The Village Enterprise Fund (VEF), a microenterprise development program in East Africa, has received a USD 25,000 grant from the Disney Conservation Fund (DWCF), an awards program for the study and protection of the world’s wildlife and ecosystems sponsored by the media and entertainment conglomerate, the Walt Disney Company, to support a new integrated development/conservation program. The grant will be used to expand VEF’s development/conservation program surrounding Uganda’s Budongo Forest – a conservation area in East Africa that is home to roughly 600 chimpanzees. The Budongo program empowers local communities to start sustainable, diversified small businesses in a way that supports long-term conservation goals. In the three years since the inception of the program, VEF reports having helped to start 480 businesses and trained 2,400 people in 40 villages adjacent to the forest.

By Conner Brannen, Research Assistant

About Village Enterprise Fund (VEF):

Based in the US state of California, the Village Enterprise Fund (VEF) works primarily with subsistence farmers in rural areas of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. It provides business training, funding and mentoring to help them create and sustain income-generating small businesses. By June 2009, VEF had reportedly launched 19,200 small businesses – 88 percent continue beyond a year and 75 percent are still going after four years. In 2009, VEF claimed USD 274,000 in total assets and USD 114,000 in total liabilities.

About Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund (DWCF):

Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund (DWCF) was established in 1995 as a global awards program for the study and protection of the world’s wildlife and ecosystems by the media and entertainment conglomerate, the Walt Disney Company. It provides annual awards to US-based nonprofit conservations organizations working around the world. Since its inception, DWCF has supported approximately 800 projects with USD 14 million in grants to organizations and individuals working in 110 countries.

Sources and Additional Resources:

News Blaze: “Village Enterprise Fund Receives Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund Grant,” July 21, 2010: http://newsblaze.com/story/2010072112311000001.mwir/topstory.html

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Plan for New Law to Regulate Microfinance Sector in Uganda Announced, May 14, 2010: http://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-plan-for-new-law-to-regulate-microfinance-sector-in-uganda-announced/

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