Museveni Hails Emyooga Sacco Success in Nakawa, Pledges More Support

President Museveni has met with beneficiaries of the Emyooga SACCO initiative in Butabika and Mutungo, Nakawa Division, commending their progress and reaffirming government support for grassroots economic empowerment.

The President, accompanied by the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Maama Janet Museveni, praised the impact of the Emyooga program in boosting household incomes through job creation and skills development.

He noted that SACCO groups in the area are beginning to thrive, showing signs of growth and sustainability.

“I’m happy to see that you have accepted to start slow — even a baby starts by crawling,” said President Museveni, urging members to remain patient and persistent as they build their businesses.

He emphasized that wealth creation is rooted in commercial agriculture, artisanal trades such as carpentry and welding, and service enterprises like tailoring, salon work, catering, and boda boda transport.

He applauded the members for embracing self-reliance and learning by doing.

“Now you have started waking up. You can hear Tuhirirwe wants more space, but before she started, she didn’t see the need,” he added, underscoring the importance of vision that grows with experience.

To support their efforts, President Museveni contributed shs100 million to the local Emyooga SACCOs and revealed that the government has allocated shs1 billion to ghetto-based groups in urban centres such as Kampala, Jinja, and Mbale.

Mr. Kibuka Adam, Chairperson of Zone 2 SACCO, acknowledged that both the Emyooga and Parish Development Model (PDM) programs are yielding positive results in Nakawa.

However, he noted that land shortages remain a major challenge.

Ms. Tuhirirwe Winnie, Chairperson of the Mutungo-Mbuya 1 Tailoring SACCO, shared inspiring success stories.

She said the SACCO has empowered women and youth with skills in tailoring, fashion design, jewelry making, and machine use.

Members now enjoy improved livelihoods and have broken free from predatory lenders, thanks to affordable loans within the SACCO.

“Our lives have changed. People now have skills and can earn a living. However, we face challenges of inadequate space for training and production,” Ms. Tuhirirwe said.

She called for additional funding to meet growing demand and realize their dream of setting up a tailoring factory for mass production and export.

In response, President Museveni reiterated government’s commitment to supporting SACCOs and encouraged members to scale up their activities with discipline, organization, and hard work.