Ayimalu Project: Empowering Women and Communities in Mubaku Village
Mubaku Village, located on the southern bank of the Victoria Nile near Murchison Falls National Park, is a small rural community in northwestern Uganda. Families live in traditional thatched huts surrounded by savannah and wetlands, and life is centered on farming and communal gatherings.
Yet behind this beauty lies hardship. With few opportunities beyond subsistence farming, many households struggle with poverty. Parents often struggle to afford school fees, and as a result, children often go without proper nutrition.
It is here that hope is rising.
Community members in Buliisa participate in a Street Business School training session
In early 2025, Empower & Shine, in partnership with Street Business School (SBS), launched the Ayimalu Project. The name Ayimalu—which means “rise up” in Alur, one of Mubaku’s local languages—captures the heart of this initiative: to help women rise from poverty, build livelihoods, and create brighter futures for their families.
Working through locally registered non-governmental organizations, the project will train 400 women in entrepreneurship, giving them the skills to start and grow sustainable businesses. The ripple effects are far-reaching: stronger household incomes, children attending school more consistently, and improved family nutrition.
Team members from six community-based organizations working in and around Mubaku were brought together in May 2025 for an SBS Immersion Workshop in the capital city of Kampala, to be certified as SBS trainers. These organizations will receive funding and support to deliver the SBS entrepreneurship training program to their community members over the summer and into the fall of 2025.
Graduation photo of representatives from six partner organizations who attended the SBS Immersion Workshop. The organizations include Child Rights Development Foundation (CRIDEF), Opportunity International (OI), Kakindo Integrated Women Development Agency (KAWIDA), Alliance for Change Foundation, Buliisa Initiative for Development Organization (BIRUDO), and Buliisa District Union of Persons with Disabilities (BUDIP).
In addition to providing funding and coaching, SBS will also collect impact data and case studies with partners to guide future projects and attract support for scaling the model across Uganda.
For Empower and Shine, the project is about more than numbers—it’s about transformation. As Patty and Steve, directors of
Empower and Shine, shared:
“We believe that true change happens when communities come together with the right tools and opportunities. Partnering with Street Business School allows us to amplify our impact in Mubaku, helping women unlock their potential, provide for their families, and create a legacy of hope and opportunity for generations to come.”
SBS brings nearly two decades of experience training women in Uganda and over ten years of equipping partner organizations to integrate its curriculum. Our deep experience building partnerships with grassroots change-makers gives us the ability to offer SBS training to women living in communities too far from Kampala for our training team to reach.
The Ayimalu Project’s goals are ambitious yet achievable:
- Double the incomes of at least 320 women.
- Ensure more than 80% of participants own businesses within 12–18 months.
- Conduct surveys and interviews to determine if SBS graduates are more able to pay school fees and increase school attendance for their children.
- Establish the program as model for replication across Uganda.
The program will culminate in a community graduation ceremony scheduled for this coming October.
By investing in women, the Ayimalu Project is investing in the future of Mubaku. It is more than a program—it is a promise that, with the right tools and opportunities, families can rise, children can dream without limits, and communities can shape a brighter tomorrow.
Written by Lilian Nansubuga
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