“Micro-Credit Work as a Recovery Instrument During and after Covid-19 Pandemic†: The Case of EMYOOGA SACCOs in Uganda

This paper summarizes the data collected from SACCOs and their clients to assess the role of Micro-Credit as a Recovery Instrument during and after Covid-19 Pandemic? Emyooga SACCOs and borrowers in Mbarara city, South Western Uganda, provided a conceptual setting of the study. The results show that while the pandemic touched all entrepreneurs in Uganda, the severity of its impact was marked differently by different entrepreneurs in some businesses to almost negligible in other businesses. However, all entrepreneurs faced some form of a lockdown which affected them in one way or the other. Nevertheless, preliminary results show that traders in Mbarara city changed business to suit the prevailing conditions. For instance, some introduced on-line and delivery service means of reaching their clients. It was also established that Emyooga SACCOs provided start -up capital to enhance the poor to continue with business during the C-19 lock down. Other ï¬ ndings are that Emyooga loans have a signiï¬ cant effect on the borrowers’ change in income and asset acquisition. Some respondents reported to have acquired land while others had their business improved, particularly businesses dealing in food stuffs. Therefore, flexibility and diversification in business are commended, such that any problem with one line of business is saved by its sister business. The study applauds governments intervention to extend more support to the self-employed and microentrepreneurs to allow them to sustain their business operations, and that SACCOs are in horrible need of a lender-of-last-resort funding body that can step in with emergency funding and provide financing when commercial banks are unable to do so. The paper ends with a set of other specific recommendations for various stakeholders which would help the SACCO clients to stabilize and return to normality.