“We are thankful to heifer international Uganda with financial support from Mastercard Foundation for introducing Stimulating Agribusiness for Youth Employment (SAYE) Project last year. The project came in Bugiri district, Busoga region, to support us Lumlaa self-help group. We are a group of 30 young people, of which 10 are men and majority are women,” said Ms. Kagoya phiona, the group chairperson in an interview during the “Young Africa works 2025 dialogue-Uganda” held by Mastercard Foundation at Serena hotel in Kampala.
The event strategically focused on reflecting progress in advancing youth-led entrepreneurship as a driver of dignified and fulfilling employment
Ms. Kagoya said that Lumlaa selfhelp group is under Nabijingo SACCO in Bugiri district.
“With support from Heifer, we were able to start growing soya-bean. Initially we started with planting 10 acres in 2024, and we have been able to harvest close to 50 bags”. She stated.
She said that the group envisage this coming season to plant 50 acres and this will see them collecting close to 1000 bags.
“As a team, we plan to sell the yields to soya bean Africa and other exporters of soya bean. We were told that a killo goes about 6000 Uganda shillings, so we are excited that we are going to make money from these sales and we can’t wait to see our lives change, we shall be able to pay school fees for our children, and looking after our families.
“Also, the reason why we chose growing soya beans is because there is a range of products that can be made from it. So we are looking at selling soya bean to our fellow youth who are being incubated by CURAD to make Soya flour, porridge, soya beandads, so we are closely working with them to ensure they add value to our products.” She remarked
Heifer International in partnership with FSME, FSDU, CURAD and ASIGMA Group is implementing the SAYE Project (Stimulating Agribusiness for Youth Employment).
“Our aim is to empower 250000 young people in Busoga region to secure decent and dignified employment through agribusiness enterprise development. This project that started in 2024 runs up to 2029, with the support of Mastercard Foundation.” Said Mr. William Matovu, Heifer international Uganda Country Director.
He noted that so far, they have supported youth across 11 districts to engage in farming, processing of agricultural products and value addition, including poultry keeping, goat rearing, soybean & watermelon growing to processing of porridge flour, baking flour among others.
What an action-packed day! Youth showcased the great businesses that are thriving, thanks to their partnership with @MastercardFdn implementing partners like @Heifer .#mastercardfdnexpo #YoungAfricaworks pic.twitter.com/0f92W5Z4y8
— Heifer International Uganda (@Heifer_Uganda) February 18, 2025
“Currently in Busoga region where we are currently implementing the SAYE project, we have sofar supported 11000 young people in a period of 6 months, 6000 fully employed and employing others in agribusiness. We hope to see many youth within Busoga get into dignified employment, to completely alleviate poverty out of Uganda” said Mr. Matovu.
Since 2016, Heifer International has been partnering with Mastercard Foundation to support young people get into employment.
