The Uganda Rural Challenge Fund, the first part of the 3-year Rural Finance Enhancement Programme (RFEP) of German development bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) Bankengruppe, recently was launched by German ambassador to Uganda Klaus-Dieter Duxmann. The EUR 8 million (USD 10.4 million) fund will provide matching grants to Ugandan financial institutions for the “development of new financial products and business approaches for rural financing.” Qualifying institutions must be registered, have a minimum of 3 years of audited financial statements, at least 3,000 clients and an outstanding loan portfolio of at least UGX 1 billion (USD 382,000).
The program’s executing agent is Agribusiness Initiative Trust (aBi Trust), a Ugandan multi-stakeholder entity founded in partnership with the government of Denmark. As of year-end 2011, KfW Bankengruppe reported total assets of EUR 4.36 billion (USD 5.74 billion). For the same year, aBi Trust reported assets of UGX 66.1 billion (USD 2.35 million).
By Charlotte Newman, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources:
Information sent to MicroCapital by the Uganda Rural Challenge Fund.
Abi Trust: “Uganda Rural Challenge Fund (KfW),” http://www.abitrust.com/subcontent.php?Submenu_id=8
MicroCapital.org story, April 15, 2013, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CGAP, Grameen Foundation, Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) Uganda to Finance $1m Mobile Finance Product Research and Development Initiative,” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-cgap-grameen-foundation-mobile-telecommunications-network-mtn-uganda-to-finance-1m-mobile-finance-product-research-and-development-initiative/
MicroCapital.org story, March 11, 2013, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Centenary Bank, Opportunity Uganda, PostBank Partner with Uptime Solutions to Rollout Mobile Banking Vans to Rural Areas,” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-centenary-bank-opportunity-uganda-postbank-partner-with-uptime-solutions-to-rollout-mobile-banking-vans-to-rural-areas/
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