Inside dfcu Foundation’s Five-Year Plan to Drive Enterprise Development in Uganda

World Business Journal talks to Mabel Ndawula, Executive Director of dfcu Foundation, about their five-year strategy aimed at enterprise development and expanding financial access for underserved communities, as well as the impact created since the foundation’s establishment.

What insights can you share about the dfcu Foundation’s mission and strategic plans for the future?

The dfcu Foundation, previously the Agribusiness Development Centre (ADC) until our rebranding this year, has been active since 2017, focusing on sustainability and corporate social responsibility for the dfcu Group.

Over the next 5 years (2025-2029), we aim to create meaningful change in the country through social, economic, and environmental initiatives that support underserved communities.

We plan to impact 100,000 beneficiaries, targeting 60% women and 40% youth, guided by 2 pillars: enterprise development and expanding financial access.

To improve the scalability and impact of our programmes, we will introduce a Catalytic Fund offering revolving microloans. The focus will be on 4 key agricultural value chains: dairy and livestock, coffee, cereals, and oil seeds. 

Agriculture, contributing about 24% to Uganda’s GDP, also impacts various sectors, including trade and business, where we will expand our scope to support women-owned, green, youth-led SACCOs and investment clubs.

Our Financial Expansion for Agricultural Transformation (FEAT) programme, co-funded with Rabo Foundation, will support farmers by improving key agricultural value chains and helping them grow their businesses and increase productivity. Our Business Acceleration Program (BAP) will strengthen small businesses with mentorship, training, networking, and funding access – the BAP will target the trade and business sectors. 

How will existing programmes be integrated, and how many enterprises have been supported to date?

All our programmes will align with our FEAT and BAP mechanisms. This includes growth funding lines provided by dfcu, where the dfcu Foundation will assist women entrepreneurs in enterprise development. 

Since 2018, we have supported 1,281 enterprises, including 52.6% women-owned, and trained about 59,707 learners through various channels, including our online platform, SOMA, which offers free access to essential business training.

Between 2018 and 2024, we facilitated over $22.8M in credit linkages for 4,950 smallholder farmers and 104 enterprises.