NSSF collects shs1.7 billion as savings on jobs through Hi-Innovator program

NSSF Managing Director, Patrick Ayota

Kampala, Uganda | The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has collected at least 1.7 billion Shillings in savings from new contributors employed through its Hi-Innovator program.

This comes in after five years of this enterprise’s support initiative, which is running its final year.

According to a program impact evaluation report by Ipsos, the savings, accumulated since 2020, are a direct result of the over 202,000 jobs created by the initiative in a move that redefines social security in Uganda.

Implemented in partnership with Outbox Uganda and the Mastercard Foundation, the Hi-Innovator program was designed to nurture early-stage enterprises with funding, skills training, and technical assistance.

But beyond supporting startups, NSSF’s deeper ambition was to grow its contributor base by addressing youth unemployment through entrepreneurship.

“We wanted to create members,” said Patrick Ayota, NSSF Managing Director. “The way we could do it was through job creation. Someone finds a role, begins to earn, and starts contributing to the Fund.”

The strategy, according to the report, appears to be working, emphasising over 202,323 new jobs generated in the last five years, of which 38,563 are direct and 163,760 indirect. This exceeds the program’s original target of 132,000 jobs by over 40%. “These jobs are already feeding into Uganda’s formal savings ecosystem, with UGX 1.7 billion in contributions from newly employed workers now on NSSF’s books,” part of the report reads.

Ayota adds that traditionally, NSSF would focus on managing retirement funds for formal workers; however, now it is helping generate those jobs in the first place, particularly among the youth and early-stage business sector.

The bulk of new jobs created are concentrated in agriculture (22%), trade (17%), health and finance (10% each), education (8%), the digital economy (7%), creative industries (6%), and manufacturing (5%). Despite the fact that many supported enterprises are micro or small-scale, averaging two direct jobs each, the cumulative effect across sectors is substantial.

The report reveals that over 400 businesses have received support under Hi-Innovator since its inception. The evaluation emphasises that nearly half of the program participants either started a new business (16.1%) or expanded an existing one (30%) as a result of their engagement,” the report says.

Richard Zulu, the CEO of Outbox Uganda, said that their goal was not just to fund businesses but to make them survive and scale. “The technical assistance we offer helps these startups become employers, and future contributors to the social security system.” Whereas the contributions so far collected may be modest relative to the Fund’s total portfolio, Ayota says it marks the beginning of a structural shift. “In the next 10 years, these businesses will mature, their staff numbers will grow, and their savings will continue to fuel the Fund.”

The report highlights that this model offers an insight into a self-reinforcing cycle: invest in job creation, grow membership, collect contributions, and reinvest in new opportunities. It also presents a systemic intervention to job creation, and social security sector growth, especially on the African continent, to look beyond investing in capital markets and or infrastructure projects.

However, the program fell short of its gender employment target. Out of 92,400 jobs targeted for women, only 31,990 were achieved, just 35%. The report attributed this gap to structural and cultural barriers, with men showing higher confidence and better application of entrepreneurship training. “The gender disparity highlights a critical weakness in how support is accessed and applied,” said Linda Nsabagwa, Senior Research & Evaluation Executive at Ipsos Uganda.

She said that more inclusive approaches are needed to bring women fully into Uganda’s emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem.”