levels of success. Initiatives like bee-keeping, fruit-drying and emerging schools have since benefited. In 2001, dfcu leasing supported the establishment of the first honey factory in West Nile after Maria Odido, an entrepreneur from Kampala discovered the potential of making honey in the area and approached dfcu for a lease. “For strategic purposes, I realised the need to locate the factory where the farmers are based. I helped illuminate light in the minds of the farmers, who started modern bee-keeping, which is a booming business today,” Odido says. She says when she ventured in the area, there was no power supply. She talked to dfcu leasing and together with the Shell Foundation; she was availed with a solar generator and a standby generator, which is what she uses now. “They (dfcu and Shell foundation) also provided us a grant for a standardisation study, which resulted in the completion of the first phase of certifying our producton, the world for market. It is a big change as we now export certified organic honey to Kenya, USA, Europe and the Middle East,” Odido says. The fruit-drying sector has been another big beneficiary of the dfcu as Juma Tegu, a pineapple-grower from Kayunga district explains. “I was a small farmer until dfcu gave me training and leased me solar food dryers. Today, my experience with dfcu has transformed the area into a pineapple growing district,” Tegu says. Tegu explains that they now produce higher quality dried-foods. “We were once small, but we have tremendously improved operations and our future is bright,” Tegu says. For Kawanda S.S, on the Kampala-Gulu highway, it was one of those common problems that afflict emerging schools. With a population of 500 students, the school had a water shortage problem, with only one water source. Like the director of studies Haruna Nsubuga points out, the school, through dfcu leasing acquired a water pump and the water problem is no more. He says dfcu has since facilitated their acquisition of computers, a standby generator and the completion of a building block, which will serve as a 400- seater recreation centre as well as examinations room.