We reduce the risk of financing change by working together with the financial sector to provide green SME finance. By providing insights into the valuable business opportunity of financing environmentally sustainable businesses and offering comprehensive trainings plus technical assistance for commercial banks, the Uganda Green Enterprise Finance Accelerator builds a community of practice among financial institutions and other stakeholders of entrepreneurial ecosystems.
What is green SME finance?
New and scaled solutions are needed to tap into opportunities for quality job creation and sustainable growth, and to secure future well-being within ecological bounds. Green small and medium enterprises (SMEs) span sectors, technologies and business models, and provide products and services that solve a multitude of environmental challenges ranging from access to clean energy for productive use, valorisation of waste, and preservation of biodiversity, among others. Opportunities for banks to align their products to the evolving needs of green SMEs are expanding.
Green SMEs require access to external financing to secure the fixed capital and working capital necessary to deliver their products and solutions at scale.
Opportunities are expanding for Uganda's commercial banks - with the support of UGEFA - to effectively identify and provide capital to green SMEs looking to scale.
Meet our
UGEFA PARTNER BANKS
*requirement of signed partnership contract to be an UGEFA Partner Bank
Benefitting from access to our pipeline of 200+ green SMEs:
Our Partner Banks
Equity Bank's undertaking is two pronged: to empower clients and stakeholders both Socially and Economically. They do this through continuous innovation.
“With the glaring negative effects of climate change affecting the entire world, protection of the environment and sustainable use of our natural resources is key to all our interventions. We believe that the battle of environmental protection cannot be won by government alone. Equity, a financial corporate is cognizant to its role in sustainable financing and strategically provides its infrastructure and expertise, to accelerate and scale programs and projects aimed at protecting our planet.” - Eric Naivasha, Equity Group Foundation Associate Director
Opportunity Bank was founded as a Micro credit program for Food for the Hungry International (FHI) in 1995 and began its Tier 1 commercial bank operations in 2019.
“The partnership with UGEFA is aligned with our purpose to make lives of people and communities better, and foster the sustainable development goals on poverty and climate action. Uganda, as a result of the COVID 19, is dealing with the largest economic disruption in history. Businesses have been devastated because they are unable to meet their financial obligations. The program is designed to give businesses relief during this period, and will support climate smart businesses to thrive amidst these hard-economic times.” - John Robert Okware, Chief Relations Officer, Opportunity Bank
Yako Bank (U) Limited was incorporated in the Republic of Uganda in 2010 and licensed as a Credit Institution by Bank of Uganda in 2020. The bank's overriding goals are to increase outreach to the unbanked and to improve financial performance.
“As Yako bank, we are proud to be partners with UGEFA and give back to people by protecting the environment. Green financing gives more importance to environmentally friendly factors keeping our clients in a better world free from pollution and climate change dangers. Yako wishes to support the green firms in a big way.” - T V Balasubramanian, Executive Director, Yako Bank
Join our
UBA-UGEFA GREEN FINANCE ACADEMY
The Green Finance Academy trainings with innovation lab – a collaborative partnership between UGEFA, Uganda Bankers’ Association (UBA), SEED Practitioner Labs Climate Finance and GO4SDGs – offers an exclusive opportunity to UBA Member Banks with key ecosystem actors to strengthen the financial sector’s capacity to successfully finance green small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and environmental-related projects in Uganda.
Participants benefit from:
- Participation in 5 days total training and innovation lab with expert facilitation
- Ongoing 1:1 consultation with green finance experts to develop new green finance products and services
- Peer learning & networking with motivated financial institution representatives
- Access to global case studies of green finance business facilitation within the financial sector
- Platform to pitch newly developed green finance instrument solutions during the annual Green Finance Dialogue Forum conference
We are looking for motivated financial sector actors who are:
- Experienced with delivering finance to small- and medium-sized enterprises (as an SME finance banker or in other relevant role);
- Have growing expertise or initial interest in green finance topics; and
- Are well positioned to take on a leadership role within your institution in order to drive green finance activities across departments and areas of product and service development.
The Academy is fully funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety through the International Climate Initiative (IKI).
Learn more about the Green Finance Academy here.
Are you a financier and interested in
- Sustainability in your core business rather than only in your corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities?
- A leadership role in the banking sector?
- Gaining experience in new and growing markets like climate finance, green finance and green bonds origination?
- Medium and long term risk reduction?
We are always looking for new and exciting partnerships!
Benefits of UGEFA Programme Engagement for Finance Institutions:
Improved Information
Direct access to data and insights into green SME financing needs, investment performance as well as environmental, social and economic impacts
Enhanced Knowledge
Enhanced knowledge and in-depth understanding of Green SME Finance supported by innovative tools and participatory formats
Ecosystem Visibility
Opportunity to showcase commitments to expanding Green SME Finance offerings during annual Green Finance Dialogue Fora conference and publications
