Through meetings organized under Nnigina, women are able to discuss their challenges, analyze their environment and situation, recognize their strengths and appreciate themselves. Through gifts and holding rotational celebrations in their homes, women are altering their self‐ image of marginalisation, poverty and powerlessness to that characterized by power, potential and with ability to influence their destiny. Through Nnigina, women have accessed new resources and skills and take greater control over lives. 4.6.3. Diversification of Business and Expansion of Product Line Diversifying of businesses is among the key aspects that the women entrepreneurs have taken seriously. Those who previously operated one business venture are now running two or more new businesses or expanding the product line within the same business. The new trend in diversification of business is a transformation of women’s roles and work that was previously unpaid into paid work. For instance, Mrs. Jolly Nsubuga has been a long‐time poultry farmer, but in 2003 she started offering outside catering and decoration for functions such as traditional marriage ceremonies and graduation parties on a commercial basis. She also transformed her “Senga”9 services to young girls intending to get married into a service at a fee. It was noted that women’s work of cooking at events and senga or marriage counselling are some of the roles women have performed as volunteers, which became some of the lucrative businesses for women. There were a number of cases that were similar to those of Mrs Nsubuga which clearly show that the ideas shared through the CD‐ROM was taken seriously by the women. Women entrepreneurs interviewed emphasized that business diversification increases their capacity to earn more income. However, the drive to diversify their businesses denies women the opportunity to concentrate on one major business.
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‘Senga’ refers to paternal auntie. Traditionally, paternal aunties play the role of preparing young girls/ladies for marriage. They offer advice and counseling on how to behave in marriage, for instance how to take care of your husband and how to satisfy him sexually. With the advance of modernization, many social networks have been broken with few girls growing up with their paternal aunties. The senga role has been commercialized whereby some women have taken the opportunity to provide the senga services to those that need it at a fee.
Women of Uganda Network: Research Report
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