LocationsFrom Income to Influence: How 600+ Women in Kampala Took a Step Towards Financial Freedom
May 8, 2026
L-R: H.E Frederieke Quispel, Ms. Jennifer Awirigwe. Ms. Nwanne Vwede-Obahor, H.E Katja Kerschbaumer, Ms. Justine Ariho
On 30 April 2026, a gathering of 300 career and professional women including another 300+ participating online were tackling an engagement that doesn't happen often enough. A frank, practical, and energising conversation about money.
The inaugural SheCountsWomen's Finance Fair co-hosted by UNDP Uganda and Centenary Bank was not a seminar about abstract economic policy. It was a conversation about seizing opportunities to build agency from income. To grow wealth and freedoms associated with it. To act against factors that often drive gender based violence. The event saw the participation of a number of men as well. Male allyship remains an integral part of addressing shifts against gender norms.
Why Financial Empowerment Is a Safety Issue
The SheCounts Finance Fair sought to demonstrate that there were options in respect to decoupling the complexity of Gender-based violence and financial exclusion. The framing for the event and associated conversations sought to demonstrate how each of these exacerbate the other and why building a woman’s agency through finacinal empowerment presented an opportunity to shift the balance. Framing for the seminar recognized that Uganda's 2025 Annual Crime Report recorded over 12,000 cases of domestic violence and more than 12,600 sex-related offences in a single year. Behind each of those figures is a woman whose options were narrowed, often because she had no savings, no credit, no asset in her name that was truly hers.
Furthermore, a 2020 Bank of Uganda Financial Capability Survey found that financial knowledge among women in Uganda stood at just 45 percent, the lowest of any demographic group measured. Yet these are women running businesses, raising families, and managing households. The gap is not in women's ability. It is in access, design, and deliberate inclusion.
The members of the #WomenUganda2025+ campaign, under which the finance fair was being mounted, including Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, and colleagues from UN agencies including UNAIDS and UNFPA and corresponding Male Changemakers were all in the room. Providing a well rounded conversation and the recognition that women's financial inclusion was a human rights imperative.
The Journey From Income to Security
The UNDP Uganda Resident Representative Ms. Nwanneakolam Vwede-Obahor while opening the Fair recognized that economic participation is not the same as economic empowerment; and that income is not the same as financial security. "Financial capability is not a privilege. It is a right," she said. "Yet for far too many women in Uganda and across the world, that right remains constrained by gender-based violence, economic exclusion and systems that have long undervalued women's agency."
Ms. Nwanne Vwede-Obahor, UNDP Resident Representative giving her remarks
"From income to influence is not a slogan, It is a journey. One that begins with a single, deliberate step." she told the room.
She pointed to the evidence demonstrating that GBV reduces global GDP by about 2% per year, a loss of more than USD 1.6 trillion annually. Her reflections emphasized that financial empowerment was not just a women's issue, but that it was also an economic one. She further cited that it was demonstrable that women who participated in financial literacy programmes combined with small business grants were significantly less likely to experience coercive control. In Kenya, GBV survivors who received structured financial coaching were three times more likely to start a business within 18 months and more than 60 percent said economic empowerment was the single factor that made it possible to leave an abusive relationship and not return. Leaving was not the barrier. Surviving after leaving was.
Mr. Fabian Kasi, Managing Director, Centenary Bank giving his remarks
A Bank That Is Listening
Centenary Bank, one of Uganda's largest commercial microfinance institution, co-hosted the Finance Fair as part of its deepening commitment to women's economic inclusion. The Bank already makes provision for products that focus on women’s economic empowerment and advances various forms of financial inclusion for women. Managing Director Fabian Kasi made a public pledge that went beyond the event itself.
"Our bank pledges to remain at the forefront of designing financial solutions that recognize the unique lifecycles and professional paths of women. We commit to expanding our reach through our digital platforms and vast branch network, to ensure that no woman is left behind in the shift from earning to investing, and to financial empowerment."
Attendees at the SheCounts Financial Fair
A Fair Built for Action, Not Applause
The SheCounts Finance Fair was designed to move women from awareness to action. Across five sessions, participants worked through a financial reality check, polling anonymously on whether they understood government securities, had an investment plan, or knew how to buy shares in Uganda. Most did not. And the room was relieved to admit it.
Speakers brought depth from every corner of Uganda's financial ecosystem. Pumla Nabachwa, Head of Economic Policy Communications at the Bank of Uganda and a widely followed financial literacy educator, broke down what monetary policy means for everyday women. Justine Ariho Mugenyi of Agape Wealth Management Solutions (one of only ten CMA Uganda-licensed dealer firms) demystified government securities and investment strategy.
Jennifer Awirigwe, founder of FinTribe, the women-led wealth platform that has supported over 500,000 women across 35 countries with variety of such opportunities, brought the energy and accountability of community-driven saving. Michelle Mafumbo from the Uganda Securities Exchange opened a window into capital markets that many in the room had never looked through before.
An Investment Marketplace ran alongside the sessions giving women direct, one-on-one access to financial institutions, wealth advisors, and regulators. Accounts were opened. Products were explored. Plans were started. The first deliberate step, outlined by the UNDP Resident Representative was taken by many.
What Happened in That Room
By the end of the day, every participant had filled out a one-page "12-Month Investment Map"; their monthly investable amount, their risk comfort level, their top two investment instruments, and one concrete action to take within 30 days. Almost three hundred individual plans. Nearly three hundred first steps.
The sisterhood in that room was palpable. Women who had never spoken openly about debt, savings gaps, or financial fear did so freely. That is what a safe and energising space does. It makes the impossible, possible.
Your Turn
If you were not in the room on 30 April, you are still invited into the movement. Here is where it starts:
- For women: Make one financial decision this month that is entirely yours. Open an account. Start a savings plan. Ask about a Treasury Bill. The first step is the hardest, take it.
- For financial institutions: Commit to one concrete change that removes a barrier women face. Remove spousal consent requirements. Introduce women-only credit officers. Deploy agent banking in underserved communities. Representation at a fair is a beginning, not an end.
- For policymakers: Fund financial literacy as a GBV prevention strategy. The NDP IV identifies the gap. The Annual Crime Report quantifies the cost of inaction.
- For all of us: Use your voice, your influence, and your experience to open doors. Challenge the silence around violence and financial exclusion. Ensure no woman is left behind on the journey to economic dignity.
SheCounts Finance Fair was designed as part of the #WomenUganda2025+ campaign. This Women’s Rights Campaign is a collaborative initiative led by Ugandan Female Heads of Diplomatic Missions (HoM) and Female UN Agencies (HoA), and Male Changemakers from the Private Sector, Government of Uganda, Civil Society and the diplomatic corps. It seeks to advance women’s rights and gender equality, aligning with the Beijing+30 action plans. The campaign integrates positive narrative around gender equality and ending violence against women. It also positions men as allies and accountability partners and seeks to transform the social norms that sustain inequality and violence.
By Nicholas Burunde
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