She plans to develop and maintain an online community business platform where African SMEs can buy, sell, promote their products and establish business relations with both their local and overseas clients. She has completed a successful beta trial website of AgaShaKnows which will be gradually transformed into an E-commerce site.
The BiD Network Women in Business Challenge aims at supporting women entrepreneurs in developing countries in starting and growing their businesses. The competition addressed both the challenges and opportunities that come with being a businesswoman in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The five finalists were selected by an expert jury panel that deemed their business proposals as the best ones among 242 participants. Two Ugandan women happened to be among the 5 finalists: Sharon Againe of AgaSha Business Network, an IT company and Rusia Orikiriza of Oribags Innovations Ltd that deals in using wastes to make environmentally friendly products like papers and gift bags.
The finalists won a free trip to The Netherlands for one week where they had the opportunity to interact and exchange ideas about Opportunities & Challenges for business women in developing countries. On the 9th of June, 5 finalists were introduced to the 80 attendees for the Women in Business Final Event where each one of them had 2 minutes of pitching her business plan. They were then asked about their businesses and role as women entrepreneurs in their countries of origin.
“It was such a great experience to be part of BiD Network finalists. The organization matched me with
experienced coach who assessed my business plan on weekly basis via live chats on Skype. I was able to learn how to pitch a business before investors, partners and clients. I made a lot of contacts and I networked with sophisticated successful entrepreneurs whose recommendations have improved my business plan” said Sharon
BiD Network contributes to sustainable economic growth by stimulating entrepreneurship in emerging markets (Africa, Asia and Latin America). It focuses on small and medium sized enterprises and supports entrepreneurs in thesis writing business plans by providing them valuable feedback and coaching to Improve their plans. The best entrepreneurs gain access to investors in their network. Since 2005 BiD Network has helped launch “almost 400 businesses and has matched them with about 12 million U.S. dollars from investors.
