Stanbic Bank Uganda has appointed Mr. Tony Okao Otoa as the Head Enterprise Development – Stanbic Business Incubator.
Mr Okao Otoa will be in charge of delivering the bank’s enterprise development agenda, creation of market opportunities for business customers; management and implementation of programmes for the development of the Stanbic Business Incubator.
With over 10 years of high level management experience Mr. Otoa previously worked with some of the leading companies & organisations in and out of Uganda including, Oxfam GB, Monitor Publications, ACODE and most recently Total E&P where he was the National Content Manager.
He is also an advisor to the Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum Board. He holds a (BSc) in International relations and a Masters in Law (LLM) both from Oxford Brookes University in the UK.
Stanbic’s Entreprise Development Programme was launched in May this year with an aim to equip Ugandan Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with the necessary skills, knowledge and understanding of the requisite standards in various fields.
In line with supporting local content participation within the oil and gas sector boom, Stanbic Bank in partnership with key stakeholders in the oil sector churned out the first cohort of 34 SME owners that underwent training in the business incubator.
At the time, Stanbic Bank Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Mweheire said the trained SME owners represent a new dawn in the new relationship between the bank and SME’s who form the back bone of the economy.
“For too long, many stakeholders have spent a lot of time talking about the challenges SMEs face without presenting any solutions. The Business incubator was conceived in order to buck the trend and reverse the status-quo,” Mweheire said.
Business sustainability is a major problem among Ugandan SMEs. Statistics indicate that despite their importance to the economy where they constitute 90% of the private sector, contribute 80% of all manufacturing output and provide 2.5 million jobs, only 30% of them live to celebrate their 3rd birthday.
After the training at the business incubator, Stanbic then provides a coach to each of the SMEs for a 9-month period to ensure that the incubator capacity building is appropriately put into practice in the market place.