YSB just launched its first Social Business Accelerator Program in Uganda!

Yunus Social Business (YSB) just launched its first Social Business Accelerator Program in Uganda! Yunus Social Business Foundation Uganda Ltd was incorporated in Uganda in 2014 as a social business support organization purposely to address pressing social and environmental problems in Uganda in a financially sustainable manner by promoting and empowering social businesses through provision of business development services, impact investment funds and related technical support. YSB Uganda is a subsidiary of Yunus Social Business Funds gGmbH in Frankfurt, Germany, which is taking the lead in replicating social businesses around the world. Established in 2011, Yunus Social Business has been able to leverage significant experience and expertise developed in Bangladesh and replicated across 7 countries into fully integrated and customized local social business solutions. With a proven track record of managing approximately US$ 8 million across the seven investment countries, we are a pioneering and a global leader in the social business sector.

The Accelerator Program Yunus Social Business Uganda is launching its first Social Business Accelerator Program in Sub-Saharan Africa in Uganda. The Accelerator Program commences today with a 3-week training, to be followed by a 5-week testing and a 2-week refining that will culminate in an Investor Demo day.

Fifteen acceleratees have been selected from the following sectors:  Health  Education  Renewable Energy  Agri-business / Value addition. During the accelerator program, clients will be able to access tailor made services like Mentoring, Individual Coaching, Social Business Development, Networking, Leadership Conversations, Opportunity for Finance, and Formation by Social Business experts across the YSB network. Role of Yunus Social Business - Uganda Yunus Social Business’s aim is to support sustainable economic development in the markets in which they operate with the conviction that SBEs are a crucial catalyst for social development and poverty alleviation. It is widely acknowledged that appropriately structured support and impact investment for SBEs will assist in driving long-term employment and a number of other related social benefits. However, while the support of SBEs presents significant potential for change and empowerment, there is need to develop and prepare them for Impact Investment hence the need for a Social Business Accelerator program. In reality, many SBEs find themselves in the “missing middle” where they do not have the collateral required for secured lending and are too small for private equity but too large for micro-finance. Addressing this need is Yunus Social Business’s pioneering and award winning Social Business Model for growth finance. Under-pinning Yunus Social Business’s financial support is the business support sourced from an experienced in-house team, as well as working in partnership with skilled local and international experts. This comprehensive support shall be provided from application, acceleration, investment, through to the exit of a client.

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