European importers of organic products meet Ugandan exporters and farmers face to face on ITC’s Buyers’ Tour.

Business process outsourcing can be a win-win deal, even for small firms in developing countries.

Ugandan women form the majority of the country’s business people, in farming and small to medium-sized firms. Supportive national and local policies, and targeted international assistance, could help Ugandan women entrepreneurs increase exports and benefit the whole country.

Ugandan firms have begun to identify new export markets using Uganda TradeMap, launched in July 2002. The Uganda Export Promotion Board (UEPB) is offering this new market analysis service to Ugandan firms and trade support institutions through a partnership with ITC.

The Procurement and Logistics Management Association (PALMA) was launched in January 1995, and now has over 200 members. Seeking to overcome key problems in the procurement chain in Uganda, it has concentrated on building competence among purchasing professionals in the public and private sector by providing training, consultancy and information services.

Q. What were the biggest challenges you faced, and continue to face, in strengthening your organization?
A. We saw four major challenges:
• To strike a sustainable and rational balance between members’ continued interest and enthusiasm, while they were reluctant to pay the full membership subscription.
• Lack of seed money to effectively implement all the start-up association activities.
• Unfair competition, especially in the area of training — by either donor agencies and/or NGOs (non-governmental organizations) providing zero-priced training events in the same field of study.
• Adequate board commitment.