Platform supporting European and Ugandan private sector launches technical working groups
The Sustainable Business for Uganda Platform (SB4U) was launched by the European Union (EU) and the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) in March 2020 at the first ever Uganda-Europe Business Forum held in Kampala. The overall purpose of the Platform is to promote key partnerships between the Ugandan and European public and private sectors, improve the way we do business together and attract more investments.
The objective of the Technical Working Groups is to contribute to a continued EU-Uganda investment climate dialogue, identify challenges in the agreed thematic areas, prioritise areas of focus and recommend implementable solutions through innovative private-public collaboration. They are be the main technical arm of the SBU4U Platform for the advocacy process. The four SB4U Technical Working Groups are “Skills and Attitude”, “Access to Finance” and “Governance and Accountability” and “Trade and Investment Promotion”. These issues were identified by stakeholders as critical investment hurdles in Uganda. Each TWG are composed of 15 members from the Ugandan and EU private and public sectors.
At the same event, a new initiative to make graduates more employable and facilitate their smooth transition to work was launched. The programme funded by the European Union is jointly implemented by Enabel and Private Sector Foundation Uganda and targets 1000 recent graduates countrywide. It comes as a response to the skills and attitude problem noted among graduates, which according to the private sector is a serious obstacle to business growth and productivity. The initiative will address the challenge through placement of graduates in various private sector companies for at least 6 months training, mentorship and coaching.
This event comes only a few months after the EU adopted its new Multi-annual Indicative Programme (MIP), which presents the EU partnership with the Republic of Uganda for the period 2021 – 2027. The EU remains committed to support inclusive and sustainable growth and jobs. In the next four years, the EU will commit up to EUR 170 Million (UGX 670 Billion) for new actions focusing on three key areas: 1) Sustainable investments; 2) Economic enablers and connectivity; 3) Skilling and Decent Jobs.
“Today’s event is a concrete example of the European Union engagement to foster key partnerships between the Ugandan and European public and private sectors,” said European Union Ambassador to Uganda, H.E Attilio Pacifici.
