The Republic of Uganda launches the 50 Million African Women Digital Platform

Accessible at www.womenconnect.org and available as an app (50MAWSP), covering 38 African states under the East African Community, the Common Market for East and Southern African (COMESA) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) blocs, the platform aims to economically empower women by providing a one-stop shop for their specific business information needs. Sarah Kanyike, the state minister for disability and elderly while launching the platform said despite the potential that ICT has, use of its services in Uganda especially among women is still limited due to several factors including limited network coverage, poor quality services, high cost of end user devices and services, inadequate ICT knowledge, skills, limited innovation capacity and limited content for special categories including women in business. "Women in Business require a lot of support to exploit the existing and emerging opportunities of digital transformation; accessing new markets, interact with customers, accessing services and meeting existing obligations and mentoring among others," Kanyike said. .Kanyike said the platform has come at a moment when Government of Uganda seeks to increase ICT penetration and use of ICT services for social and economic development including narrowing the gender digital divide. The platform seeks to enable mentoring, sharing of information and knowledge within communities, access to financial services, market opportunities between urban and rural areas, across borders and between countries. The East African Community (EAC) director for social sectors, Mary Makoffu, said the platform aims to build on the popularity of mobile phones so that the burden of learning and accessing information and services is not limited, allowing women to manage their businesses and social circumstances. The project is being jointly implemented by EAC, COMESA, and ECOWAS with funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB). The platform also gives women an opportunity to showcase their products and connect with a market of millions across the continent, in addition to leveraging opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and mentorship as part of a dynamic online community of entrepreneurs. "We commit to support women in business to utilise this digital platform to create economic opportunities, scale up digital innovation, and improve access to technology and skills," Kanyike said. She said the Government has undertaken many programmes to improve the use of ICTs. "Today Uganda has a tele-density of 66.9 percent. The number of internet users has also increased from 6.2 million users in 2015 to 9.8 million users in 2017. This translated into an internet penetration rate of 25 percent. We can certainly do better in terms of promoting universal ICT access and utilization in service delivery," Kanyike said.