NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Following the release of the Mastercard Index of Women’s Entrepreneurship (MIWE) this week, it was revealed that 34.8 percent of businesses in Uganda are owned by women, making it one of the top performing African countries highlighted in the index.

The MIWE is a weighted index that helps to better understand and identify factors and conditions that are most conducive to closing the gender gap among business owners in any given economy. The three factors include Women’s Advancement Outcomes, Access to Knowledge and Financial Services, and Supporting Entrepreneurial Factors. For the 2016 Index, Mastercard examined 54 different economies around the globe, including Botswana, Ethiopia, South Africa and Uganda.

Uganda scored particularly well in terms of advancement outcomes: the women entrepreneurial activity rate was 100 percent, with its labour force participation rate at 93.9 percent, making the country top in these areas worldwide. Uganda also excelled in sharing knowledge assets with women and providing financial access, with 90.5 percent borrowing or saving to open a business – higher than the 52.4 percent average of other low to lower middle income countries – and a 95.8 percent gross women tertiary education enrolment rate.